PoDG Ch. 7-8

1.) "'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, if she can strip them of their selfishness and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of all your adoration, worthy of the adoration of the world. [...] The gods made Sibyl Vane for you'" (Wilde 86).

This is exactly what Sibyl does for Dorian, and she does it all through her own death. Ever since Dorian met Lord Henry, he has lived without a soul. Though he was beautiful, his life was an ugly one, until he met Sibyl. For once, Dorian was not selfish. He loved her and cared about her. He felt for the Shakespearean characters she played, and for all of her own troubles, though they were not his own. Dorian loved her. Dorian explains it perfectly himself: "'The mere touch of Sibyl Vane's hand makes me forget you and all your [...] theories'" (82). Sibyl made him a better person. He did not care for Henry's input any more, because Sibyl took Henry's place in Dorian's life. Before Dorian knew that Sibyl had died, and he still thought she was alive, he even took a stand against Henry: "'I know what you are going to say. Something dreadful about marriage. Don't say it, Don't ever say things of that kind to me again'" (101). Sibyl was Dorian's ticket out of Henry's vile grasp, hence why she was made by the gods for Dorian, as Basil put it. The gods gave Dorian beauty, but that beauty was meant to be for a certain time. Dorian, on the other hand, tried to outwit fate and traded his soul so that his portrait may age while he does not. That was going against the gods wishes. Only after Dorian makes the deal does he meet Sibyl, sent by the gods as a sort of repentance. If Dorian follows her, he will not be damned. When he forsakes her bad acting and leaves her, Dorian screwed up his chances. He took a gift from the gods and threw it in their face. Because of that, the gods took her life, as punishment. Sibyl was Dorian's one last chance at humanity, and, as Henry once said, "'what the gods give they quickly take away'" (24).

2.) "Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joys and wilder sins--he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of his shame, that was all" (109).

So now we finally have it. The confirmation that the portrait ages while Dorian does not. Not only does the portrait age, however, it portrays the consequences of his sin. It serves as a reminder for his sins. No sin can go unpunished, and since Dorian must remain forever young and innocent, the picture must become his scapegoat. Dorian 's portrait works a lot like the down of a duck. A duck swims all day and gets wet all the time, but the water just slides off of its feathers. It's the same way with Dorian. Dorian commits the sins, but rather than affecting him, they slide off of his soul and mar the painting. In this respect, the portrait serves the function held in classic beliefs about mirrors. Many mythologies and legends state that mirrors are the gateway to the soul, that they reflect someone's true nature. This is the entire basis for the superstition that if you break a mirror, you have 7 years of bad luck--you are literally breaking your soul. In Dorian's Case, the portrait has become his soul. He no longer has one, but his portrait does. In order so that he may have the life he wanted, he gave his portrait his own life to age and deteriorate for him. I feel however, that this will rob Dorian of any feeling. If he doesn't have his soul, that he cannot feel his actions in the moral sense, only in the physical. He will indulge in pleasure, but in doing so, he will lost sight of what he is doing. Hunger will replace conscience, and appetite will replace reason. With his soul locked in the painting, he will be lost to desire.