Picture Of Dorian Gray Quotes And Explanations

Quotation Thoughts about quotation

"I don't think I shall send it anywhere," he answered, tossing his head back in that odd way that used to make his friends laugh at him at Oxford. "No, I won't send it anywhere."

"I know you will laugh at me," he replied, "but I really can't exhibit it. I have put too much of myself into it." Pg.4 Basil had just drawn one of his best portraits and tells Lord Henry that he won't send it anywhere because he put too much of himself into it. This seems awkward because I thought that artists were supposed to display themselves through their art, but Basil finds that the reason not to display his art.

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about." Pg.4 This quote is told by Lord Henry to Basil and Dorian after Basil refuses to display his finest art. It is completely accurate because people don't enjoy other s talking about them, but they also don't enjoy others not talking about them at all.

"Not at all," answered Lord Henry, "not at all, my dear Basil. You seem to forget that I am married, and the one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet - we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the Duke's - we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it - much better than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do. But when she does find me out, she makes no row at all. I sometimes which she would; but she merely laughs at me." Pg.6 Lord Henry tells Basil that deception is very important in a marriage, and is displayed very often in his marriage. This quote is interesting because most couples avoid deception in their marriage or just try to conceal it , but Lord Henry believes it is one of the charms in a marriage and wishes that his wife would actually care, which most men also wish to avoid.

"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful." Pg.21 Lord Henry advices Basil not to hold on to a temptation and give in to it, because you will grow sick if the temptation is never pleased. I disagree with this quote because my religion teaches me to defy temptations, which will normally lead to unwanted consequences.

"How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that-for that-I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!" pg.28 Dorian examines the portrait and is heartbroken because the picture would forever stay young, but he will grow old and withered. This shows how naпve Dorian is, because his saddened by his own picture and says that he would give everything and his soul just to stay young and the picture grow old.

"I can sympathize with everything except suffering," said Lord Henry, shrugging his shoulder. I cannot sympathize with that. It is too ugly, too horrible, too distressing. There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the color the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores the better." Pg.43 Because Lord Henry is a hedonist he does not enjoy talking about the terrible things in life, such as suffering, he concentrates more on the pleasures of life rather than the sores. This quotes proves the arrogance of Lord Henry instead of accepting suffering as a part of life, he would just rather not sympathize with it at all.

"Never marry at all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed." Pg.51 Lord Henry tells Dorian to avoid marriage. The quote shows that Lord Henry is not happy with his marriage and I consider it wrong for him to have told Dorian not marry, because if his marriage was as he had said, he shouldn't assume that everyone else's marriage would result in the same thing.

"My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals." Pg.51 Dorian had just told Lord Henry that Sibyl is a genius in acting, when Lord Henry disagrees and states that no woman is a genius. Lord Henry says this because he regards men in a much higher position than women, but if he was living in a society like ours today, he would be completely wrong.

"Oh! How I shall play it! Fancy, Jim, to be in love and play Juliet! To have him sitting there! To play for his delight I am afraid I may frighten the company, frighten or enthrall them. To be in love is to surpass oneself." Pg.71 Sibyl Vane tells her brother, Jim, that she would be playing Juliet passionately just to show her love for Dorian. I think what she says is foolish because she doesn't really know Dorian and she doesn't realize that he only love her acting, so if she doesn't act good then he won't have the same passion for her.

"My father was a scoundrel, then!" cried the lad, clenching his fists. Pg.75 James yells and calls his father a scoundrel when he finds out the truth, which is that his mother wasn't married to his father. James has a right to be angry, because he doesn't want Sibyl to have the same life as his mother.

"I hope that Dorian Gray will make this woman his wife, passionately adore her for six months, and then suddenly become fascinated by someone else. He would be a wonderful study." Pg.79 Lord Henry says that he wants Dorian to marry Sibyl and then grow tired of her and find someone else. This shows that Lord Henry would only agree for Dorian to marry if he would then leave his wife, just so he can study him and learn more.

"A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?" pg.84 Lord Henry offers Basil and Dorian cigarettes and explains to them this quote. The perfect type of pleasure according to Lord Henry is one that leaves you unsatisfied, but why would you want a pleasure that doesn't satisfy you?

"When she acts you will forget everything. These common, rough people,