Tricia's Discussion Prompts for June 27th

Questions for Discussion

=Tricia's Discussion Notes for 06.27.2011= These are my detailed notes because I thought it might help liven up the discussion and it would be a record, too. Also, I just like editing wikis >.>

The character of Dorian Gray
'''Humanity vs. inhumanity:where does the man end and the monster begin? What does each respective side of Dorian say about the duality of man?'''
 * Dorian, the man—what he represents himself to be; the youthful, innocent, beautiful boy with the charismatic enigma that attracts so many: the disconnect from the real Dorian and the one he portrays makes him more of an automaton than a man
 * p.126—DG is haunted by Basil’s face when he is attempting to draw a sketch: “He was determined that he would not think about what had happened until it became absolutely necessary that he should do so”
 * p.143—DG feels trapped by his “human” emotions that are making him feel the consequence of his actions: “He was prisoned in thought. Memory, like a horrible malady, was eating his soul away”
 * The Picture of Dorian—the beast within; the emotions of Dorian that connect him to any sense of morality: could this be the more human side? What does this say about the darkness of the soul and what even a good-natured person can do?
 * p. 125—DG maintains his boyish innocence when sleeping after killing Basil: “He looked like a boy who had been tired out with play…but youth smiles without any reason”
 * p. 152—DG feels his crimes are a result of what has been done to him, not what he has done himself: “He had convinced himself that he had been the victim of terror-stricken imagination, and looked back now on his fears with something of pity and not a little of contempt”
 * p.131—DG uses Alan Campbell by blackmail for his own selfish purposes despite the obvious discomfort and pain it caused Alan: “You treated me as no man has ever dared to treat me—no living man, at any rate”
 * p.144—DG reflects on the change in Adrian Singleton and whether or not he is responsible: “There goes the devil’s bargain”
 * p.134—DG comments on his double-life and the ease with which he can maneuver between the two: “He himself could not help wondering at the calm of his demeanor, and for a moment felt keenly the terrible pleasure of a double life”
 * p.141—DG experiences a revelation of carpe diem where he realizes he will do anything to live: “form cell to cell of his brain crept the one thought; and the wild desire to live, most terrible of all man’s appetites, quickened into force each trembling nerve and fiber”

An Aesthetic life
'''Oscar Wilde, himself, was a true aesthete and his character, Gray, is decadent at his worst, but Wilde's own view on the lifestyle seems skewed. Wilde definitely appreciates the need for beauty and pleasure in one's life, but also seems to suggests a certain balance is best for a healthy life.'''
 * p.140—DG repeats this mantra in order to console himself on his choices: “To cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul”
 * p.141—Vanity as the greatest virtue: “Ugliness was the one reality. The coarse brawl, the loathsome den, the crude violence of disordered life, the very vileness of thief and outcast, were more vivid in their intense actuality of impression, than all the gracious shapes of Art, the dreamy shadows of Song.”
 * p.161—Harry asks DG whether the soul is really affected by the horrors of one’s own actions: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and lose his own soul?”
 * p. 164—DG a rare moment of self-awareness where he realizes his own role in the destruction of his life: “He knew he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption, and given horror to his fancy; that he had been an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so; and that, of the lives that had crossed his own, it had been the fairest and most full of promise that he had brought to shame”