Romance- Lord Henry and Lady Henry

The relationship between these two is like a really bad novel. Neither of them are obviously happy with themselves. Even Lord Henry says it himself that he does not like marriage and shouldn't have done it. Lady Henry seems like a women that is always trying to find a new man but she can't because she is married, even in the book its said she was usually in love with somebody. But maybe if Lord Henry were more caring for women his wife would be more caring towards him. He is so judgmental towards women. He says basically that women are lower than men. But women were seen back then as lower than men because they seemed I guess kind of needy to men. Which women aren't, men would not be here if it weren't for women so how could they say we were lower than them? If I were Lady Henry I would have left the relationship as soon as I could. But maybe he kept all of his philosophies secret from her. Either way how can you be a married man if you can't accept your wife as an equal presence in the world?

Literary Post- Eposition

     Dorian Gray is basically a model for Basil Hallward's art. Lord Henry goes to Basil's while he is painting a portrait of Dorian and meets him for the first time. The two become very good friends because Dorian loves Henry's theories. As he keeps listening to the theories they start to set in his mind, one of them being, your beauty is here for a short time. When Basil is finally finished with the portrait Dorian is envious of it because it will stay young forever while he will age. He throws a huge fits and wishes that the painting would age but he would keep his beauty forever. After listening to Lord Henry's Philosophy's about life he realizes he needs to live a little bit and goes out and meets Sibyl Vane and falls in love with her. The setting is in London in the victorian era/ late 1800s or possibly close to beginning of 1900s.

Romance- Dorian and Sibyl

Dorian and Sibyl's romance was a love that went very fast.  They tried to fall in love without really knowing each other.  Had the two gotten to know each other the relationship might have gotten farther and Sibyl may not have died.  Dorian might have been in love but it was too quick and if its too quick then you're setting yourself up for disappointment. I say this because you may find something about about the person you may not like. Such as the incident that happened between the two.  The significance of their relationship is that it's Dorian's way of figuring out that the portrait ages and figuring out that he is cruel to Sibyl.  After he is cruel to her he realizes that he needs to apologize and make it up to her. He writes her a passionate letter that states his love for her. However, the letter will never be given to Sibyl because she killed herself by swallowing prussic acid.  Sibyl must not have been that important to him because he treated her death like the end of a tragic play.  He was not wounded. When I read the book I felt as if he was saying that he was sad but it was just a speed bump on his flat road. He kind of seemed glad to get rid of her.

Historical Element- Finding gold for money

Sibyl's family is poor.  The conclusion that the brother comes to is to go to Australia and discover gold. Know lets think back in the day... most people tried to discover gold to get money.  Another historical element I found was on pg. 89,  it talks about Dorian's butler giving him letters. Lets break this down. Today  the way of communication is what... cell phones, not letters.  This is how people communicated back then. Another historical element was Dorian going to the theater. Back in the victorian days they had theaters and he also describes his surroundings being grimy and black. Thats how things look in the bad parts of town. Also, the name Lord Henry and Lady Henry. If people were lords or powerful they had lord in front of their name. And the wife takes the husbands name.