1. Thursday 9th
January 2014
Learning objectives:
•To know the Assessment Objectives
and Criteria for this unit.
•To know Oscar Wilde’s biography.
•To understand the historical context
(AO4)

2. The Exam

3. There are two sections
• One section deals with the poetry. This is a
selection of work by W.B. Yeats.
• One section deals with the novel. This is
‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ by Oscar
Wilde.
• You will not be allowed a copy of the text in
the exam so it is important that you set up a
quotation bank to use in your revision.

4. Example Quotation Bank
Page Quote and character Theme

5. Unpicking the Assessment Objectives
• AO1:
• AO3:
• AO4:
• Look at your AO sheet – what must you do
to achieve the best possible mark?

6. The Picture of Dorian Gray -
Oscar Wilde

7. Oscar Wilde: Biography
• Oscar Wilde was born Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills
Wilde, on October 16, 1854. His father was a noted
surgeon; his mother a flamboyant journalist and poet.
• In 1871, Oscar was awarded the Royal School
Scholarship to attend Trinity College in Dublin.
• In 1874, Oscar crowned his successes at Trinity with two
final achievements - he won the college's Berkeley Gold
Medal for Greek and was awarded a Demyship
scholarship to Magdalen College in Oxford.

8. • After graduation, Wilde moved to London
to live with his friend Frank Miles, a
popular high society portrait painter.
• He mixed with elite London artists and
artistes like James Whistler (painter),
Sarah Bernhardt and Ellen Terry
(actresses) and Lily Langtry (actress and
mistress of the Prince of Wales).
• In 1881, Wilde published his first collection
of poetry. “Poems” received mixed reviews
by critics.

9. • In December 1881, Wilde sailed for New
York to travel across the United States
and deliver a series of lectures on
aesthetics. More about this later in the
unit.
• The four-month tour lasted for nearly a
year, with over 140 lectures given in 260
days.

10. • In between lectures he made time to meet
with Henry Longfellow, Oliver Wendell
Holmes and Walt Whitman (American
authors and poets).
• He also arranged for his play, “Vera”, to be
staged in New York the following year. No-
one in London would put it on.

11. • In 1888, he published his first successful book –
for children – which was a collection of short
stories (The Happy Prince and Other Stories).
• In 1891, he published A Picture of Dorian Gray
after it has appeared in a literary magazine,
Lippincott’s, in an early version.
• Between 1892 and 1895, he wrote a number of
extremely successful plays, all social comedies:
Lady Windermere’s Fan, A Woman of No
Importance, An Ideal Husband and The
Importance of Being Ernest.

12. Marriage and Children
• On May 29, 1884, Oscar married
Constance Lloyd who was four years
younger.
• Well-read, spoke several European
languages and had an outspoken,
independent mind (rejected corsets!)
• Wilde and Constance had two sons in
quick succession, Cyril in 1885 and
Vyvyan in 1886.

13. Notoriety
• He was known as a flamboyant, outspoken man.
• In 1887 he worked as editor of a magazine,
Woman’s World, dropping the society gossip
column and including articles of female
emancipation, women’s colleges and
Shakespeare.
• He was homosexual at a time when it was illegal
to be homosexual, and, in 1895, he spent two
years in prison (with hard labour) for his ‘crime’.

14. End of his life
• After being released from prison, he went to France and
wandered Europe in failing health and without funds.
• In 1898 he wrote his most celebrated poem, The Ballad
of Reading Gaol, under the pseudonym C33 (his
prisoner number).
• In 1900, he died in Paris from cerebral meningitis; he is
buried in Pere Lachaise in Paris alongside the French
literary elite.

15. Learn more about Wilde’s life
• Oscar Wilde by Richard Canning
(Hesperus Press Brief Lives, 2008)
• Oscar Wilde by Richard Ellmann
(Penguin, 1990)
• Film Wilde with Stephen Fry as Oscar.

16. The Victorian Age
The Victorian era is so called
because it covered the period of
Queen Victoria’s reign from 20
June 1837 until her death on 22
January 1901.

17. A time when Britain was ‘great’
• Vast empire
• Medical breakthroughs (cholera, small pox, tuberculosis,
typhoid...)
• Scientific inventions (steam ships, steam trains, spinning
mills, bridges, radio transmissions, photography,
electricity....)
• The Industrial Revolution
• The Great Exhibition

19. Placing ‘Dorian’ in its time.
• Published in 1891 and set in London of the time;
often viewed as part of the Gothic tradition.
• Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species published
1859.
• Krafft-Ebing’s Psychopathia Sexualis published
1886.
• Law outlawing homosexual acts (‘Blackmailers’
Charter’) passed in 1885.
• Jack the Ripper at work 1888...

20. Other 19th
-century writers
of interest to us
FRANKENSTEIN BY MARY SHELLEY (1818)
• A young scientist, Victor Frankenstein, in trying to find the secret of
life, creates a monster that he immediately hates and tries to
destroy. In order to keep his supernatural use of science a secret
and keep his good name, he tells no-one what he has done. The
monster, driven mad by his creator’s hatred and rejection, kills
anyone Victor is close to and eventually, Victor himself.
Themes: Appearances and reality; supernatural v. science
• Eight feet tall and hideously ugly, the monster is rejected by society.
However, it’s not just his looks that repel people but also the
unnatural manner of his creation, which involves the secretive
animation of a mix of stolen body parts and strange chemicals. He is
a product not of collaborative scientific effort but of dark,
supernatural workings. Victor himself is a kind of monster: ordinary
on the outside, he may be the true “monster” inside - selfish and
hypocritical, he is eventually consumed by an obsessive hatred of
his creation.

21. Other 19th
-century writers of
interest to us
• The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by R. L. Stevenson
(1886)
• In order to live the dissolute life he wants to without losing his
impeccable reputation, scientist Dr Henry Jekyll finds a way to
separate the good and bad sides to his personality, creating a
creature he calls Mr Hyde. At first, he leads a successful double life
but, the more he uses Hyde, the stronger his alter ego becomes
until Hyde starts to take over...
• Themes: hypocrisy of society, appearance v reality, science v
supernatural, London life
• Stevenson wanted to hold a mirror up to Victorian society to show
how hypocritical they were, wearing ‘masks’ of respectability when
they were in fact immoral.

22. Other 19th
-century writers of
interest to us
DRACULA BY BRAM STOKER (1897)
• Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer, travels to Transylvania to close
a real estate deal with a man called Dracula, who is in fact a
vampire. He sets in motion a train of events that bring Dracula and
his group of female vampires to England; Harker, Harker’s girlfriend
Mina, and a vampire expert, Van Helsing, manage to send the
vampires back to Transylvania and kill them.
• Theme: How evil can flourish in the modern world (England)
• Though Stoker begins his novel in a ruined castle — a traditional
Gothic setting — he soon moves the action to Victorian London,
where the advancements of modernity are largely responsible for
the ease with which the count preys upon English society. Only Van
Helsing - whose understanding of modern medical techniques is
tempered with open-mindedness about ancient legends and non-
Western folk remedies - comes close to understanding what is going
on.

23. Victorian hypocrisy exposed!
What are we faced with in the 19th
century?
An age where woman was sacred; and where you could buy a 13-year-old
girl for a few pounds - a few shillings, if you only wanted her for an hour or
two. Where more churches were built than in the whole previous history of
the country; and where one in 60 houses in London was a brothel (the
modern ratio would be nearer one in 6,000). Where the sanctity of marriage
(and chastity before marriage) was proclaimed from every pulpit, in every
newspaper editorial and public utterance; and where never – or hardly ever
– have so many great public figures, from the future king down, led
scandalous private lives. Where the female body had never been so hidden
from view; and where every sculptor was judged by his ability to carve
naked women. Where there is not a single novel, play or poem of literary
distinction that ever goes beyond the sensuality of a kiss...and where the
output of pornography has never been exceeded.
Extract from The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles

24. Victorian England: ‘fallen’ women and the poor
• On the surface, Victorian England seemed very strict and moral. Under the surface, it
was a corrupt society. Drug taking (mainly opium), violent crime, prostitution, adultery
and pornography all went on but were hidden, leading to hypocrisy and double
standards.
• Although some people profited from the Industrial Revolution and there was more
movement from working class to middle class, there was massive poverty and a huge
divide between the aristocratic rich and the poor underclass. But the rich did little to
help the poor – they had no interest in changing the status quo.
• Another double standard: it was usually accepted or even expected that men had sex
outside marriage but women who did this were called ‘fallen women’ and considered
‘ruined’. They were often shunned by polite society, banished from their families, or
worse, left without support, money or connections. Ruined women never fared well...
Images of a ‘fallen woman’
The two paintings on the following slides, entitled Past and Present by Augustus Egg
(1858), tell a story of a woman who has been unfaithful to her husband, with
disastrous consequences for herself and her family.

27. Understanding Victorian Prisons
• Victorians were worried about the rising
crime rate: offences went up from about
5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000
per year in 1840.
• They were firm believers in punishment for
criminals, but faced a problem: what
should the punishment be?

28. Out with the Old
• There were prisons, but they were mostly
small, old and badly-run.
• Common punishments included
transportation - sending the offender to
America, Australia or (Tasmania)
• Execution - hundreds of offences carried
the death penalty.

29. In with the New
• By the 1830s people were having doubts about these
punishments.
• The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built
and old ones extended.
• Victorians believed that prison should be a harsh
punishment so as to deter people from committing
crimes.
• Once inside, prisoners were made to face up to their
own faults. They were kept in silence and made to do
hard, boring work such as walking a treadwheel or
picking oakum (separating strands of rope).

30. Prisoners on a treadwheel at
Pentonville Prison 1895

31. Prisoner at hard labour in cell at
Wormwood Scrubs Prison.

32. The Hard Line
• Hard labour.
• Hard fare: a deliberately monotonous diet,
with exactly the same food on the same
day each week.
• Hard board: wooden board beds replaced
the hammocks that prisoners had slept on
before.

33. Discuss
• Bearing in mind what you know about
Wilde and his personality, how do you
think he would fare under Victorian prison
conditions?

34. Plenary
• Write down three things you have learnt today.
• Write down two things you would like more
information on.
• Write one thing you could use to meet A04 in the
exam.

35. Thursday 9th
January 2014
Learning objectives:
•To empathise with Wilde’s
dilemma with regard to his sexual
orientation.
•To be able to explain aesthetics.

36. HOMEWORK – FOR
TOMORROW
• You should have read The Preface and
Chapter 1 of ‘Dorian’.
• If you don’t have a copy, you should
buy/borrow one as soon as possible.
• The Norton Critical Edition is good
(although huge) because it includes
contextual and critical extras.

37. Watch the following clip – listen
carefully.
Love that dare not speak its name
• Remember that this speech is taken from
actual court records.
• What is the ‘love’ that Wilde is speaking
of?

39. "The love that dare not speak its name" in this century is such a great
affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David
and Jonathan, such as Plato made the very basis of his philosophy,
and such as you find in the sonnets of Michelangelo and Shakespeare.
It is that deep spiritual affection that is as pure as it is perfect. It dictates
and pervades great works of art, like those of Shakespeare and
Michelangelo, and those two letters of mine, such as they are. It is in
this century misunderstood, so much misunderstood that it may be
described as "the love that dare not speak its name," and on that
account of it I am placed where I am now. It is beautiful, it is fine, it is
the noblest form of affection. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is
intellectual, and it repeatedly exists between an older and a younger
man, when the older man has intellect, and the younger man has all
the
joy, hope and glamour of life before him. That it should be so, the world
does not understand. The world mocks at it, and sometimes puts one in
the pillory for it."

40. • In the summer of 1891, Wilde met Lord Alfred 'Bosie'
Douglas, the third son of the Marquis of Queensberry.
• They became lovers until Wilde sued Bosie's father for
libel as the Marquis had accused him of sodomy. He
later withdrew his case.
• Since writing ‘Dorian Gray’, Wilde had committed himself
to an underworld of boy prostitutes. It was chiefly for
these encounters that he was later arrested for “gross
indecency" under Section 11 of the Criminal Law
Amendment Act 1885, a term meaning homosexual acts
not amounting to buggery.
• He was convicted and sentenced to two years hard
labour.
• Constance took the children to Switzerland and reverted
to an old family name, “Holland.”

41. • Upon his release, Wilde and Bosie reunited
briefly, but Wilde spent most of the last three
years of his life wandering Europe, staying with
friends and living in cheap hotels.
• He was unable to rekindle his creative fires and
Wilde died on November 30, 1900.

42. • Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy which
deals with the nature of beauty, art and taste,
and with the creation and appreciation of beauty.
• It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or
sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgements of
sentiment and taste.
• The word aesthetic is derived from the Greek aisthetikos,
meaning "esthetic, sensitive, sentient", which in turn was
derived from aisthanomai, meaning "I perceive, feel, sense“.
• In your handout, you have further information on aesthetics.
Imagine that you had to explain it to a Year 9 student.
• How would you word it? Write at least a paragraph
underneath the definitions you have just written.
Aesthetics

43. Art – your definition

44. Britannica Online
• Defines art as "the use of skill and
imagination in the creation of aesthetic
objects, environments, or experiences that
can be shared with others."

47. Is this art?

48. What is the value of art?
Include in your
consideration
other branches
of the arts, like
literature and
music.

49. The Picture of Dorian Gray
• Wilde’s first and only novel. Published in 1891.
• Themes:
– The purpose of art : aestheticism
– Sin and redemption
– Hedonism
– Love, marriage and friendship
– The supremacy of youth and beauty
– The superficial nature of society
– Hypocrisy
– Appearance versus reality
– Influence/manipulation
– Based on revelations about evil in humanity, the
pleasures of evil and the destructiveness of evil.

50. The Preface
• Discuss, bearing in mind the work we
have done on aestheticism:
• “ We can forgive a man for making a
useful thing as long as he does not admire
it. The only excuse for making a useless
thing is that one admires it intensely.”

51. You should have read the Preface and
Chapter 1.
• What are the main events?
• Can you see any themes emerging?
• What do we learn about characters?
• Why do you think the above are important?
In groups of three, pick three quotes that you think are
important. Consider what they tell us about character,
theme or context. Take one quote each and memorise
it; it mustn’t be too short. We will be playing “Quotation
Pong”!

52. Plenary: Quotation Pong
• Like ping-pong, but with quotations in
place of a ball.
• One person starts; if he/she hesitates or
forgets the quotation, the next person
takes over – and so on until you’ve all
given your quotations.
• Perfect recitation earns a prize.
• Very short quotations will not be accepted!

53. Quotation Bank
Add quotations from the Preface and
Chapter 1 to your Quotation Bank.
From the Preface:
“ We can forgive a man for making a
useful thing as long as he does not admire
it. The only excuse for making a useless
thing is that one admires it intensely.”

54. In pairs
• Discuss this quotation focusing on
what it tells us about author and
context:
• “I like persons better than principles,
and I like persons with no principles
better than anything else in the
world.” (Lord Henry, Chapter 1).
• One of you must be ready to feed
back ideas in three minutes.

55. Change pairs. Consider what
themes are apparent in this
quotation.
“Those who are faithful know only
the trivial side of love: it is the
faithless who know love’s
tragedies.”

56. Comparison
• “He is all my
art to me now”
(Chapter 1)
SONNET 78 - Shakespeare
So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse
And found such fair assistance in my verse
As every alien pen hath got my use
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes that taught the dumb on high to sing
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly
Have added feathers to the learned's wing
And given grace a double majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine and born of thee:
In others' works thou dost but mend the style,
And arts with thy sweet graces graced be;
But thou art all my art and dost advance
As high as learning my rude ignorance.

57. Homework
• Read Chapter 2.
• Consider the effect of narrative voice – be
prepared to feed back.

58. Plenary
• Add the quotations we have discussed today to your
Quotation Bank; make sure you add where in the book
they appear.
• Write down the quotation you memorised on a piece of
paper. Add whether you think it relates to theme,
character or context.
• Make it into a paper airplane.
• Send it across the room to someone else.
• If you haven’t already got that quotation in your Bank,
add it now.

59. Tuesday 14th
January 2014
Learning Objective:
To be able to discuss the
characterisation, themes and use
of narrative voice in Chapter 2.
Read
Chapter 3
for
Friday’s
lesson!

60. Starter: Discuss
“All the candour of youth was
there, as well as all youth’s
passionate purity.”

61. Tasks
1. As a class, read from “Dorian Gray stepped up on the dais, the air
of a young Greek martyr…”(p17) through to “How fascinating the
lad was” (p19). What do we learn about Lord Henry?
(characterisation)
2. The supremacy of youth and beauty (theme) is demonstrated in
Lord Henry’s opinion (p21). Individually, choose one quotation
which you feel represents this theme and write it on your post-it
note and stick them around the room on the walls.
3. Once everyone has done this, you must go and read other people’s
quotations. Pick the one you feel most represents this theme and
copy it down. Be prepared to explain why.
4. How does Wilde foreshadow (device) what is to come in this
chapter?

62. Narrative Voice
• On the next slide, there is an extract of a
journal article. Read this and we will
discuss to what extent you agree with
Molino.
• Find textual evidence to verify your
opinion.

63. Narrator/Voice in The Picture of Dorian Gray: A Question of Consistency,
Control and Perspective
Michael R. Molino (Journal of Irish Literature, vol.20 : no.3 1991)
The narrator in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray holds a significant
position in the novel. As what is traditionally called an omniscient or limited
omniscient narrator, he or she acts as the primary mediator between the
characters, the action, and the setting of the novel and the reader of the
novel, what Gérard Genette calls ‘focalization.’ However, the narrator is
often more than just a camera lens through which the surrounding events
are recording at times. In fact, the narrator seems to have the power to
enter a character's heart and mind in order to perceive and analyse the
motivation, intent, and significance of that character's words,
thoughts, and deeds. Because of the narrator's perspective and apparent
powers of perception, the reader is often inclined to listen with believing
intensity to the words of the narrator, to give his or her words,
perspectives, and analysis credence. The narrator, then, is freed from the
restraints of consciousness and able to weave the narrative in any way he
or she sees fit. Perhaps this power is given too freely by the reader, allowing
the narrator to control the text and dictate its interpretation.

64. Response to article
• Find a quotation in Chapter 2 that shows
‘the narrator seems to have the power to
enter a character's heart and mind’.
• In what ways is the narrator directing the
reader in their interpretation?
• Can you find a quotation that shows the
narrator manipulating us?
• Do you agree with Molino’s view on the
narrator in ‘Dorian’?

65. Plenary
• Add the quotations we have discussed
today to your Quotation Bank; make sure
you add where in the book they appear.
• Check with the person next to you that
they don’t have anything different; if they
do, copy down their quotation; discuss
why they have picked it out.

66. Friday 17th January 2014
Learning objectives:
• To understand how characterisation
reflects context in Chapter 3.

67. Homework
• Read Chapter 4 for next Thursday.
• Consider the portrayal of relationships in
this chapter –
• Lord Henry and his wife
• Dorian and Sybil
• Dorian and Henry.

68. Your learning objectives focus on two of the
examination Assessment Objectives
• AO2: demonstrate detailed critical understanding
in analysing the ways in which structure, form
and language shape meanings in literary texts
• AO4: demonstrate understanding of the
significance and influence of the contexts in
which literary texts are written and received.

69. Introduction: Imagine…
• You hear of a new student starting in your
class. You can find out two things about
them. What would they be?
1)
2)

70. Focus on context
• “What sort of boy is he? If he is like his mother he must
be a very good looking chap.”
• Who is speaking to whom? At what point in the
conversation?
• How far does this response match yours from the
previous slide?
• Contextually, has anything changed between then and
now in what we think is important to know about
someone?

71. Focus on context
• Get into pairs or threes.
• Each pair/group will be given a quotation and a question.
Discuss an answer to the question, remembering the
focus is context (social, historical, cultural).
• On a mini-whiteboard, write down your response to the
question. You have 10 minutes.
• Be prepared to feedback to the rest of the class.
CHALLENGE QUESTION
(applicable to all quotations)
• What does this tell us about the superficial nature of
society at the time? (theme)

72. Feedback
‘Margaret Devereux...made all the men frantic by running away with a
penniless young fellow; a mere nobody.’
‘The thing was hushed up but, egad, Kelso ate his chop alone at the club
for some time afterwards.’
‘They are pork-packers, I suppose?’
‘I hope so, Uncle George, for Dartmoor’s sake. I am told that pork-packing
is the most lucrative profession in America...’
‘Tell your Aunt Agatha...not to bother me any more with her charity
appeals. I am sick of them. Why, the good woman thinks that I have
nothing to do but to write cheques for her silly fads.’
When your quotation appears, come to the front with your
quotation sheet and whiteboard. Let the class know what
your question was then share your responses.

73. Review
• We have focused on context. But do the
quotations add anything to our knowledge
of the characters?
• Add these quotations to your Bank.

74. Thursday 23rd January 2014
Learning objectives:
• To be able to discuss the significance
of language in a specific extract.
FOCUS ON
CHAPTER 3

75. Starter
DORIAN GRAY
• Is the name a metaphor?
• Gray / grey?
• Dorian?
Dorian comes from
Greek – the Dorians
were one of the four
main Greek ethnic
groups during ancient
times. The word is said
to mean ‘gift’.

76. Chapter 3: Focus on language
• Get into groups of four.
• Working together, go through the extract
on the sheet, where Henry is extolling
Dorian’s beauty.
• Highlight Wilde’s use of language for
effect, including devices.
• Add comments on their effect (why they
work, what Wilde is saying through their
use).
20 minutes

77. Focus on language:
a devices duel!
• On the following slides, I have divided up most of the extract
into sections. In the first two sections, I have helped you by
highlighting some interesting quotations; last section, you’re
on your own!
• Taking turns, a member of each group will come up to the
board and highlight a device in that section, saying what the
effect is.
• The rest of the class should update their own copy of the
extract with any extra devices.
• The winner of each section is the group that lasts longest in
finding devices.
• Overall winners decided at end! Lollies for prizes.

78. So that was the story of Dorian Gray's parentage.
Crudely as it had been told to him, it had yet stirred him
by its suggestion of a strange, almost modern romance.
A beautiful woman risking everything for a mad passion.
A few wild weeks of happiness cut short by a hideous,
treacherous crime. Months of voiceless agony, and then
a child born in pain. The mother snatched away by death,
the boy left to solitude and the tyranny of an old and
loveless man. Yes; it was an interesting background.
It posed the lad, made him more perfect, as it were.
Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was
something tragic. Worlds had to be in travail, that the
meanest flower might blow.

79. . . . And how charming he had been at dinner the night before,
as with startled eyes and lips parted in frightened pleasure
he had sat opposite to him at the club, the red candleshades
staining to a richer rose the wakening wonder of his face.
Talking to him was like playing upon an exquisite violin.
He answered to every touch and thrill of the bow. . . . There
was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of
influence. No other activity was like it. To project one's soul
into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment;
to hear one's own intellectual views echoed back to one with
all the added music of passion and youth; to convey one's
temperament into another as though it were a subtle fluid or
a strange perfume: there was a real joy in that--perhaps the
most satisfying joy left to us in an age so limited and vulgar
as our own, an age grossly carnal in its pleasures, and
grossly common in its aims....

80. He was a marvellous type, too, this lad, whom by so curious a
chance he had met in Basil's studio, or could be fashioned into a
marvellous type, at any rate. Grace was his, and the white purity of
boyhood, and beauty such as old Greek marbles kept for us. There
was nothing that one could not do with him. He could be made a
Titan or a toy. What a pity it was that such beauty was destined to
fade!
. . . And Basil? From a psychological point of view, how interesting he
was! The new manner in art, the fresh mode of looking at life,
suggested so strangely by the merely visible presence of one who
was unconscious of it all; the silent spirit that dwelt in dim woodland,
and walked unseen in open field, suddenly showing herself, Dryadlike
and not afraid, because in his soul who sought for her there had been
wakened that wonderful vision to which alone are wonderful things
revealed; the mere shapes and patterns of things becoming, as it
were, refined, and gaining a kind of symbolical value, as though
they were themselves patterns of some other and more perfect
form whose shadow they made real: how strange it all was!

81. Plenary
Look at your annotated extract. Through his use of
language, what is Wilde trying to convey:
 about Dorian?
 about Henry?
 about beauty?
Your learning objectives were:
1.
2. To be able to discuss the
significance of language in
a specific extract.
In your books, put a tick by
the learning objective if you
feel you have met it.

82. Thursday 23rd January 2014
Learning Objective:
• To explore the representation of
love and relationships in Chapter 4.
“Never marry a
woman with
straw coloured
hair, Dorian…”

83. Introduction: Chapter 4
• What happens in this chapter?
• What new characters are we introduced
to?
• Are any of the major themes significantly
developed in this chapter?

84. Task 1: In groups of 3
Pick one quotation each from the following and write your
quotation in your glossary, trying to memorise it:
• ‘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.’ Henry speaking. (theme)
• ‘You know how a voice can stir one. Your voice and the voice of Sibyl
Vane are two things that I shall never forget.’(device/language)
• ‘You, who know all the secrets of life, tell me how to charm Sibyl Vane
to love me! I want to make Romeo jealous, I want the dead lovers of
the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our
passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into
pain. My God, Harry, how I worship her!’ (theme and character)

85. • Individually, think about how the quotation you have
chosen would be spoken (tone of voice, speed,
intonation).
• Consider facial expression and body language.
• In your group, each of you in turn act out your quotation,
putting intonation and gesture etc into your enactment.
• Discuss why you decided to enact it in the way you did.
Any volunteers to
act it out in front of
the class?

86. Task 2: Focus on character
From your quotation:
• What do we learn about the character?
(characterisation)
In Chapter 4 as a whole, how are the relationships
between the following portrayed?
• Lord Henry and his wife
• Dorian and Sybil
• Dorian and Henry - how has Dorian changed in his
attitude towards Henry?
Write three short paragraphs outlining your ideas.

87. Create a ‘before and after’ picture to show the
change in Dorian towards Lord Henry. Add
annotations to explain how he has changed.
• Start with Chapter 2, when Dorian is drawn but
disturbed by Lord Henry’s attitude to life. What is
he like at this stage?
• Go on to Chapter 4, where a change has taken
place in Dorian – he seems different now.

88. Plenary
• Swap with someone else.
• Discuss your pictures.
• Do you agree with each other?

89. Monday 27th January 2014
Learning Objectives:
• To know what romanticism is.
• To be familiar with some romantic writing.

90. The Romantics
• An artistic and philosophical movement beginning in 1798
(the year of the first edition of Lyrical Ballads by
Wordsworth and Coleridge) and went on into the second
half of the 19th
century.
• As well as Wordsworth and Coleridge, other famous
Romantic writers and poets are William Blake, Sir Walter
Scott, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley
(married to Mary), Goethe (Germany), Rousseau (France)
and Walt Whitman (America).

91. The Romantics believed....
• ...in freedom of the individual and the value of
individual experience. This could sometimes
lead to excess and social ostracism.
• ...in the power of the imagination, which was
seen as the supreme faculty of the mind.
• ..in the power of nature, rather than religion,
particularly when it comes to easing human
suffering. Nature itself was looked upon as a
work of art.

92. They had a strong interest in...
• Mythology
• Folklore and medieval texts (including
ancient legends)
• Shakespeare
• Another Elizabethan writer called Spenser,
who wrote the first published version of
the legend of King Arthur
(‘The Faerie Queene’).

93. Find out more about the
Romantics
• http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english
/melani/cs6/rom.html
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/romantics/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XV_q45Otdic

94. Romantic poetry
• Read the two poems on the sheet, the first
by John Keats, the second by William
Wordsworth.
• Both are written in the Romantic tradition.
• Consider what is there that shows they are
part of this tradition (use your Romantics
cribsheet to help you).

95. Endymion,
Book I
by John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink

96. THE DAFFODILS
by William
Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,

97. Oscar Wilde was influenced by
the Romantics.
• Look again at Keats’ poem from
Endymion. Highlight words, phrases or
lines that remind you of Wilde’s ideas and
language in A Portrait of Dorian Gray.
• Write a paragraph in response to the
statement at the top of this slide in light of
what you know about the Romantics.

98. Plenary
• Swap paragraphs with someone in the
class.
• Read each other’s paragraphs and then
discuss similarities and differences.
• Copy down anything from your partner’s
paragraph that you didn’t think of.
• Feedback to the class.

99. Tuesday 28th
January 2014
Learning objective:
To be able to analyse character
and theme development in the
novel up to Chapter 4.

100. HOMEWORK
• Read chapter 5 for Friday 31st
.

101. Written response (50 mins)
Comment on the way the theme of love and
friendship has been developed so far in
the novel. Include:
• The friendship between Basil and Dorian
• The way Henry intervenes in the
relationship
• Dorian’s changing relationship with Henry
• Their attitudes towards love.

102. Plenary
Choose your best
point
development
and read it out.

103. Friday 31st January 2014
Learning objectives:
To know the significance of
Chapter 5 with regard to
theme and character
development.

104. HOMEWORK
• Read Chapters 6 and 7 for Thursday 6th
.

105. Starter: focus on context
First lines of chapter:
‘“Mother, mother, I am so happy!” whispered the girl,
burying her face in the lap of the faded, tired-looking
woman who, with back turned to the shrill intrusive light,
was sitting in the one armchair that their dingy sitting-
room contained.’
• Why did Wilde start the chapter this way?
• What words tell us we are in a different social setting
to the milieu Wilde has offered us so far?
• How does this description contrast with descriptions
of Dorian and Henry’s world? Use the pictures on
the next slide to help you form opinions.

106. Upper class
Comfortable working
class
Poor lower class

107. Focus on character
THE
VANES
SIBYL
MRS
VANE
JAMES
Old
before
her time
‘faded, tired-
looking’
Add 3 things you
have learnt about
each character;
back up your ideas
with a quotation
each time.

108. Focus on character
• Get into pairs and share what you have
found.
• Add to your own thinking map anything
new that your partner has on their map.
• Let’s feedback.

109. Focus on character
THE
VANES
SIBYL
MRS
VANE
JAMES
Old
before
her time
‘faded, tired-
looking’

110. Focus on theme:
appearance and reality
In your pairs, make notes on in what way(s):
• Sibyl is not living in ‘reality’.
• Mrs Vane is not living in reality.
• Mrs Vane tries to keep up appearances.
• James presents ‘realism’.
• James doesn’t present ‘realism’.

111. Focus on language
• Read again from the start of the chapter to
where it says, ‘Mother did you love my
father as I love Prince Charming?’
• Find three interesting uses of language
(including devices) and comment on why
they are effective.

112. Plenary
Focus on Dorian:
• What is the significance of Sibyl calling
him ‘Prince Charming’?
• What does it signify that Dorian can ride
past Sibyl in his carriage without noticing
her?

113. Thursday 6th
February 2014
Learning objectives:
1.To understand how the theme
of appearance and reality is
advanced in Chapter 7.
2.To evaluate how Wilde
introduces the supernatural into
the narrative.

114. HOMEWORK
• Read Chapter 8 and 9 for Monday 10th
.
• Consider how each man (Henry and
Dorian) exhibits
– cruelty
– selfishness
How much are these traits a result of their
class and gender?

115. Chapter 6
• How is your knowledge of the three
characters developed in this chapter?
• Dorian
• Henry
• Basil

116. Chapter 7: close focus
Look at the section that begins ‘When the second act was
over...’ to ‘What more do you want?’
• What does this section show about the three men’s
attitudes towards women? Discuss in pairs (3 mins)
• Write down one quotation for each character in your
Quotation Bank.
New Term: ‘Separate Spheres’
A 19th
-century doctrine on appropriate
activities for the sexes. Men went out
into the world for work and exchange
of ideas; women stayed at home,
providing a soft centre for constancy,
stability and spirituality.

117. ‘I have grown sick of shadows’
An allusion to a poem called ‘The Lady of
Shalott’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poets/alf
red_lord_tennyson.shtml?pty_vid=2
When Lancelot sees her dead
body, he says, ‘She has a
lovely face’.
How does Tennyson’s story
and Lancelot’s comment tie in
with Dorian Gray?

118. Chapter 7: Introduction of the
supernatural
When Dorian gets home from the theatre, Wilde
introduces the idea that the portrait has changed slowly
– the reader keeps going back to the portrait with Dorian.
• Compile an eight-window storyboard following
Dorian’s journey from disbelief to realisation, from where
it says ‘as he was turning the handle of the door....’ to
the end of the chapter. Add a quotation at the bottom of
each window, explaining your picture.

119. Plenary
How does this chapter advance the theme of appearance
versus reality...
...through Dorian?
...through Sibyl?
Write one idea on the Post-it note and give it to me as you
leave – it’s your exit ticket!

120. Monday 10th
February 2014
Learning objectives:
1.To have developed my
understanding of the relationships
between Dorian and Henry, and
Dorian and Basil.

121. Chapter 8
• In this chapter, how does Henry and
Dorian exhibit:
• cruelty
• selfishness
How much are these traits a result of their
class and gender?
Discuss the
above.

122. Chapter 9
• This is a companion chapter to Chapter 8.
• In the previous chapter, the reader was
presented with Henry’s view of Sibyl’s
suicide and his chance to influence
Dorian; here, we are presented with
Basil’s.
• In small groups, discuss the differences in
the two relationships (Dorian/Henry,
Dorian/Basil). 3 mins

123. Review
• What are the differences between the two
relationships?
DORIAN AND HENRY DORIAN AND BASIL

124. Different sides of Dorian
Work in pairs, discussing the quotation you have been
given. What does your quotation show about Dorian? Find
an adjective to sum up the personality trait it most exhibits.
‘I was a school
boy when you
knew me. I am
a man now.’
‘Don’t talk about
horrid subjects. If
one doesn’t talk
about a thing, it
has never
happened.’
‘Stop, Basil! I
won’t hear it!
You must not
tell me about
things.’
‘If you had come in
yesterday at a particular
moment – about half-past
five, perhaps, or a quarter
to six – you would have
found me in tears.
‘Old brocades, green
bronzes, lacquer-work,
carved ivories,
exquisite surroundings,
luxury, pomp, there is
much to be got from all
these.’
Bearing in mind the other
quotations, can you
comment on this one?

125. Tuesday 11th
February 2014
Learning objectives:
1.To have developed my
understanding of Dorian and
Basil.
2.To know what the allusions are
in Chapter 9.

126. HOMEWORK FOR FRIDAY
• Read Chapters 10 and 11.
• Consider in chapter 10:
– The significance of the locked, disregarded
playroom/schoolroom
– Dorian’s growing paranoia
– The effect of Henry’s book on Dorian.
• In Chapter 11, note:
– any references to Dorian’s appearance
– Any references to changes in the portrait
– Any references to his suspect reputation
– His changing interests
– His ‘heroes’.

127. Literary allusions:
Faustus
• The foundation for all stories about selling
your soul to the devil. Best known English
version by Christopher Marlowe, writing at
about the same time as Shakespeare.
• Dr Faustus

128. Discuss
• How is the story of Dr Faustus relevant to
Dorian Gray?

129. Historical allusions: Emperor
Hadrian and Antinous
‘Crowned with heavy lotus-
blossoms you had sat on
the prow of Adrian’s barge,
gazing across the green
turbid Nile.’ (Basil)
The Emperor had a young lover, Antinous, known for
his great beauty. He died when he fell into the Nile
while travelling in the Emperor’s barge (AD132). The
death was mysterious: it could have been an accident
but it could equally have been murder or suicide –
suicide because he was aware that he was getting
older, would lose his beauty and then also his power.
Hadrian mourned him for eight years, falling into a
depression he could not pull himself out of.
In what
ways is
Dorian like
Antinous?

130. Mythological allusions:
Adonis and Narcissus
• Narcissus is the son of the river
god Cephissus and the nymph
Liriope. Tiresias, the seer, told
his parents that the child "would
live to an old age if it did not look
at itself." Many nymphs and girls
fell in love with him but he
rejected them. The goddess
Nemesis heard the rejected girls
prayers for vengeance and
arranged for Narcissus to fall in
love with his own reflection. He
stayed watching his reflection
and let himself die.
When Adonis was born, Aphrodite was
so moved by his beauty that she
sheltered him and entrusted him to
Persephone. She was also taken by his
beauty and refused to give him back.
The dispute between the two
goddesses was settled by Zeus who
decided that Adonis was to spend one-
third of every year with each goddess
and the last third wherever he chose.
He always chose to spend two-thirds of
the year with Aphrodite.
This went on till his death, where he
was fatally wounded by a wild boar,
said to be caused by either Artemis or
Aphrodite's lover, Ares, who was
jealous of Adonis.
Links to Dorian?

131. Close-text focus
Look at the section where Basil tells his ‘secret’
from ‘I see you did....’ to ‘you are made to be
worshipped.’
• Make a list of repeated words. Why are they
significant?
• Highlight personal pronouns. What do you
notice?
• Basil’s speech is a confession of love. Pick out
words and phrases that show he is talking about
love rather than artistic obsession.

132. Basil’s confession
In Wilde’s original manuscript, he included two lines which
he later went on to delete. In the original:
Basil asked if there is something in the picture that has
‘filled you perhaps with a sense of shame?’
He also said, ‘I have worshipped you with far more
romance of feeling than a man should ever give to a
friend’.
Why do you think that
Wilde deleted these
two lines?
In the speech as it stands, how
obvious do you think the homosexual
sub-text is?
Try to consider the question from both
a modern and Victorian standpoint.

133. Good Angel/Bad Angel
Role play:
In groups of three,
•One person is Dorian
•One person is Good Angel (Basil)
•One person is Bad Angel (Henry)
Talk to him about Sybil.

134. Plenary
• How does Basil’s speech
develop the theme of art
and reality?
• How does Basil
compare/differ from Sybil
with regard to this theme?

135. Friday 14th
February 2014
Learning objectives:
To be able to read a text for
meaning.

136. HOMEWORK FOR 1ST
LESSON BACK
• Read Chapters 12-16.

137. Chapter 10
• Discuss:
• The significance of the locked,
disregarded playroom/schoolroom
• Dorian’s growing paranoia
• The effect of Henry’s book on Dorian.

138. Chapter 11: For years....
• What does this opening phrase signify to
the reader?
• What is this chapter going to be about?
Writer’s dilemma: How to keep the reader
interested once Dorian has ‘sold his soul’ (lack
of suspense thereafter)?
Redemption/Repentance Retribution/Revenge
(Comeuppance)

139. Chapter 11
You should have looked for:
• Any references to Dorian’s appearance
• Any references to changes in the portrait
• Any references to his suspect reputation
• His changing interests
• His ‘heroes’.
Let’s look at what you found.

140. Contrast appearances:
Dorian and the portrait
DORIAN THE PORTRAIT
Focus on
Chapter
11

141. His suspicious reputation:
find quotations
What makes people
disbelieve the rumours
about him?
What does this tell us
about the society he is
part of?
Focus on
Chapter
11

142. His interests over the years...
Find seven pastimes that have taken up his
time and interest.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Focus on
Chapter
11

143. At the end of the chapter, Dorian lists his ‘heroes’
from the past. Find three historical figures and
outline what they did to get on Dorian’s wish list.
HISTORICAL FIGURE WHAT THEY DID
1.
2.
3.

144. Close-text focus: find the paragraph that starts ‘Yet
these whispered scandals only increased....’ down
to ‘...multiply our personalities.’ (Just before Dorian
starts going through his family portraits, looking for
sinners.)
This paragraph is interesting when considering narrative
voice.
• Who is talking here?
• Who is saying, ‘I think not’?
• Comment on the first sentence of the next paragraph:
‘Such, at any rate, was Dorian Gray’s opinion’.
Focus on
Chapter
11

145. Plenary: final lines
‘Dorian had been poisoned by a book.
There were moments when he looked on
evil simply as a mode through which he
could realise his conception of the
beautiful.’o In your books, write down one comment
responding to this quotation and focusing on
either theme, character or language.
o Swap books with the person next to you and
discuss your comments.
o Feedback your partner’s thoughts to the
class.

146. Chapters 12, 13 and 14
Learning objective:
To be able to recognise the significance
of Chapters 12, 13 and 14 in Dorian’s
psychological development.
We will read these chapters without
stopping, as they form one unit of
action which we will discuss at the
end of Chapter 14.

147. Unpacking Chs 12-14
Chapter 12 – Discussion
Make notes/annotate as we go along.
1. In what ways is the fog (described at the beginning of the
chapter) being used figuratively and symbolically?
2. Find at least one quotation which shows Basil as ‘good
angel’ or the voice of Dorian’s (non-existent) conscience.
3. Find quotations which show Dorian has lost respect for
Basil and wants him to suffer.
4. Analyse the short sentence: ‘Don’t touch me!”, uttered by
Dorian near the end of the chapter.

148. Unpacking Chapter 12-14
Chapter 13
‘Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him,
Basil.’
Allusions:
Dr Faustus: ‘This is hell, nor am I out of it’ (Mephistopheles
speaking)
Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ (Book II, lines 254-5): ‘The mind is its
own place, and in itself / Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of
heaven’. (Satan speaking)
‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ by R. L. Stevenson: ‘All human beings
are commingled out of good and evil’. (Dr Jekyll speaking in
his confession.)

149. Unpacking Chapters 12-14
Chapter 13
• Work in pairs.
• You have been given an extract from the
chapter.
• Analyse it closely, looking for development of
theme, language/imagery and character.
• You have been given a prompt question to get
you started. Don’t just answer this question,
though – there is a lot more to be unpacked from
each extract.

150. What is there about the setting and the language that sets this extract
firmly in the gothic genre?
He passed out of the room and began the ascent, Basil Hallward following close behind. They walked
softly, as men do instinctively at night. The lamp cast fantastic shadows on the wall and staircase. A
rising wind made some of the windows rattle.
When they reached the top landing, Dorian set the lamp down on the floor, and taking out the key,
turned it in the lock. "You insist on knowing, Basil?" he asked in a low voice.
"Yes."
"I am delighted," he answered, smiling. Then he added, somewhat harshly, "You are the one man in the
world who is entitled to know everything about me. You have had more to do with my life than you think";
and, taking up the lamp, he opened the door and went in. A cold current of air passed them, and the
light shot up for a moment in a flame of murky orange. He shuddered. "Shut the door behind you," he
whispered, as he placed the lamp on the table.
Hallward glanced round him with a puzzled expression. The room looked as if it had not been lived in for
years. A faded Flemish tapestry, a curtained picture, an old Italian cassone, and an almost empty book-
case--that was all that it seemed to contain, besides a chair and a table. As Dorian Gray was lighting a
half-burned candle that was standing on the mantelshelf, he saw that the whole place was covered with
dust and that the carpet was in holes. A mouse ran scuffling behind the wainscoting. There was a damp
odour of mildew.
"So you think that it is only God who sees the soul, Basil? Draw that curtain back, and you will see
mine."
The voice that spoke was cold and cruel. "You are mad, Dorian, or playing a part," muttered Hallward,
frowning.
"You won't? Then I must do it myself," said the young man, and he tore the curtain from its rod and flung
it on the ground.
An exclamation of horror broke from the painter's lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the
canvas grinning at him.

151. How much is Dorian Gray a spectator or an actor in
this extract?
It was some foul parody, some infamous ignoble satire. He had never done that. Still, it was
his own picture. He knew it, and he felt as if his blood had changed in a moment from fire to
sluggish ice. His own picture! What did it mean? Why had it altered? He turned and looked
at Dorian Gray with the eyes of a sick man. His mouth twitched, and his parched tongue
seemed unable to articulate. He passed his hand across his forehead. It was dank with
clammy sweat.
The young man was leaning against the mantelshelf, watching him with that strange
expression that one sees on the faces of those who are absorbed in a play when some
great artist is acting. There was neither real sorrow in it nor real joy. There was simply the
passion of the spectator, with perhaps a flicker of triumph in his eyes. He had taken the
flower out of his coat, and was smelling it, or pretending to do so.
"What does this mean?" cried Hallward, at last. His own voice sounded shrill and curious in
his ears.
"Years ago, when I was a boy," said Dorian Gray, crushing the flower in his hand, "you met
me, flattered me, and taught me to be vain of my good looks. One day you introduced me to
a friend of yours, who explained to me the wonder of youth, and you finished a portrait of
me that revealed to me the wonder of beauty. In a mad moment that, even now, I don't
know whether I regret or not, I made a wish, perhaps you would call it a prayer...."

152. What words and phrases make this extract particularly
gruesome and violent?
Dorian Gray glanced at the picture, and suddenly an uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil
Hallward came over him, as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas,
whispered into his ear by those grinning lips. The mad passions of a hunted animal stirred
within him, and he loathed the man who was seated at the table, more than in his whole life he
had ever loathed anything. He glanced wildly around. Something glimmered on the top of the
painted chest that faced him. His eye fell on it. He knew what it was. It was a knife that he had
brought up, some days before, to cut a piece of cord, and had forgotten to take away with him.
He moved slowly towards it, passing Hallward as he did so. As soon as he got behind him, he
seized it and turned round. Hallward stirred in his chair as if he was going to rise. He rushed at
him and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man's head down
on the table and stabbing again and again.
There was a stifled groan and the horrible sound of someone choking with blood. Three times
the outstretched arms shot up convulsively, waving grotesque, stiff-fingered hands in the air. He
stabbed him twice more, but the man did not move. Something began to trickle on the floor. He
waited for a moment, still pressing the head down. Then he threw the knife on the table, and
listened.
He could hear nothing, but the drip, drip on the threadbare carpet. He opened the door and
went out on the landing. The house was absolutely quiet. For a few seconds he stood bending
over the balustrade and peering down into the black seething well of darkness. Then he took
out the key and returned to the room, locking himself in. The thing was still seated in the chair,
straining over the table with bowed head, and humped back, and long fantastic arms.

153. Why has Wilde written such a detailed description of
the London street at this point?
How quickly it had all been done! He felt strangely calm, and walking over to the window, opened
it and stepped out on the balcony. The wind had blown the fog away, and the sky was like a
monstrous peacock's tail, starred with myriads of golden eyes. He looked down and saw the
policeman going his rounds and flashing the long beam of his lantern on the doors of the silent
houses. The crimson spot of a prowling hansom gleamed at the corner and then vanished. A
woman in a fluttering shawl was creeping slowly by the railings, staggering as she went. Now and
then she stopped and peered back. Once, she began to sing in a hoarse voice. The policeman
strolled over and said something to her. She stumbled away, laughing. A bitter blast swept across
the square. The gas-lamps flickered and became blue, and the leafless trees shook their black
iron branches to and fro. He shivered and went back, closing the window behind him.
Having reached the door, he turned the key and opened it. He did not even glance at the
murdered man. He felt that the secret of the whole thing was not to realize the situation. The
friend who had painted the fatal portrait to which all his misery had been due had gone out of his
life. That was enough.
Then he remembered the lamp. It was a rather curious one of Moorish workmanship, made of
dull silver inlaid with arabesques of burnished steel, and studded with coarse turquoises. Perhaps
it might be missed by his servant, and questions would be asked. He hesitated for a moment,
then he turned back and took it from the table. He could not help seeing the dead thing. How still
it was! How horribly white the long hands looked! It was like a dreadful wax image.
Having locked the door behind him, he crept quietly downstairs. The woodwork creaked and
seemed to cry out as if in pain. He stopped several times and waited. No: everything was still. It
was merely the sound of his own footsteps.

154. Time ticking on...
Be a detective and work out what
happened when across Chapters 12-14.
TIME EVENT
9th
Nov 11pm
10th
Nov, between
1-1.40am
2.10am
About 2.30am
Morning, 9am
About 10.30am
About 11am
1.10pm
Between 7–
7.30pm

155. Time ticking on....
Chapter 14: Dorian Gray is preoccupied
with time at this point in the narrative.
• How does Wilde make this clear to the
reader?
• Why is Dorian preoccupied with time?
• How does Dorian take his mind off his
troubles?
• Why doesn’t this work?

156. Chapter 14: Time
This extract (where Dorian is waiting for Campbell to arrive) is packed full of
figurative devices – I have highlighted them in red so you can see for
yourselves. Your task is to choose at least four of the devices, name them and
analyse their effect.
Every second he kept glancing at the clock. As the minutes went by he
became horribly agitated. At last he got up and began to pace up and down
the room, looking like a beautiful caged thing. He took long stealthy strides.
His hands were curiously cold.
The suspense became unbearable. Time seemed to him to be crawling with
feet of lead, while he by monstrous winds was being swept towards the
jagged edge of some black cleft of precipice. He knew what was waiting for
him there; saw it, indeed, and, shuddering, crushed with dank hands his
burning lids as though he would have robbed the very brain of sight and
driven the eyeballs back into their cave. It was useless. The brain had its own
food on which it battened, and the imagination, made grotesque by terror,
twisted and distorted as a living thing by pain, danced like some foul puppet
on a stand and grinned through moving masks. Then, suddenly, time stopped
for him. Yes: that blind, slow-breathing thing crawled no more, and horrible
thoughts, time being dead, raced nimbly on in front, and dragged a hideous
future from its grave, and showed it to him. He stared at it. Its very horror
made him stone.

157. Chapter 14: Time
This extract (where Dorian is waiting for Campbell to arrive) is packed full of
figurative devices – I have highlighted them in red so you can see for
yourselves. Your task is to choose at least four of the devices, name them and
analyse their effect.
Every second he kept glancing at the clock. As the minutes went by he
became horribly agitated. At last he got up and began to pace up and down
the room, looking like a beautiful caged thing. He took long stealthy strides.
His hands were curiously cold.
The suspense became unbearable. Time seemed to him to be crawling with
feet of lead, while he by monstrous winds was being swept towards the
jagged edge of some black cleft of precipice. He knew what was waiting for
him there; saw it, indeed, and, shuddering, crushed with dank hands his
burning lids as though he would have robbed the very brain of sight and
driven the eyeballs back into their cave. It was useless. The brain had its own
food on which it battened, and the imagination, made grotesque by terror,
twisted and distorted as a living thing by pain, danced like some foul puppet
on a stand and grinned through moving masks. Then, suddenly, time stopped
for him. Yes: that blind, slow-breathing thing crawled no more, and horrible
thoughts, time being dead, raced nimbly on in front, and dragged a hideous
future from its grave, and showed it to him. He stared at it. Its very horror
made him stone.
What emotion(s) is Dorian
experiencing (perhaps for the first
time)?

158. Allusions
Consider:
What other famous murderer from literature
talks about time, the imagination and the
brain in similar terms?
BIG CLUE: he, too, kills his best friend.
What are the differences between
Macbeth’s response to murder and
Dorian’s?

159. What are the differences between
Macbeth’s response to murder and
Dorian’s?
So...who is
more evil?
Just to be really clear about
this....
Dorian Gray is more evil than
Macbeth who was ‘in
blood /Stepped in so far’.
WHY?

160. Plenary
What’s odd about this extract?
‘A groan broke from Campbell's lips and he shivered all over. The
ticking of the clock on the mantelpiece seemed to him to be dividing
time into separate atoms of agony, each of which was too terrible to
be borne. He felt as if an iron ring was being slowly tightened round
his forehead, as if the disgrace with which he was threatened had
already come upon him. The hand upon his shoulder weighed like a
hand of lead. It was intolerable. It seemed to crush him.’
Change of narrative perspective
Its tone and use of devices is very similar to the previous extract we
looked at except this time, we are in Alan Campbell’s head.
• Why has Wilde changed narrative perspective at this point?

161. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chapter 15
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chapter 15
To examine Dorian’s enjoyment of
‘the terrible pleasures of a double
life’
To examine Dorian’s enjoyment of
‘the terrible pleasures of a double
life’

162. Let’s read Chapter 15.
• As we read, think about the reasons Wilde
included this chapter.
• Why did Wilde include this chapter?

163. StructureStructure
• Re-read the final two paragraphs of
Chapter 14 and the first paragraph of
Chapter 15.
• What do you notice about the language
used by Wilde?
• How does he describe the state of
Dorian’s mind?

164. Context and WomenContext and Women
• How are the women represented in this
chapter compared to the men?
• Examine the character of Lady
Narborough. How does Wilde use
language effectively to convey her
strength and wit?
• Find quotes to support your opinion.

165. The Changing Face of DorianThe Changing Face of Dorian
• Find quotes that support a negative
depiction of Dorian in this chapter:

166. Dorian’s State of MindDorian’s State of Mind
• Write a paragraph describing Dorian’s
state of mind in Chapters 14 and 15.
• How does Wilde use language to convey
Dorian’s enjoyment of ‘the terrible
pleasures of a double life’?

167. PlenaryPlenary
‘He hesitated for some moments, with a
strangely immobile smile upon his face.
Then shivering, thought the atmosphere in
the room was terribly hot, he drew himself
to the clock. And glanced at the clock. It
was twenty minutes to twelve.’
What does the constant references to time
symbolise?

168. The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chapter 16
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Chapter 16
To examine elements of the
Gothic in Chapter 16
To examine elements of the
Gothic in Chapter 16

169. Let’s read Chapter 16
As we read, look out for:
• Gothic features in the description of
setting
• Christian religious references
• What Dorian’s journey to the East End
symbolises
• Who the new characters he interacts with
symbolise.

170. Revise what are the key features of
the Gothic genre?
Revise what are the key features of
the Gothic genre?

171. Gothic features in the setting

172. Religious references
Both Dorian and James Vane talk
about forgiveness. What is the
difference between them?

173. Symbolism
• What does the journey
into the East End
symbolise?
• Who do the new
characters symbolise?
‘He could see the
strange bottle-necked
kilns with their orange
fan-like tongues of fire’
‘a young man with
smooth yellow hair’
‘Prince Charming
made me what I
am!’

174. Individual Task
• Pick one paragraph from Chapter 16 that you feel has a lot of
interesting language and/or imagery in it.
• Quickly highlight and annotate it in your book.
• Now, pick a partner to work with. Tell each other what
paragraph you have chosen but don’t let them see your
annotations.
• Read, highlight and annotate the paragraph given to you by
your partner.
• Compare the two paragraphs – did your partner pick out
different examples of language? Did you agree on
interpretations?
• Feedback to the class.

175. Key QuoteKey Quote
• Dorian stated to Basil that ‘each of us has
Heaven and Hell in him’.
• Write a paragraph analysing how
successful Wilde is in depicting both
Heaven and Hell in this chapter. Find
quotes to support your opinion
– Try to find Biblical references
– You can also contrast the setting with Basil’s
Eden-like garden in Chapter 2)

176. Plenary
• In what ways are Chapter 15 and Chapter
16 companion chapters?
How do these chapters
develop the theme of
appearance and reality?

177. Chapter 17
Learning objective:
1.To be able to read a text for
meaning.
2.To assess the role of female
characters in the story.

178. Let’s read Chapter 17
• This chapter takes place at Selby Royal, Dorian’s country
manor. He has invited a party of people to stay.
• Much of the chapter appears like one of Wilde’s own social
comedies – The Importance of Being Ernest or An Ideal
Husband - where there is a lot of repartee and banter
between the sexes, some of it sexually loaded.
• Like Chapter 15, when we met the intelligent and witty Lady
Narborough, we now meet the intelligent and witty Duchess
of Monmouth.
• As we read, consider how Wilde has presented women
in this book and whether we can gauge his attitude
towards them from his presentation of them here.

179. Task: Wilde’s presentation of women
• Write a paragraph outlining your ideas on
how Wilde has presented his female
characters through the story.
• Is there a difference between women of different
social classes?
• Does he seem sympathetic towards their
situation and lack of power?
• Find quotations to support your response.

180. Plenary: feedback
• Let’s discuss your ideas.
• Lolly sticks decide who feeds back!

181. Chapter 18
Learning objective:
1.To be able to read a text for
meaning.
2.To understand Dorian’s state of
mind at this point in the story.

182. Let’s read Chapter 18
In one of his plays, ‘A Woman of No Importance’, Wilde
defined hunting as ‘the unspeakable in full pursuit of the
uneatable.’ Wilde did not support hunting.
In this chapter:
• Who voices Wilde’s views on hunting?
• Why do you think this character feels this way?
• How does Wilde make it clear that he feels those who
hunt are ‘unspeakable’?
• What are Lord Henry’s views?
• Why do you think he feels that way?

183. Discussion: Hunting
• Who voices Wilde’s views on hunting?
• Why do you think this character feels this way?
• How does Wilde make it clear that he feels those who
hunt are ‘unspeakable’?
• What are Lord Henry’s views?
• Why do you think he feels that way?

184. Task 1: close-focus analysis
‘If it had been merely an illusion, how terrible it was to
think that conscience could raise such fearful phantoms,
and give them visible form, and make them move before
one! What sort of life would his be if, day and night,
shadows of his crime were to peer at him from silent
corners, to mock him from secret places, to whisper in
his ear as he sat at the feast, to wake him with icy
fingers as he lay asleep!’
Analyse this extract with reference to its allusions to
‘Macbeth’.

185. Plenary
There are clear elements of melodrama in
this chapter:
• The humble sailor avenging his sister’s
death.
• Dorian’s wild ride to Home Farm.
....but it doesn’t end as it should: James
Vane does not avenge Sibyl, he does not
kill Dorian. He is killed.
WHY?

186. Chapters 19 and 20
Learning objectives:
• To understand how the relationship
between Dorian and Henry has changed.
• To be able to assess the effectiveness of
the book’s ending.

187. We are going to read Chapters
19 and 20 in one go.
First, let’s discuss an interesting fact:
• Wilde added the four chapters we have just read
to the 1891 version; they did not exist before.
Originally, the story went straight from Chapter
14 (where Alan Campbell disposes of the body)
to Chapter 19 (where Dorian appears to have
turned over a new leaf).
• Why do you think Wilde added these chapters?
• What do they contribute to the story?

188. Chapter 19
Consider the following as we
read:
1. In what ways is this chapter a
companion to Chapter 2 –
when Henry meets Dorian for
the first time?
2. How has Henry changed over
the years?
3. How has the relationship
between them changed?
4. Does Henry really know
Dorian at all?
Chapter 20
Consider the following as we
read:
5. How do the people on the
street reflect different aspects of
Dorian’s life?
6. What three vices does Dorian
realise he is guilty of in his actions
towards Hetty Merton?
7. What is the significance of the
mirror, and Dorian’s actions in
destroying it?
8. Does the ending explain why
James Vane’s death was
necessary?Now we’ve read the
chapters, I will give you
each one of these
questions. Write a short
paragraph outlining your
thoughts.
10
minutes

189. Feedback time!
Each person will read out their answer, we will discuss it
and you should take notes or add annotations.
1. In what ways is this chapter a companion to Chapter 2 – when
Henry meets Dorian for the first time?
2. How has Henry changed over the years?
3. How has the relationship between them changed?
4. Does Henry really know Dorian at all?
5. How do the people on the street reflect different aspects of
Dorian’s life?
6. What three vices does Dorian realise he is guilty of in his actions
towards Hetty Merton?
7. What is the significance of the mirror, and Dorian’s actions in
destroying it?
8. Does the ending explain why James Vane’s death was necessary?

190. Close-text focus
But this murder - was it to dog him all his life? Was he always to be burdened by his
past? Was he really to confess? Never. There was only one bit of evidence left
against him. The picture itself - that was evidence. He would destroy it. Why had he
kept it so long? Once it had given him pleasure to watch it changing and growing old.
Of late he had felt no such pleasure. It had kept him awake at night. When he had
been away, he had been filled with terror lest other eyes should look upon it. It had
brought melancholy across his passions. Its mere memory had marred many
moments of joy. It had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience. He
would destroy it.
He looked round and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. He had cleaned
it many times, till there was no stain left upon it. It was bright, and glistened. As it had
killed the painter, so it would kill the painter's work, and all that that meant. It would
kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free. It would kill this monstrous
soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace. He seized the thing,
and stabbed the picture with it.
Why so many
rhetorical questions?
Significance
of short
sentence?
What is the effect of
the repeated ‘m’
sound here?
Why has the indefinite
article been dropped
here?
What could this be an
allusion to? Why is it
significant here?
Significance of repetition?

191. ‘It would kill this
monstrous soul-life’
What is Dorian talking about
when he says this?
Henry and Dorian have a
discussion about the soul in
the previous chapter.
• What is Henry’s view?
• What is Dorian’s view?
• Why then has Dorian made
a fatal error when he stabs
the portrait?
The critic Keith
Womack dubbed
Dorian’s action at the
end ‘anti-epiphany’*.
He doesn’t have a
moment of revelation
at the end (epiphany);
he has a moment of
fatal lack of clarity. As
a result he kills himself
by destroying his soul.
* From an essay called ‘Reading
the ethics of the soul and late
Victorian Gothic in The Picture of
Dorian Gray’, found in Victorian
Gothic by Ruth Robbins and
Julian Wolfreys (Palgrave,
2000).

192. HOMEWORK
Over the holidays:
• Re-read the book, using your notes to add
annotations in margins.
• Update your quotation bank to ensure you
have significant quotations from all
chapters.
• Write a review of the book, considering
plot, character development and use of
language.

193. Plenary
• In the original manuscript, these chapters
were one chapter.
• Why do you think Wilde decided to split
them up in the 1891 version?
Finally....
Did you enjoy
this book?