PoDG Ch. 12-13

1.) "'You told me you had destroyed it.' 'I was wrong, It has destroyed me'" (Wilde 161).

Dorian has gone over the edge, and it is all because of his portrait. Rather than serving as a moral guide to Dorian, it has had the adverse affect of driving him completely towards evil. Ever since it was made, Dorian has descended into a life of villainy and mischief. The more he indulged, the more his hunger consumed him, until the former innocent Dorian Gray was no more. Dorian has completely changed, so much so that his former self is gone. That former self is trapped inside the painting, and with each sin the new Dorian commits, the old Dorian suffers for. To me, that is what the painting seems to do: mock the old Dorian with the actions of the new one. These marks then drive him to continue his evil streak. The painting has driven Dorian to murder his friend, the same friend who painted the portrait in the first place, almost as if the painting has developed a mind of its own and wished to kill its creator like Frankenstein's monster: "An uncontrollable feeling of hatred for Basil Hallward came over him, as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered into his ear by those grinning lips" (162). Dorian only felt this was when he saw the painting, and it seemed to come out of nowhere. Dorian no longer has a conscience. That conscience has been sealed away in the painting, and consequently tainted by evil. The painting has a mind of its own now, a mind that tortures and punishes Dorian soul while spurring him on, only so that it can keep inflicting pain onto his soul.

2.) "'What is it that one was taught to say in one's boyhood? 'Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our sins. Wash away our iniquities.' Let us say that together. The prayer of your pride has been answered. The prayer of your repentance will be answered also. I worshiped you too much. I am punished for it. You worshiped yourself too much. We are both punished'" (162).

I don't think Dorian is even able to repent. He himself has no sins. It is his portrait that bears the sins for him. He committed them, but he does not need to repent for them. He is like the messenger. What he does has no effect on himself. He is only doing what he is told. Repentance and religion in this book is quite different from The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter. In The Crucible, the townspeople were not able to repent because they had no ritual to. In The Scarlet Letter, the we are presented with either privately or publicly bearing sins. With Dorian, he is all three combined. He publicly bears his sins in private, and cannot absolve himself of them. No one sees the portrait, but it showcases his sin visually. There is no way to rid the painting of those sins. They are forever stuck on the canvas, which is what Dorian meant when he responded that, "'It is too late'" (162) to Basil's plea. The sins have been committed, and there is nothing Dorian can do about them. In another sense, the portrait defies God. As basil says, "'Yes,' answered Hallward, gravely, and with deep-toned sorrow in his voice--'to see your soul. But only God can do that'" (156), only God can see one's soul. The portrait, however, can see the true state of Dorian's soul. Not only can it see it, but it displays it for all to see. This sounds like a slap in the face to God. Something man-made can do what before only the celestial could do. I feel like the only way for the sins to be removed from the painting is Dorian's death. that way, his soul is released, leaving the painting in its original state.