Gina's College Collection

Quotation: Sydney on Lessingham: “The words pointed to what it would be courteous to call an Eastern Romance, though it was hard to conceive of the Apostle figuring as the hero of such a theme. It was the old tale retold, that to the life of every man there is a background,-that it is precisely in the unlikeliest cases that the background’s darkest.” (p.132)

Comment: There are multiple connections to be made with past readings in this pair of sentences.  The first sentence reflects Cohen’s thesis of monsters that “the monster dwells at the gates of difference.”  The “people of the Orient” have been looked upon as odd, greedy, cunning, and mannerless throughout the book, making a monster out of them.  Thus, the idea of a respectable white man falling in love with one would have been unfathomable to Victorian England, as Sydney remarks.  The second sentence affirms this belief by having the event considered to make a man’s history dark.  Additionally, it reflects a common theme throughout the novels we’ve read of duality, with some of the most well-loved people having dark sides.  First there was the well-educated Frankenstein with his monster, often interpreted as being two sides of the same coin, with aspects of good and bad shown in both.  These include a sense of humanity and a passion for destruction of the other, respectively.  Then there is the wealthy Rutherford with the madwoman hidden in his attic and the duality of thoughtful Jane Eyre and Bertha’s rage.  Finally, more obvious in showcasing this idea, are Jekyll and Hyde, followed by Dorian Gray. So this motif repeats itself over and over in Gothic literature.

Question: Could Lessingham be based around a particular politician or just the author’s general hatred for politics? And what is Marsh’s experience with Eastern culture; did he ever travel to the Middle East or beyond?

Quotation, Lord Henry to Dorian: “My dear boy, the people who love only once in their lives are really the shallow people. What they call their loyalty and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination. Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect-simply a confession of failures. Faithfulness! I must analyze it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up” (p. 58).

Comments:

Lord Henry is a very unique character in that he takes the common literary role of mentor, not because he really cares for his pupil as many teachers do, but because he finds the idea of being a mentor entertaining, and views his student Dorian as the subject of an experiment.  Lord Henry does appear to have some care for Dorian in that he wants Dorian to be happy, but usually the goal of the mentor is to put a life on track, not cause it to veer off into dangerous territory, as he has done with encouraging sin in Dorian so he can live his life to the fullest.  This quote is one example of this. 

The quote also gives an insight into Lord Henry’s own experience.  He may be so cynical because he’s been cheated on in the past.  Or he may believe that faithfulness shows a weakness in character with its restriction of independence, which was illustrated in his story of being disgusted at an old flame who wouldn’t let him go and who said she’d “sacrifice the world” for him.  I’m actually inclined to think the former because Basil repeatedly tells Lord Henry that he’s not as bad as he pretends to be and asserts that Henry doesn’t believe anything he himself says.  This brings up the question of whether the author follows Henry’s philosophies; based on the amount of detail that Wilde puts into Henry’s statements, Henry is certainly the form in which the author has decided to put himself into his work as a character.  The author certainly values independence and loathes the stern Victorian lifestyle, looking at Henry’s “sage” words, but based on the decay of Dorian’s soul with every sin that becomes apparent in his portrait, it appears that Wilde is urging his readers to have fun, but be cautious.  Or he may simply have written the portrait in as something to make his book acceptable and more likely to be published while truly intending the book to encourage people to recognize having a bit of fun is a good thing.

Questions: What experiences did the author have that prompted him to come up with these ideas? Did his writing encourage any of his readers to act more freely in their lives or scare them away from such thoughts even more? And which one of these was his intent?

Quotation: “And [Utterson]…brooded awhile on his own past, groping in all the corners of memory, lest by chance some Jack-in-the-Box of an old iniquity should leap to light there. His past was fairly blameless; few men could read the rolls of their life with less apprehension; yet he was humbled to the dust by the many ill things he had done, and raised up again into a sober and fearful gratitude by the many that he had come so near to doing, yet avoided” (p.).

Comment: Everyone, including me, can relate to this quotation.  We’ve all had our regrets and close calls.  And connecting this to an earlier part of the book, this past may be what inspired Utterson to care so much for sinners, as mentioned when he is first introduced.  Yet it is fascinating that even such a forgiving person as he is instantly repulsed, like everyone else, at the sight of Mr. Hyde.  This shows the fear of Hyde comes from the unconscious mind, prompting a fight-or-flight instinct, like every other witness to Mr. Hyde experienced in their encounters with him.  I too have had gut instincts about instances that may have saved me, as when a certain person greeted me uncomfortably when I asked how they were, and I got the sense I shouldn’t bother with them anymore, which proved a good choice.  But like Mr. Utterson, I try to be patient with people and find it difficult to hate for the most part.

Question: Did the author have some major regrets that provided inspiration to this book, and if so, what were they? Or did he know people that appeared to experience sudden personality and temperament shifts?