Focus on the connections and cause-effect relationships you perceive between Dorian and the painting of him by Basil Hallward, as described throughout The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (1891). In a carefully considered and meticulously prepared essay, derive a thesis that shows your interpretation of the meaning of the painting.
The essay is to address two questions as deeply and efficiently as possible:
How do you account for the descriptions of changes in the painting–with a supernatural, scientific, psychological, or other explanation?
How do you interpret Dorian’s changes through the course of the novel–are they integrally related to the descriptions of changes in the painting, or are they independent of them?
Organization Options. In each organizational format, be sure to address Dorian, the Painting, and the Basis and Meaning of the Changes that are described throughout the whole novel, selecting examples carefully to account for both coverage and depth.
Point-by-Point. You decide the order as well as the points; these are suggestions.
Painting.
All instances covered with brief references and citations; selected instances described in more depth.
Dorian.
Coverage and depth to show causes and effects through the novel.
Basis and Meaning.
Evidence of supernatural or natural explanations of the causes and effects after the wish is made.
Section-by-Section.
Lord Henry and the Wish. (Ch. 1-3)
Painting.
Dorian.
Basis and Meaning.
Sibyl Vane. (Ch. 4-8)
Dorian.
Painting.
Basis and Meaning.
Changes and The Yellow Book (Ch. 9-11)
Dorian.
Painting.
Basis and Meaning.
Basil and Dorian. (Ch. 12-13)
Dorian.
Painting.
Basis and Meaning.
Alan Campbell, Lady Narborough’s, and the incident at “far side of London” (Ch. 14-17)
Dorian.
Painting.
Basis and Meaning.
[continue with Ch. 18-20]
Requirements and Guidelines:
The 1891 version of the novel is your only source for this essay. Online version of the novel: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/174/174-h/174-h.htmLinks to an external site.
Make your planning and preparation as efficient as possible, starting with careful reading of the novel and effective notes, both in the novel and in the Class Notes, to assist the retrieval of examples as you need them. Work systematically on each step of the essay process.
As mentioned above, provide for two fundamental aspects of the essay’s development, which together make the essay as efficient and effective as possible in a relatively short space:
Coverage of the novel, which you accomplish through many very brief references to it with multiple citations;
Depth of selected representative examples from the novel, showing trains of thought and some key passages from it to give a clear idea of the thesis at key points in the novel’s progress.
