PODG: Ch. 5 & 6

"[Basil] felt that Dorian Gray would never again be to him all that he had been in the past" (84).

When Basil first met Dorian, Dorian was pure, untouched, and genuine. Basil liked Dorian for who he was. It was not until Lord Henry met Dorian that Dorian changed into a reflection of Lord Henry, causing Basil and Dorian's special bond to weaken. From seeing each other almost every day, Dorian did not see Basil for days at a time because he spent all his time with Lord Henry: "Dear Basil! I have not laid eyes on him for a week" (60). On top of this, Dorian meets Sibyl Vane, who he adores: "Sibyl is the only thing I care about" (58). This causes Dorian to separate himself from Lord Henry's ideologies, but is now influenced by his love for Sybil: "Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me. [...] The mere touch of Sybil Vane's hand makes me forget you and all your [...] theories" (82). Basil will not get the Dorian he once had back. Once Dorian marries Sybil, she will be the object of his affection and everything else around him will be a blur. Dorian will share an even greater bond with Sybil than the one he had with Basil for the rest of his life. It is understandable why Basil is not too pleased with the idea of Dorian marrying Sybil. Dorian was once all of his art, but after the transformation Dorian went through, Basil will not be able to find the same Dorian who once inspired him.


"One's own life- that is the important thing. As for the lives of one's neighbors, [...] one can flaunt one's moral views about them, but they are not one's concern" (82).

Lord Henry values his own life and only his own. He uses Dorian as the object of his experiments because he does not want his curiosity to ruin his own life. Thus, he does not genuinely care for Dorian the way Basil does. Dorian makes Lord Henry's experimentation easy because he is allowing Lord Henry to influence him. This quote justifies the fact Lord Henry is only satisfying his mind by using Dorian without valuing him as a human being. Basil still believes that Lord Henry "doesn't mean a single word" (79) of what he says, but I am starting to think this is false. After reading this quote, it can be concluded that Lord Henry does mean what he says because, as we discussed in class, Lord Henry is not concerned about Dorian's welfare. If he was, then he would not be conducting experiments on Dorian.