Chapter 11 (part 1) analysis of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Summary

In this video, Mrs. Long delves into Chapter 11 of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray,' exploring Dorian's deepening obsession with the book that mirrors his life. Years have passed since the last chapter, and Dorian's portrait shows signs of decay, reflecting his corrupted soul. Rumors swirl about his life, yet his charm and innocence remain untarnished in the eyes of society. The chapter examines themes of appearance versus reality, hedonism, and the superficiality of perception. Dorian's paranoia about his secret is palpable, and his mental stability is tested by the portrait's power over him.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ Chapter 11 of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' takes place years after Chapter 10, showing significant changes in Dorian's life and the state of his portrait.
• 📚 Dorian becomes obsessed with the book given to him by Lord Henry, which he believes reflects his own life and influences his actions.
• 🎨 Dorian's portrait decays over time, reflecting his moral decline and the effects of his hedonistic lifestyle.
• 📖 He procures nine copies of the book's first edition, bound in different colors to match his moods, indicating his deep connection to its content.
• 🤔 The chapter explores themes of appearance versus reality, showing society's superficial judgment based on Dorian's youthful and innocent appearance.
• 😈 Dorian takes a cruel joy in the portrait's ugliness, contrasting it with his own unblemished reflection, revealing his twisted sense of self-satisfaction.
• 🌙 Dorian's mental stability is affected by his actions, as he experiences moments of pity and regret, especially during sleepless nights.
• 🔍 He develops paranoia about the painting being discovered, which adds to his unease and fear.
• 🌐 Dorian's life is filled with various interests and indulgences, from perfumes to music, as he seeks to escape the burden of his portrait.
• 🏰 He cannot bear to be away from England for long, fearing separation from the portrait, which has become an integral part of his identity.
• 💭 The portrait serves as both a source of pleasure and pain for Dorian, affecting his emotions and actions depending on his mood.

Q & A

What significant change occurs in Dorian Gray's life between the end of Chapter 10 and the beginning of Chapter 11?

A considerable amount of time has passed, during which Dorian's life has significantly decayed, as evidenced by the deterioration of his portrait and the rumors about his life and reputation.

How does Dorian Gray's relationship with the book given to him by Lord Henry evolve over time?

Dorian becomes obsessed with the book, recognizing it as a reflection of his own life and a symbol of himself. He procures nine large paper copies of the first edition, bound in different colors to suit his varying moods.

What does Dorian Gray perceive as the influence of the book on his life?

Dorian sees the book as having a major influence, acknowledging that it is poisonous and that it has led him to indulge in his carnal desires without experiencing the external effects.

How does Dorian Gray's appearance contrast with the reality of his actions and life?

Despite being involved in many evil deeds, Dorian maintains a youthful and innocent appearance that leads people to believe in his purity and goodness, showcasing the superficiality of society's judgment based on appearance.

What does Dorian Gray experience when he compares his reflection to the portrait?

Dorian experiences a cruel joy and a sense of triumph, as he sees the portrait bearing all the signs of sin and a life of pleasure, while his own reflection remains unstained.

How does Dorian Gray's mental stability fare amidst his hedonistic lifestyle?

Dorian's mental stability is compromised, as he experiences moments of self-pity and fear, especially at night, when he contemplates the damage he has done to his soul.

What are some of the interests that Dorian Gray explores in his pursuit of hedonistic pleasure?

Dorian delves into various interests such as perfumes, music, jewels and precious stones, and embroideries, indulging in each to the fullest extent when he becomes absorbed in them.

Why does Dorian Gray fear being away from the portrait for too long?

Dorian fears that someone might discover the painting during his absences, which could potentially reveal the truth about his soul and the nature of his life.

How does Dorian Gray's obsession with the book affect his perception of himself and the world?

His obsession with the book intensifies his self-absorption and the belief that he is living a life that was written before he had experienced it, further isolating him from the world.

What role does the portrait play in Dorian Gray's life as he indulges in hedonistic pleasures?

The portrait serves as both a source of pleasure and pain for Dorian. It brings him joy when he contemplates his unaged beauty, but also causes him torment when he is reminded of the sins and degradation it represents.

How does Dorian Gray's experience with the portrait reflect his inner conflict?

Dorian's relationship with the portrait is a manifestation of his inner conflict between the desire for eternal youth and beauty and the guilt and fear of the moral decay he has caused.

Outlines

00:00

📚 The Portrait's Influence on Dorian Gray

This paragraph delves into the impact of the book 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' on its protagonist, Dorian. It discusses the passage of time from the end of Chapter 10, highlighting Dorian's growing obsession with the book, which he sees as a reflection of his own life. The chapter also touches on the decay of the portrait, rumors of Dorian's scandalous life, and his superficial charm that masks his true nature. The summary emphasizes Dorian's fascination with the book, his hedonistic lifestyle, and the societal superficiality that fails to recognize his true character.

05:02

😈 Dorian's Cruel Joy and Paranoia

In this paragraph, the focus shifts to Dorian's private moments of cruel joy, where he contrasts his own youthful appearance with the monstrous portrait that bears the marks of his sins. The text describes his sense of triumph over nature and the unease that stems from his paranoia about the painting being discovered. It also touches on Dorian's intellectual pursuits and his rejection of any life theory in favor of pure hedonism. The summary captures Dorian's complex relationship with the portrait, his fear of exposure, and his exploration of various interests as a means to escape his inner turmoil.

10:02

🎭 Dorian's Hedonistic Pursuits and the Portrait's Grip

The final paragraph explores Dorian's relentless pursuit of hedonistic pleasures and the dual role the portrait plays in his life—sometimes a source of pride, other times a burden. It details his various obsessions, from gemstones to music, and his ability to immerse himself fully in each new interest. The summary also addresses Dorian's fear of being separated from the portrait and his constant worry about it being discovered, revealing the deep psychological hold the painting has over him.

Keywords

💡Hedonism

Hedonism is a philosophy that emphasizes the pursuit of pleasure and self-indulgence as the primary components of a good life. In the context of the video, Dorian Gray's life is characterized by hedonism, as he indulges in various forms of pleasure without restraint. This is evident in his exploration of perfumes, music, jewels, and other luxuries, which he uses as a means to escape the reality of his soul's degradation.

💡Appearance vs. Reality

Appearance versus reality refers to the contrast between how things seem on the surface and their true nature. The video discusses how Dorian Gray maintains a youthful and innocent appearance despite his corrupt and sinful actions. People are unable to reconcile the rumors about him with his beautiful appearance, demonstrating the superficiality of society's judgment.

💡Obsession

Obsession is a state of being preoccupied with a particular idea or object to the point where it dominates one's thoughts and actions. Dorian Gray's obsession with the book given to him by Lord Henry is a central theme in the video. He procures multiple copies of the book, binding them in different colors to suit his moods, and finds the story to be a reflection of his own life.

💡Sensual Pleasure

Sensual pleasure refers to the enjoyment derived from the senses, often associated with physical gratification. The video describes Dorian's pursuit of sensual pleasure as a means to escape the consequences of his actions and to indulge his desires. His studies in perfumes, music, and jewels are all part of his quest for heightened sensory experiences.

💡Degradation

Degradation in this context refers to the moral and physical decay that results from Dorian's sinful lifestyle. The video mentions the 'real degradation' shown in his portrait, which is a physical manifestation of his moral decline. His obsession with beauty and youth contrasts sharply with the hideousness of the portrait, highlighting the theme of degradation.

💡Paranoia

Paranoia is a state of excessive or irrational suspicion and anxiety. Dorian Gray experiences paranoia in the video, constantly fearing that someone will discover his secret painting, which holds the visible signs of his sins. This fear affects his mental stability and contributes to his overall unease.

💡Innocence

Innocence, in the video, is portrayed as a state of purity and lack of guilt, often associated with youth and naivety. Despite Dorian's corrupt actions, he maintains an innocent appearance, which confuses and misleads those around him. His ability to appear innocent while being deeply involved in sinful activities is a central irony in the narrative.

💡Superficiality

Superficiality is the quality of being concerned only with surface aspects or appearances. The video critiques the superficial nature of society, which fails to see beyond Dorian's beautiful exterior to the corruption within. This superficiality is highlighted by the public's inability to reconcile rumors of Dorian's misdeeds with his seemingly innocent appearance.

💡Carnal Desires

Carnal desires refer to physical or sexual desires. In the video, Dorian Gray gives into his carnal desires without restraint, which is facilitated by his realization that he can indulge in these desires without experiencing the physical consequences, as they are manifested in his portrait instead.

💡Moral Decay

Moral decay is the gradual decline in moral values or standards. The video discusses Dorian Gray's moral decay as a result of his hedonistic lifestyle and the influence of the book given to him by Lord Henry. His actions and the state of his portrait reflect a deep moral decay that is both a cause and consequence of his obsession with pleasure.

💡Self-Indulgence

Self-indulgence is the act of giving in to one's own desires or impulses, often to the exclusion of others or of self-restraint. Dorian Gray's life is marked by self-indulgence, as he pursues his interests and desires without consideration for the consequences, leading to both personal and moral decline.

Highlights

Chapter 11 of 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' picks up years after the end of Chapter 10, showing the decay of Dorian's portrait and rumors of his life.

Dorian's growing obsession with the book that Lord Henry introduced him to is evident through his collection of nine large paper copies bound in different colors.

Dorian sees the story of the young Parisian in the book as a reflection of his own life, written before he lived it.

The book is described as having a poisonous influence on Dorian, who recognizes it as such but is unable to free himself from its allure.

Dorian indulges in his desires without experiencing the external effects, influenced by Lord Henry's philosophy.

The contrast between Dorian's outward beauty and the monstrous portrait is a central theme of appearance versus reality.

Society's superficiality is critiqued through their inability to see past Dorian's charming appearance to the evil rumors about him.

Dorian takes a cruel joy in observing the portrait's hideousness, contrasting it with his own unblemished reflection.

Dorian's mental stability is affected by his actions, as he experiences moments of pity for the soul he has corrupted.

Dorian's paranoia about the painting being discovered is a constant source of unease.

Dorian's exploration of various interests, such as perfumes, music, and gemstones, is a manifestation of his hedonistic lifestyle.

His fear of the consequences of his actions leads Dorian to a life of 'huge new hedonism' as prophesied by Lord Henry.

Dorian's belief that life itself is more important than any theory of life reflects his commitment to hedonistic living.

Dorian's collection of treasures serves as a means of forgetfulness, allowing him to escape the fear associated with the portrait.

The portrait's role in Dorian's life fluctuates between a source of pleasure and a burden, depending on his mood.

Dorian's reluctance to be long out of England is tied to his fear of being separated from the portrait.

The portrait's significance to Dorian is akin to a part of him, despite the fear and torment it brings.

Transcripts

hi and welcome to mrs long's video

lesson on the picture of dorian gray

today we're looking at chapter 11.

um so chapter 11 picks up quite a few

years after the end of chapter 10.

much has gone on in dorian's life in the

inter-intermediary time between this

chapter and the previous chapter

and we see evidence of that in

the decay of the portrait that is

described and

in the um description of rumors

of dorian's life and reputation

and it also describes his growing

obsession with the book

and also the sorts of things he's been

occupying himself with

um in the the you know years between

um that's not covered specifically in

the book

okay um so the end of chapter 10 it pick

dealt with um dorian's saying to lord

henry

that he's fascinated by the book but

that doesn't mean he likes it

and um lord henry says oh you have have

you

you know the difference now um which

kind of suggests that

it might also be lord henry um sort of

hinting at

his fascination with dorian

and sort of hinting at dorian's morbid

fascination with this book

now says he can't free himself from the

influence

or perhaps it would be accurate to say

he never sought to free himself he

procured from paris no

less than nine large paper copies of the

first edition and had them bound in

different colors

and he has them bound in different

colours to suit his different moods

depending on when how he's feeling when

he wants to read it again

so this young parisian the hero of this

book becomes

almost like a symbol of himself to

dorian

and it's he says he seems as if the

whole story contained his own life

written before he had lived it

so you can see he's he's definitely

grown an obsession with this

this book and the story um and he

himself

um recognizes that it's a poisonous book

okay so you can look at the book as

having a major influence on

dorian lord henry and of course he's the

one who gave him the book and

um that was not by accident and of

course dorian

just giving into his carnal innermost

desires

as a result of realizing that he can um

indulge in these without experiencing

the external effects of it

so this description here

is describing the cruel joy

that he used to read the letter part of

the book which is tragic

if somewhat or with its tragic if

somewhat overemphasized account of the

sorrow despair one who had himself lost

what in others in the world he had most

dearly valued so he takes a sort of

sick pleasure in reading the end of this

book and it's almost the kind of sick

pleasure he takes in

in observing the painting as well for

the wonderful beauty that had fascinated

basil and many others seemed never to

leave him

even those who had heard the most evil

things against him

even the strange rumors that people

heard

they couldn't believe anything to

dishonor when they saw him he always had

the look of one who'd kept himself

unspotted from the world

they wondered how so charming graceful

how once a chummy and graceful

could have escaped the stain of an age

that was as once

sordid and essential so

sorry for that freedom slip there so

um what's what this is dealing with here

is

this idea of appearance versus reality

and also how

superficial the people in our own

society are

in thinking well if he looks beautiful

and innocent then he must be those

things

and then not being able to believe the

rumors about him because he seems to be

so pure and um and young and beautiful

looking

which of course is a complete fallacy

like you can

you know be up to all sorts of horrible

things

behind the scenes and

still look innocent on the surface

and the fact that people have their

inability to

sip separate the two and realize that he

could still

be doing these horrible things shows us

the the sort of superficiality of their

society

so this describes now this kind of cruel

joy

the sick pleasure he takes in creeping

upstairs to the locker room

opening it because he's the only one

with the key and then

standing with the mirror in front of the

portrait and comparing the fair young

face that laughed back at him from the

polished glass

to um this terrible

monstrous thing um it's described as

having hideous lines

um the seared full forehead the heavy

sensual mouth

he would place his white hands beside

the coarse bloated hands of the picture

and smile

he mocked the misshapen body and failed

england

you can imagine his sense of triumph

over

nature standing looking at this hideous

aging portrait

and with all the visible signs of sin

and a life of pleasure

and then looking at his own unstained

reflection and just you know

congratulating himself on having escaped

all of that

however the portraits

all of the benefit that affords dorian

it doesn't leave him

unscathed in terms of his mental

stability

and it describes how in moments at night

when lying sleepless in his own

delicately centered chamber

or in some sorted room of an ill-famed

tavern

reference say to his reputation um

where he was under an assumed name and a

disguise

he would think of the rune he'd bought

upon his soul with a pity

that was more poignant because it was

selfish

and so he isn't

unaware of what he's done to his own

soul

and what also manifests for dorian

is his

complete paranoia that someone is going

to discover the painting

which also brings him a sense of unease

another sort of aspect sort of the

reason

that people found chapter 11 to be so

odorous to read

is because all the um the long

descriptions about the things in which

dorian involved himself

so he became quite sort of circumspect

and it's it's

describes here as he looked back upon

man moving through history

he was haunted by a feeling of loss so

much had been surrendered into such

little purpose

there had been mad willful rejections

monstrous forms of self torture and

denial

whose origin was fear and his result was

a degradation

infinitely more terrible than that fancy

degradation from which

in their ignorance he had sought to

escape so he looks back

at everything that man had given up in

the fear of

the consequences and this kind of

confirmed to him that his way of living

as lord henry had prophesied was it as a

huge new hedonism

was to save um

himself from having a life of puritanism

and

a life of denial instead of the life of

just purely pleasure

so he he explores

catholicism um darwinism

and um but it says that he never fell

into the air of arresting his

intellectual development by any form of

acceptance of a creative system

now you can imagine how

dorian's beliefs and his um

his behavior would clash with the ideals

of a

system particularly one of catholicism

yet as has been said of him before no

theory of life seemed to him to be

any importance compared with life itself

so again we go back to this idea of

hedonistic living he knew that the

senses no less the soul

have their spiritual mysteries and so in

his search

to express his love for sensual pleasure

he studies perfumes he devotes himself

to music

he studies jewels and precious stones

and embroideries and every time he

comes across an interest he kind of

throws himself completely into it and

because there's no

sort of um

top but nothing to stop him from

spending money

because he's just got the sort of

seemingly endless um

well of money he just whenever he

becomes absorbed in something he would

completely

um indulge in everything so

when he was interested in gemstones he

would travel

and um bar all sorts of beautiful stones

and bars

of beautiful embroideries okay so he

really was

taking lord henry's idea of um

curing the soul with the senses

literally

he always had an extraordinary faculty

of becoming absolutely absorbed for the

moment and whatever he took

up he was almost saddened by the

reflection of the ruin that tom bought

on beautiful and wonderful things he at

any rate had escaped that

so even when he's looking at beautiful

things um

he in the back of his mind he's

comparing them to himself

and being sad that everything that's

beautiful has to age and decay

and then thanking his lucky stars that

he doesn't

that he's escaped that fate no one to

marry his face or stand his flower like

bloom again comparing him to a flower

so he didn't have to suffer the fate of

all material things

right so here this extract talks about

the treasures and everything he

collected

were to him to be a means of

forgetfulness modes by which he could

escape for a season from the fear that

seemed to him at times to be almost

too great to be born okay so

at night he's like the previous extract

talks about how he used to lie awake at

night and think about

or mourn the loss of his soul and

now what it addresses is this

um the sort of heaviness that surrounds

him

to do with this painting um he hung with

his own hands a terrible portrait his

changing features showed him the real

degradation for weeks he would not go

there would forget the hideous painted

thing and get back his light heart his

wonderful joyousness

his passionate absorption

and he would go away and forget all

about it now at the end of

chapter 10 he mentioned that he need

never look on it again

obviously he couldn't resist that

temptation

sometimes to gaze on it and just

congratulate himself for

escaping the fate that the portrait has

um has had to bear

and other other times um he'd sit in

front of the picture

loathing it and himself filled at other

times with pride

of individual vigilism that is half the

the fascination of sin and smiling with

secret pleasure than the shape and

shadow

that had to bear the burden so it wasn't

always with pleasure

it wasn't always with loathing um

this portrait kind of had us this jewel

a role in his life depending on his mood

at the time

and so after a few years it says he

could not enjoy to be long out of

england gave up the villa that he'd

shared a true will with lord henry

as well as the little white walls in

house at old jers where they had more

than once spent the winter he hated to

be separated from the picture

separated from the picture there was

such a part of his life and was also

afraid that during his absences someone

might gain access to the room

so at the back of his mind always is

this connection

that he has to the picture remember that

formed from the very beginning where

basil wanted to destroy it and he said

mode would be murder

so it's almost as if the picture is

actually a part of him

although i mean realistically if anybody

says it's true the portrait is preserved

under all the fathers and ugliness

it's marked like this to himself but

what could they learn from that

so even if he told them would they

believe it so

logically he knows that the painting

isn't so much dangerous to him

but he still has this fear that if

somebody sees it they might discover his

truth

and the sphere was something that he

couldn't quite shake so much so that he

couldn't bear to be away from the

painting for too long

so what we're gathering now is this

this picture of um dorian who has

really thrown himself into a life of

hedonistic pleasures

um but at the back of his mind

is always this little

little worry of this portrait and

sometimes it brings in pleasure

sometimes it brings in pain and torture

and we'll continue with this analysis in

the next video