Dorian Gray\u2019s decision to show Basil the truth of the portrait is motivated by the same self-serving assurance of acquittal that he has lived throughout the past years of his life. It is spurred on by the way he removes himself from accountability, as established within him when Lord Henry informs him of Sybil\u2019s death. When Basil at last comes to Dorian to confront him about all the rumors, he begs Dorian to deny the truth of them \u2013 and says that he himself wouldn\u2019t be able to really claim to know and defend Dorian until he knew the truth of his soul (129).<\/p>\n
“There was a madness of pride in every word he uttered. He stamped his foot upon the ground in his boyish insolent manner. He felt a terrible joy at the thought that some one else was to share his secret, and that the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done.<\/p>\n
\u2018Yes,\u2019 he continued, coming closer to him, and looking steadfastly into his stern eyes, \u2018I shall show you my soul. You shall see the thing that you fancy only God can see.\u2019” (129)<\/p>\n
These lines are representative of the greater themes of the novel \u2013 mentioning both shame and the soul \u2013 as well as referencing the stagnation of Dorian\u2019s character by describing his actions as \u201cboyish\u201d in unison with the more awful descriptions of his cruelty. His own inner monologue, as he decides to invite Basil into his secret, betrays him \u2013 his \u201cterrible joy\u201d at the thought of placing the burden of the \u201chideous memory\u201d onto the man who painted the \u201corigin of his shame\u201d. These descriptions create an interesting dichotomy of consciousness. It is clear that Dorian is aware that he has things to be shamed for, that to reveal his secrets is to reveal \u201cwhat he [has] done\u201d. In the same thought he takes none of the responsibility for those actions \u2013 there is the \u201cmadness of pride\u201d to terrify someone else with the knowledge that haunts him. Dorian says to Basil immediately before revealing the portrait to him: \u201cYou have chattered enough about corruption. Now you shall look on it face to face.\u201d His is aware that his soul is corrupted by his choices.<\/p>\n
There is also an irony that Dorian thinks Basil will be \u201cburdened for the rest of his life\u201d when he will be dead within minutes by Dorian\u2019s own hand, in turn burdening himself with further corruption (of murder) and freeing Basil, in a sense, from carrying the knowledge of Dorian\u2019s true soul with him. One fascinating thing to notice is the way that both Basil and Dorian mention God in these scenes. Throughout the novel itself there is a curious dismissal of the validity of religious ideology by characters such as Lord Henry and Dorian Gray and others in their circle of influence, while characters like Sibyl \u2013 who is considered to be a godlike creature \u2013 and Basil reference God freely.<\/p>\n
Basil dismisses the idea of being able to see Dorian\u2019s soul at all: \u201conly God can do that\u201d. Dorian scorns that, placing himself, and by association Basil, into a Godlike position, perhaps in yet another indication of Dorian\u2019s arrogance. Yet, it was a prayer that caused the portrait to take on the visage of Dorian\u2019s soul in the first place. \u201cSo you think that it is only God who sees the soul, Basil? Draw the curtain back and you will see mine\u201d (131). Here Dorian\u2019s mention of God again places Basil into a position where he assumes the responsibility of divinity: looking upon a soul. This could be another way that Dorian shrugs off accountability; alternatively, Dorian still views Basil as \u201cgood\u201d, and places him into the corresponding role.<\/p>\n
After the reveal of the painting, Basil begs Dorian to pray for forgiveness, to absolve himself of his sins. He claims that they both are being punished for worshipping Dorian too much (133). Basil also claims that the portrait has \u201cthe eyes of the devil\u201d, and immediately after Basil appeals for Dorian to pray with him for forgiveness, Dorian is consumed by \u201can uncontrollable feeling of hatred [for Basil] \u2026 as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered to him by those grinning lips\u201d (133). Dorian is not in any way immune to being influenced \u2013 either by his own cruel habits, Lord Henry\u2019s pretty wordplay, or by the devil manifesting in the portrait of his soul. As Dorian says to Basil: \u201cEach of us has Heaven and Hell in him\u201d (132).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dorian Gray\u2019s decision to show Basil the truth of the portrait is motivated by the same self-serving assurance of acquittal that he has lived throughout the past years of his life. It is spurred on by the way he removes himself from accountability, as established within him when Lord Henry informs him of Sybil\u2019s death. … Continue reading Heaven and Hell in “The Picture of Dorian Gray”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125361],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2023-blog-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishlit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}