b)      Do women play a significant role in the novel? What is Lord Henry’s view on women? Provide quotes.

c)       Are there any homoerotic bonds between men in the novel? Which one(s)? 

d)      Does Dorian Gray have a happy sexual life all along the novel? Provide quotes to justify your answer.

e)      Can we associate Dorian Gray to the mythological character of Narcissus, always longing to possess the person he sees reflected in the water? How? Provide examples from the text.

f)       In chapter two, pages 25,26 (Chapter 11, Penguin Popular Classics) Lord Henry claims:

"I believe that if one man were to live out his life fully and completely, were to give form to every feeling, expression to every thought, reality to every dream -- I believe that the world would gain such a fresh impulse of joy that we would forget all the maladies of medievalism, and return to the Hellenic ideal -- to something finer, richer than the Hellenic ideal, it may be. But the bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself. The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. 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."
Explain this quote considering Oscar Wilde’s aesthetic values, his own sexual preferences and the context of Victorian England. 

According to Conon, Aminias, a young man fell in love with Narcissus, who had already spurned his male suitors. Aminias was also spurned by Narcissus who gave the unfortunate young man a sword. Aminias killed himself at Narcissus’ doorstep praying to the Gods to give Narcissus a lesson for all the pain he had provoked.
Narcissus was once walking by a lake or river and decided to drink some water; he saw his reflection in the water and was surprised by the beauty he saw; he became entranced by the reflection of himself. He could not obtain the object of his desire though, and he died at the banks of the river or lake from his sorrow.
According to the myth Narcissus is still admiring himself in the Underworld, looking at the waters of the Styx.

As Narcissus, Dorian Grey learned to hide his feelings and worries about the world. As a result, he was only worry about his beauty and how to conserve it. What Lord Henry thought him about stay beauty and passionate about life, leaded Dorian into a life of selfishness and arrogance. He never paid attention to his friends or even to his old friends, for example Basile. And in order to continue hiding his secret and living, he decided to kill Basil:
‘Holding a mirror in his hand, he would stand in front of the picture Basil Hallward had painted. He would look first at the horrible, old face in the picture, and then at the handsome young face that laughed back at him from the mirror. He fell more and more in love with his own beauty. And more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul’ (Wilde, 1994: Page 42)
Every time he saw his own reflection and the portrait, he couldn’t believe his eyes. Because he never saw what he wanted, but only what he really needed to see (Reality). As a result, he wanted to destroy it and stop suffering, but the portrait finally killed him.

‘The face in the portrait could grow old and ugly. What did it matter? No one could see it. He himself would not see it. He did not have to watch the terrible corruption of his soul. He would stay young - that was enough’(...) ‘He felt safe now. No one would ever look at that horrible thing. Only he would ever see his shame’’ (Wilde, 1994: Page 40)
‘He took the lamp from the table and went upstairs. As he opened the door, a smile of happiness passed across his young face. Yes, he would be good, and the ugly thing he had locked away would not frighten him any more. He felt happier already’ (Wilde, 1994: Page 62)
By Micaela Barrios

References:
Wilde. O (1994), The picture of Dorian Grey. China: Pearson English Readers 

Webpage (https://www.greekmyths-greekmythology.com/narcissus-myth-echo/)

‘I see you did. Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality has the most extraordinary influence over me. I worshipped you. I was jealous of everyone you spoke to. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you. When you were away from me you were still there in my art’ (Wilde, 1994: Page: 37) 

Basil is worry and try to warn Dorian about people’s gossips: ‘Every gentleman is interested in his good name, Dorian. You don’t want people to talk of you as something terrible and corrupt. But I don’t believe these rumours at all. At least I can’t believe them when I see you. Corruption is a thing that writes itself across a man’s face. It cannot be hidden’ (Wilde, 1994: Page 45)
Wilde. O (1994), The picture of Dorian Grey. China: Pearson English Readers
By Micaela Barrios

There is an obvious parallelism between Dorian´s character and the iconic Narcissus. They both forgot about danger and real life when they were enamoured contemplating their faces in both: the reflection of the water and the picture. As for example, when Dorian avoided the monstrous reality of his soul when he watched the picture and compared his external beauty with his internal ugliness: “ (…) open the door with the key that never left 

him, and stand, with a mirror, in front of the portrait that Basil Hallward had painted of him, looking now at the evil and aging face on the canvas, and now at the fair young face that laughed back at him from the polished glass. The very sharpness of the contrast used to quicken his sense of pleasure. He grew more and more enamoured of his own beauty, more and more interested in the corruption of his own soul.” (Wilde, 1891: 160) 

Wilde, O (1891) The Picture of Dorian Gray, Ireland: Planet Pdf

María Belén Farías

            About the marriage:

            We can see from these lines that marriage is just a matter of convenience, it is a social contract. It is not a matter of love. Deep feelings are not required to establish a formal relation ship. Despite the fact that marriage brings deceptions it is necessary for both, man and woman. 

Analia Romero-

By Karen Schvindt

Upon analysing “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, I have come to the conclusion that there are many instances of homoerotic bonds between men; not straightforwardly implied though, and this is due to the time in which the author, Oscar Wilde, wrote the novel. This being said, homosexuality had a negative connotation at the time, that is, it was badly seen, and this is the reason why the novel alludes to homosexuality the way it does - indirectly. At the time, London was prejudiced against homosexuality; hence, broaching such a subject in public was forbidden. Besides, Dorian firmly rejected the idea of either selling or exhibiting his portrait because if he did so, he would have showed the secret of his own soul.

Nonetheless, there are many instances of homosexual overtones in the novel, as aforementioned. Firstly, we learn from the very first chapter that the painter, Basil, has grown fond of a good-looking young lad called Dorian Gray and, as a result, of a portrait of his own making.

Moreover, Henry raises the question of something forbidden, as it the case of love between two men, and he also suggests that one should stop resisting temptation as it is the only way to deal with it in life.

In Basil’s words: 

 - “When I like people immensely I never tell their names to anyone. […] I have grown to love secrecy.” [Chapter 1; pp. 7]

- “The reason I will not exhibit this picture is that I am afraid that I have shown in it the secret of my own soul.” [Chapter 1; pp. 8

- “Every day. I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him evey day. He is absolutely necessary to me.” [Chapter 1; pp. 11]

- “But he is much more to me than a model or a sitter. […] I know that the work I have done, since I met Dorian Gray, is good work, is the best work of my life. […] The merely presence of this lad – for he seems to me more than a lad  […] Harry! If you only knew what Dorian Gray is to me!” [Chapter 1; pp. 12]

- “Because, without intending it, I have put into it some expression of all the curious artistic idolatry. […] There is too much of myself in the thing, Harry – to much of myself!” [Chapter 1, pp. 12]

- "Don't speak. Wait till you hear what I have to say. Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me. I was dominated, soul, brain, and power, by you. You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream. I worshipped you. I grew jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you. When you were away from me, you were still present in my art. Of course, I never let you know anything about this. It would have been impossible. You would not have understood it. I hardly understood it myself. I only knew that I had seen perfection face to face, and that the world bad become wonderful to my eyes -- too wonderful, perhaps, for in such mad worships there is peril, the peril of losing them, no less than the peril of keeping them” [Chapter 9; pp. 92]

In Henry’s words, 

- “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. […] You, Mr. Gray […] have had passions that have made you afraid, thoughts that have filled you with terror, day-dreams and sleeping dreams whose mere memory might stain your cheek with shame" [Chapter 2; pp. 18]

- DAIANA KIFER -

In the book the personalities of the male characters stand for these values, Lord Henry is one of them and in the quote above he tries to explain how he believes that men should live without any denial and feel free to express their feelings and the impulse of joy. He thinks that it would be brave for a man to stop poisoning his brain by giving up because of the feeling of fear; he promotes making mistakes as something we should do, since the only thing we can get from them is regret and learning, if we don’t try we’ll never know, and the temptations will get stronger and we’ll get sicker. 

Camila Fagundez

“ It was his beauty that had ruined him, his beauty and the youth that he had prayed for. But for those two things, his life might have been free from stain.” ( Oscar Wilde,1891:page 252)

Katherine Morales

 

“I am analysing women at present, so I ought to know… I find that, ultimately, there are two kinds or women, the plain and the coloured. The plain women are very useful. If you want to gain a reputation for respectability, you have merely to take them down to supper. The other women are very charming. They commit one mistake, however. They paint in order to try and look young. Our grandmothers painted in order to try and talk brilliantly… as long as a woman can look ten years younger than her own daughter, she is perfectly satisfied.”

 

“I am afraid that women appreciate cruelty, downright cruelty, more than anything else. They have wonderfully primitive instincts. We have emancipated them, but they remain slaves looking for their masters, all the same. They love being dominated…!

 

In the previous quotes we can observe that women represent a passive and weak gender in their society. They suffer but at the same time they like suffering.  They are not intelligent, they are stupid and they have to paint themselves to look young and beautiful. Beauty is the only thing why women should be respected. Another comment made by Harry was that Dorian’s wife should not act, because women in their society are meant to be at home cleaning and doing the chores.
Karen Schvint