PoDG Ch. 5-6

1.) "He was like a common gardener walking with a rose" (Wilde 69).

For a brother and sister, Jim and Sibyl are incredibly different. They're like the two opposite ends of a magnet--they're cut from the same cloth, but are totally different characters. Sibyl is more whimsical and capricious. She thinks everything should be a fairytale, and that everything will end up like the ending to a storybook. Jim, on the other hand, is grouchy and very protective of his older sister. He automatically thinks that any man who is with his sister is out to wrong her, and he wants to kill her. Perhaps this was because he was the only man in the family for sixteen years. Because there was no one around to be, he, despite his young age, had to step up. He is like Dorian in that respect. Both have ascended into a adulthood at a young age, but whether that adulthood is worthy or not remains to be seen. Still, Sibyl and Jim are complete opposites. They are Pessimism and Optimism in human form. Sibyl walks without a care in the world, yet Jim is constantly self-conscious of the glances of others. They could even be likened to beauty and genius. Beauty is exemplified in Sibyl, and its counterpart, Genius, is depicted in Jim. Beauty's capricious lifestyle is linked with genius's intellectual mannerisms, somehow, as is exemplified in this pair of siblings. Perhaps that is why Dorian falls for Sibyl. She is the representation of beauty and all that comes with it, and Dorian wishes for nothing more but eternal beauty.

2.) "'Her trusts make me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. I become different from what you have known me to be. I am changed, and the mere touch of Sibyl Vane's hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories'" (82).

This could pose a potential threat for Henry. Here we discover that Sibyl is the angel on Dorian's shoulder. She makes him want to do good, and to be good, and makes him happier than Henry's influence at times. Hence, because Dorian is so infatuated and affected by Sibyl, he forgets the theories and ideologies that Henry instills in him. If he does that, that Henry's entire experiment goes down the drain. Henry will have his guinea pig, but nothing to test it on. His guinea pig will be impervious to his concoctions. With Sibyl in the picture, Henry will not be able to conduct his experiment the way he wants to. His data will be forever compromised if Dorian marries Sibyl. He will never be able to influence Dorian so much if he is married. I believe this is why he tries to talk Dorian out of the marriage, at least that's what it sounds like he tries to do, after hearing what influence Sibyl now has over Dorian. Before, his intentions were not any better: "'I hope that Dorian Gray will make this girl his wife, passionately adore her for six months, and then suddenly become fascinated by some one else'" (79). Still, he wants Sibyl out of the picture, whether it is to further enhance his experiment or to prevent it from failure.