Monday, March 12, 2012

Throughout the novel we have seen many changes in Dorian, of these changes, how have his emotions changed toward his friends and how have his feelings changed toward others?

13 comments:

  1. I'm not sure if Dorian has any friends at this point in the book. He had Mr. Alan Campbell but not anymore, and as Basil said before he was murdered, most of the places Dorian occupies are abandoned by its occupants at the sight of Dorian. He has become so self-absorbed, and I guess you could say portrait-absorbed, that all his friends have left. On that thought, I feel like Dorian never really had any true friends. All his "friends" liked to be around him because he was aesthetically pleasing and innocent. Now Dorian is only aesthetically pleasing and doesn't really have anyone that he can call his "friend."
    His feelings towards others have turned completely around from respect to no respect. The only reason he's living is to pursue his pleasures; to live a hedonistic lifestyle. Other people have no importance to him.

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  2. I would have to agree with Ben, Dorian really hasn't had any real friends through out the book. The only friends does have, Basil and I guess you could say Lord Henry have had huge impact on him. Dorian killed Basil only when he was trying to help, and Lord Henry has been a negative influence on his life the entire book. Dorian has become completely self-absorbed. He only cares about how he can better himself with no regard to the people around him

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  3. Again, i agree with the two previous posts about Dorian not having any friends. I find it very interesting that he has impacted people in such negative ways that are kept secret to the reader. The biggest change I have seen in Dorian is his innocence and guilt. Towards the beginning of the novel, we see Dorian as a perfect creation, which is shown in the painting. He is uncorrupted and naive. As the novel continues, we see him become more corrupted and ruin more relationships with people, my assumption is by breaking their hearts since he has such a presence and no feelings. This would also relate to Wilde himself with his personal relationships and being heart broken. I think he cannot keep a relationship with anyone because he knows that he cannot love another when he does not love his true self, also known as the portrait.

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  4. I also agree with Ben. I don't believe that Dorian has had friends throughout the book. Basil was the closest to a "friend" and Dorian murdered him. The rest could be considered more of influences. I have seen Dorian change by becoming more selfish and less innocent because of the influences Lord Henry has had on him. In the beginning when he was "friends" with Basil, he was, as Molly said, uncorrupted and naive. But once he met Lord Henry and he started throwing his ideas and views at Dorian, Dorian became less innocent. Then, once he found out that the portrait helps him to not feel guilt, he started abusing that and he went crazy.

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  5. At this point in the story, Dorian has pretty much betrayed everyone that he was once close with. It seems as though he doesn't have any emotions towards others. He is just selfish. I think up until this point, he was angry toward Basil and Henry for kind of ruining his life. But now he is just too deep in all of his problems to care for others. I agree with Ben though, with the fact that he never truly had any friends. Everyone was just so intrigued with the concept of Dorian and his looks, and not really how he is.

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  6. At this point in this novel, Dorian seems to have betrayed everyone he was once friends with. So I am not sure that Dorian has any friends at this point in the book. His feelings towards others, however, seems to have changed from kind to selfish and evil. He has begun to use his friends to his benefit, such as when he used his friend, the doctor, to help clean up the murder scene. He did this by blackmailing the doctor, which is very selfish and unkind. At this point, I think that Dorian does not care for anyone other than himself, which I think is what will lead to his downfall.

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  7. Throughout the novel, most blatantly in chapter thirteen, we have witnessed major changes in Dorian's attitude toward those who were once his friends. In the beginning, I do not think it could have been predicted that Dorian's actions and thoughts would take such an incredibly negative turn. Clearly, his friends no longer matter to him considering he murdered Basil. It seems as though he no longer cares about what others think of him and is willing to do anything if it means it is pleasurable to him.

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  8. Agreed with everyone else, Dorian doesn't really have any friends anymore, he has betrayed them all. I think Dorian used to be a kind guy, but I think that Lord Henry was a bad influence on Dorian, and caused a lot of problems between him and Sibyl. Dorian killing Basil shows that he does not care at all about his friends. Dorian does not care about anyone else but himself, he will do whatever he wants to try and make himself happy, even though betraying all of his friends doesn't seem like the right way to do that.

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  9. I also agree with pretty much what everyone has already said on here. I think that towards the beginning of the novel we see Dorian have some relationships with others, however as the novel progresses and he is influenced by those around him, relationships start to mean less and less to him. His recent action of taking the life of his own creator shows how little emotion he has for those who used to be important in his life. As to hurt one's own creator seems to be a huge sign of loss of all sorts of feelings for another. Dorian is now concerned only with himself, not minding what happens along the way while he attempts to please himself.

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  10. Well, I think that throughout the story, Dorian has acted like a piece of clay. As the story progressed, he has been molded by others around him. Lord Henry was the one person who has had the most influence in his life thusfar. His emotions toward his friends have been altered through his influences. The one man who tried to lead him down the path of good was murdered by the very thing he created. It seems as if Dorian is seconding himself from those around him. He really has no friends anymore and people Are starting to question him.

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  11. As almost everyone has already said, Dorian has been a very self-endowed character throughout the entire novel. Considering Basil and Lord Henry are the only two characters we see Dorian personally interacting with, it can be said that these are his only two friends; but what does the word "friend" really mean in this instance? Lord Henry was a very negative burden in Dorain's life and Basil was the creator of his portrait, which was a tool to help Dorian see his flaws and sins. So is this really what a friend is meant to do? I feel like Dorian saw Lord Henry as more of a mentor, at the beginning of the book, than a friend. By now, we can clearly see that is no longer true. Perhaps, Basil's motives through the painting and through showing Dorian his flaws had a bigger impact on the way Dorian not only looked at himself but at Lord Henry as well. I feel like Dorian's emotions have moved from the curious/innocence side of the spectrum to the guilt-ridden/glum side of the spectrum.

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  12. When we see Dorian in the beginning of the book he seems to love the attention he gets from his friends and enjoys their company because of the way he is so respected by them. We are able to see the changes that occur in his feelings because he often prefers to be alone and only commands the attention of his friends when he wants something from them. Due to all of the sin Dorian has committed it seems as if he thinks that he is greater than everyone else because he is able to get away with it.

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  13. Because he has no soul it is hard for him to care for others and love others. He used to respect and love Basil, but he's gotten to the point where he can kill him and destroy his body without feeling anything. I think he is now incapable to love or care for anyone else but himself. He stil respects Lord Henry.

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