Analysis: The Picture of Dorian Gray

Wilde published his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, before he reached the height of his fame. The Picture of Dorian Gray with being an immoral tale. It also succinctly sets forth the tenets of Wilde’s philosophy of art. Devoted to a school of thought and a mode of sensibility known as aestheticism, Wilde believed that art possesses an intrinsic value—that it is beautiful and therefore has worth, and thus needs serve no other purpose, be it moral or political. The short part under analysis describes how Dorian and his friend went to theater to watch Sibyl play. The main conflict of the analyzed extract is how quickly Dorian got disappointed in Sibyl and grew cold to her. The scene supposed the glory of Sibyl Vane and make her stand out, but her play was artificial and disappointed everyone. The “Picture of Dorian Gray” belongs to the belle-letters functional style, the main aim of which is to give the reader aesthetic pleasure, to make him think and to entertain him by appealing to his emotions.

The extract under analysis is told from the third person, from the point of view of an omniscient anonymous narrator. Description and narration are the main types of narrative used in the extract. Dialogue is used in the middle of the extract. The scene is laid in the theatre. The spatial markers are direct: box, orchestra, curtain rises, stage. The Past Simple is predominantly used in the whole extract, the exception are the dialogues represented in the Present Simple. There is an actual temporal marker: that night, so the reader can understand that it was one specific night. In order to keep the reader’s attention the author resorts to the developed system of connectives. Such connectives as for some reason, but, as, so, , and, so as, indeed, as always, of course, after all can be observed in the extract under analysis and also add to the emotiveness of narration. Also the peculiar feature of the text is the wide usage of epithets, which are employed to add the emotiveness to the narration: tremulous, pompous, tawdry, shrill, coarse, brutal, fine, noble, cynical, dreadful, unreal, exquisite, shy. These epithets are used to add to the figurativeness of the language and to enrich author’s speech.

The characterizations of the protagonists are both direct and implicit. Dorian gives the explicit characterization of Sibyl: she is divine. Author uses the stylistic device of simile in order to describe Sibyl: like the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, moved like a creature from a finer world, her body swayed, while she danced, as a plant sways in the water, her hands seemed to be made of cool ivory. There can also observe in the passage such stylistic devices as syntactical parallelism: she acts, she makes them as responsive, she spiritualizes them; catch repetition: and one feels that they are of the same flesh and blood as one’s self.”

“The same flesh and blood as one’s self!, she is worthy of all your adoration, worthy of the adoration of the world. Also author want to draw reader’s attention and to create a contrast by using such stylistic device as antithesis: If this girl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly. These stylistic devices add to the expressiveness of the narration. Stylistic device of detachment is used to suggest the reader the understanding of emotions of the characters: and as one in a dream, one of the loveliest creatures. Also author inserts in the text extracts from Shakespeare’s play, using the same stylistic device.

Metaphors are used for more expressive narration: talking at the top of his voice, turmoil of applause, it took away all the life from the verse. The figurative language of the text owes to the wide usage of stylistic devices such as metonymy (fat Jew manager), inversion (It was here I found her).