Lord Henry is both a hypocrite and a catalyst in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Beginning with his hypocrisy, we see the first, and arguably most important, example of this in Chapter Two when Lord Henry declares that "all influence is immoral." This is hypocritical because Lord Henry uses his influence on Dorian, especially his witty manner and epigrams, to mould Dorian into a creature of his own making.
Interestingly, it is this influence...
Lord Henry is both a hypocrite and a catalyst in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Beginning with his hypocrisy, we see the first, and arguably most important, example of this in Chapter Two when Lord Henry declares that "all influence is immoral." This is hypocritical because Lord Henry uses his influence on Dorian, especially his witty manner and epigrams, to mould Dorian into a creature of his own making.
Interestingly, it is this influence on Dorian which also enables him to act as a catalyst. We see this at its most significant in Chapter 10 when Lord Henry sends "the yellow book" to Dorian. This book compels and fascinates Dorian and encourages his hedonism and pleasure-seeking ways. Later, in Chapter Nineteen, when confronted about the "poisoning" effect of the book, Lord Henry denies that any book can have a corrupting influence. In fact, he says:
Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.
Again, this demonstrates Henry's hypocrisy and begs the question that if a book can have no effect, why did he send it to Dorian? It is more likely that Lord Henry has realised the book's negative effects on Dorian and does not want to admit responsibility.
In sum, then, Lord Henry's hypocrisy is linked to his role as a catalyst. He claims to have no knowledge of his own corrupting influence on Dorian but is happy to sit back and watch as Dorian's dramatic life unfolds before his eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment