The Picture of Dorian Gray: Ch. 3

"Margaret Devereux was one of the loveliest creatures I ever saw. [...] What on earth induced her to behave as she did, I never could understand. She could have married anybody she chose" (37).

Margaret's beauty was advantageous for herself, but she chose true love over the materialistic satisfaction of what her good looks could have given her: "She was an extraordinarily beautiful girl, Margaret Devereux, and made all the men frantic by running away with a penniless young fellow, a mere nobody" (36). Margaret broke away from the assumption that she would marry a handsome and wealthy man. She chose to follow her heart, rather than let her looks tell her who she could benefit from. Beauty seems to be very important to Lord Henry and his peers or is at least mentioned fairly often by them. We first hear about how "Beauty [...] is higher, indeed, than Genius" (24). Now, we hear of the envy the Duchess has of American girls: "I must confess most of them are extremely pretty. And they dress well, too. [...] I wish I could afford to do the same" (42). Unlike Margaret, Dorian is unaware of his beauty's beneficence. He is still young and does not know how to use his beauty to his advantage, but Dorian does not need to worry about this because his looks have already brought him great adoration from Basil and Lord Henry. If Dorian was ugly, then there would be slight chances that Basil would have immediately felt such a strong attraction to him. In this case, beauty does come off as more beneficial than intelligence because one cannot tell a person is intelligent by simply looking at them.

"He would try to be to Dorian Gray what, without knowing it, the lad was to the painter who had fashioned the wonderful portrait. He would seek to dominate him- had already, indeed, half done so. He would make that wonderful spirit his own" (40).

Lord Henry seems to have accomplished his task without much effort. Lord Henry also seems to be objectifying Dorian, making him sound like a toy he must have or an object to experiment on: "There was nothing that one could not do with [Dorian]" (39). Basil is correct in saying Lord Henry "has a bad influence over all his friends" (19). A negative quality in Lord Henry is that "he never means anything that he says" (41). Dorian is so mesmerized by Lord Henry that he is prone to believing whatever he says. Lord Henry has already influenced Dorian so greatly. The first time is when Dorian tells Basil that he likes his art better than his friends. Basil "stared [at him] in amazement [because] it was so unlike Dorian to speak like that" (28). Another impact of Lord Henry on Dorian is when Dorian decides to go out with Lord Henry over the plans he had already made with Basil. In the previous chapter, when Basil asks Dorian to stay with him instead of going out with Lord Henry, Dorian tells Basil that he "promised Lord Henry to go with him" (32). Therefore, he could not stay; however, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he would "sooner come with [him]" (47) even though he promised Basil he would see him later. Dorian breaks his promise to Basil and does not think twice before agreeing to go with Lord Henry. This sounds like the foreshadowing of a conflict between the three friends.