Summary: Chapter Eleven
Under the influence of the “yellow book,” Dorian’s
character begins to change. He orders nearly a dozen copies of the
first edition and has them bound in different colors to suit his
shifting moods. Years pass. Dorian remains young and beautiful,
but he is trailed by rumors that he indulges in dark, sordid behavior. Most
people cannot help but dismiss these stories, since Dorian’s face
retains an unblemished look of “purity” and “innocence.” Dorian
delights in the ever-widening gulf between the beauty of his body
and the corruption of his soul. He reflects that too much of human
experience has been sacrificed to “asceticism” and pledges to live
a life devoted to discovering “the true nature of the senses.” Always
intellectually curious, Dorian keeps up on the theories of the day—from
mysticism to antinomianism to Darwinism—but he never lets these
theories dominate him or interfere with his experiences. He devotes
himself to the study of beautiful things: perfumes and their psychological
effects, music, jewelry, embroideries, and tapestries.
Dorian continues to watch the painted image of himself
age and deteriorate. Sometimes the sight of the portrait fills him
with horror, while other times he reflects joyfully on the burdens
that his body has been spared. But he fears that someone will break
into his house and steal the painting; he knows many men who whisper
of scandal behind his back and would delight in his downfall.
Summary: Chapter Twelve
On the eve of his thirty-eighth birthday, Dorian runs
into Basil on a fog-covered street. He tries to pass him unrecognized,
but Basil calls out to him and accompanies him home. Basil mentions
that he is about to leave for a six-month stay in Paris but felt
it necessary to stop by and warn Dorian that terrible rumors are
being spread about his conduct. Basil reminds Dorian that there
are no such things as “secret vices”: sin, he claims, “writes itself
across a man’s face.” Having said these words, he demands to know
why so many of Dorian’s friendships have ended disastrously. We
learn that one boy committed suicide, and others had their careers
or reputations ruined. Basil chastises Dorian for his influence
over these unfortunate youths and urges him to use his considerable
sway for good rather than evil. He adds that he wonders if he knows
Dorian at all and wishes he were able to see the man’s soul. Dorian
laughs bitterly and says that the artist shall have his wish. He
promises to show Basil his soul, which, he notes, most people believe
only God can see. Basil decries Dorian’s speech as blasphemous,
and he begs Dorian to deny the terrible charges that have been made
against him. Smiling, Dorian offers to show Basil the diary of his
life, which he is certain will answer all of Basil’s questions.
Analysis: Chapters Eleven–Twelve
In the eighteen years that pass over the course of these
two chapters, Dorian undergoes a profound psychological and behavioral
transformation, though he remains the same physically. Although
his behavior is, in part, a function of the Gothic nature of Wilde’s
tale—his mysterious, potentially dangerous behavior contributes
to the novel’s darkness—Dorian does not simply devolve into a villain. Though
he exhibits inhuman behavior as he carelessly tosses aside his protégés
(and his sins are only to become worse), he never completely sheds
his conscience. This divide further manifests itself in that when
Dorian looks at the painting of his dissipated self, he “sometimes
loath[es] it and himself,” while at other times he is overwhelmed
by “that pride of individualism that is half the fascination of
sin, and smil[es] with secret pleasure at the misshapen shadow that
had to bear the burden that should have been his own.” This tension
points to the conflicted nature of Dorian’s character.
We might consider Dorian’s search for artistic and intellectual enlightenment—much
of which is catalogued in Chapter Eleven—an attempt to find refuge
from the struggle between mindless egotism and gnawing guilt. Indeed,
Dorian lives a life marked by fear and suspicion. He finds it difficult
to leave London, giving up the country villa he shares with Lord
Henry for fear that someone will stumble upon the dreaded portrait
in his absence. One can argue that Dorian turns to the study of
perfumes, jewels, musical instruments, and tapestries as a source
of comfort.
Certainly Dorian’s greatest reason for indulging in the
studies that Wilde describes at length is his disenchantment with
the age in which he lives. Commonly referred to as the fin-de-siècle
(French for “end of the century”) period, the 1890s
in England and Europe were marked by a world-weary sensibility that
sought to free humanity from “the asceticism that deadens the senses.”
In art, this so-called asceticism referred primarily to artistic
styles known as naturalism and realism, both of which aimed at reproducing
the world as it is and ascribed a moral purpose to art. Dorian,
taking the teachings of Lord Henry and the mysterious yellow book
as scripture, believes that hedonism is the means by which he will
rise above the “harsh, uncomely puritanism” of his age. This philosophy counters
“any theory or system that would involve the sacrifice of any mode
of passionate experience,” which echoes the Preface’s insistence
that artists should not make distinctions between virtue and vice.
According to this line of thinking, an experience is valuable in
and of itself, regardless of its moral implications. Certainly, as
Dorian lives his life under the rubric of aesthetic philosophy,
he comes to appreciate the seductive beauty of the darker side of
life, feeling “a curious delight in the thought that Art, like Nature,
has her monsters, things of bestial shape and with hideous voices.”
