influence

general points

1. influence of male characters in order to present their underlying desires

2. influence of the supernatural in order to emphasise the decline of the aristocracy

3. influence of mothers in order to gain security

1. “Why is your friendship so fatal to young men?”

• 1.TPDG

• Basil’s adoption of the interrogative tone emphasises the damage that Dorian is doing to other young men, by influencing and morally corrupting them

• arguably, dorian acts in a way which highlights the underlying desires of hedonism, and references Augustine’s view of the human condition to sin.

1. “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it”

• 1. TPDG
  paradoxical epigrams characterise LH as an influencing character motivated by hedonism and his amorality

• juxtaposes basil’s idealism, which ultimately influences dorian

• acts as a catalyst for d’s moral corruption

1. “[playing a] chord … vibrating… throbbing to curious places”

1. TPDG

• metaphor of dorian’s body being a musical instrument

• the oxymoron of D being so overwhelmed he was both “bright” and “dim” in response to Harry’s ‘bewildering’ words

• wilde implies that new ideas are stimulants that awaken the soul, and influence people to explore their underlying desires.

1. LH’s allusions to the snake

1. TPDG

• Biblical allusion

• displayed by having overwhelming influence on dorian

1. use of first person narration

1.TLS:

• the use of first person narration emphasises F’s influence on the decline of the Ayres family, emphasising his wish to take over the house as his own.

1. ‘drove to the house of Harold Hepton, the Ayres solicitor’, ‘be serious Caroline’

1.TLS:

• motif of overstepping emphasises his manipulation and influence on the Ayres’ view of the house

• ultimately emphasises the desparation and sense of entitlement F feels regarding HH, which is ultimately rooted in his ambition to climb the previously rigid social class, which had been enabled due to the labour govt decision to repeal the 1927 trade union act in 1946.

2- TLS: haunting of HH/ haunting of past

2. emphasises declining social position of the aristocracy in post war britain

2: “hysteria”, “shrieking”, “breaking glass”

2:TLS

• motif of madness in response to supernatural

• supernat as unsettlingly ambiguous and malevolent

• characters of rod, mrs ayres and betty, who are acutely aware of awaiting downfall

2. “you!”

2.TLS:

• vague exclamatory language emphasises supernatural influence on Caroline’s death.

• ultimately, supernatural does not stop until all members of the aristocracy are erased

2. “lingering infection in its floors and walls, a sickness in it”

2.TLS:

• literary allusion to the house of usher emphasises the supernatural force of the past haunting the edwardian upper class until all evidence of them is erased.

2:“monstrous and loathsome”

2: TPDG

• allusion to mary shelly’s frankenstein’s monster

• emphasises visibly immoral and corrupted soul

2. “loathing”, “horrible”, “cruelty”, “look of pain”

• semantic field of hatred to describe the painting

• genre of the Victorian gothic, ultimately emphasising the supernatural as an influencing factor of his moral corruption: allows him to hide behind a facade

• in order to confront Dorian Gray’s conscience, and his immorality, which, accompanied by the allusions to his fate in hell, of “throbbing cores of flame”, foreshadow his downfall and death.

2. symbolism of D’s portrait vs “pure, bright, innocent”

• 2: TPDG

• symbolises dorian’s hidden sins

• dichotomy of his outward appearance and his inner corruption

• emphasises that the supernatural enables D to become morally corrupt: and amoral force

• provides him w a façade in Victorian England, which held values of Evangelicalism, sexual restraint and personal improvement.

• The highly visible debauchery characteristic of aristocratic England in the early 19^th century disappeared in the late 1800s, with a reformation of a respectable and polite society, which placed emphasis on one’s outward image. In order to be welcomed into upper class society in Victorian England, it was important that one behaved respectably- or at least, in Dorian’s case, keep up a façade of purity and youth

3: “voice like cobwebs”, “lace mantilla”, “several shawls”, “she looked pale”

3: TLS

• semantic field of ghostly imagery

• Mrs Ayres is presented as a stereotypically feminine and delicate woman, in order to represent the Edwardian upper-class feminine ideals, where women would live their lives almost entirely in the domestic sphere, maintaining a ‘respectable image’

• gothic imagery is a literary allusion to character of Ms Havisham → emphasises Mrs A’s demise, not only as a character who is both vulnerable and without a husband, but as a symbol for Edwardian ideals and the upper class

3: “My father was a scoundrel then!, “Sibyl has a mother, I had none”

3: TPDG:

• exclamatory lang →Mrs Vane is portrayed to have similar struggles as a single mother, concerned for the wellbeing of her family

• establishes Mrs Vane as an orphan in the Victorian era, where unparented children suffered on the fringes of society, and unmarried mothers were considered an affront to morality, often ostracised from society.

3: “gentleman is wealthy”, “aristocracy”, “perfect gentleman”

3: TPDG

• semantic field of financial security

• emphasises motivation to protect her daughter from same hardships that she has endured

3: “I’ve thought of you and Caroline making a match, many times!”

3: TLS

• ironic exclamation→ desperate desires to marry off C

• implying that Dr Faraday was not her first choice for a husband, but she is willing to compromise.

3: “oddly self-conscious”, “uncharacteristic, feminine gesture”,

: TLS

• semantic field of awkward flirtation

• show the dissonance between new-wave feminist women and the nuclear family ideals of post-war English society, where women were pressured into leading domestic lives, forgoing their financial and social freedom come the return of troops from WW2, ultimately hinting that a mother’s desire to marry off her daughter is ill-placed.