The Picture of Dorian Gray Entry 2

I'm 2/3 of the way finished with the book. Now it seems that Dorian Gray has completely morphed into a different person. He madly falls in love with an actress he barley knows, named Sibyl Vane. Even though Lord Henry has a negative idea about love, Dorian still loves Sibyl Vane very much and praises her. I saw this as a sign that Sibyl Vane could take Dorian out from under Lord Henry's wing and that he would start thinking for himself, but that didn't happen, to my surprise. I believe it is one of the biggest turning points in the book when Dorian quickly retracts his love for Sibyl Vane for a bad performance in a play. I was shocked in this moment. Dorian seemed so superficial, shallow, and cruel to dump a girl who was madly in love with him. He even scorned her for her bad performance. Before Dorian was sweet boy who wanted to stay young forever now he has shifted into a heartless person.

The sad part is that he only felt sorry for what he did when he saw how it effected his portrait, how it made him look cruel, that's all he cared about. He didn't want to say sorry to Sibyl Vane out of the goodness of his heart and concern for her, but merely to clean his own conscience. This is shown in the book: " Why should he be troubled about Sibyl Vane? She was nothing to him now. But the picture." The love that he had for Sibyl Vane was based of off shallow things like looks, and her talent. He didn't know her, she didn't even know his name. The real plot twist of it all was when Sibyl Vane killed herself the same night Dorian Gray broke up with her.

When Dorian found out he was shocked and couldn't believe it. But yet he still doesn't cry about it, to him it's all some dramatic play. He says, " If I had read all this in a book Harry, I think I would have wept over it. Somehow, now that it has happened actually and to me, it seems to wonderful for tears." "Wonderful." What is wrong with him? Dorian Gray is becoming more and more like Lord Henry. He ends up going on to say that Sibyl  was selfish to kill herself. Ha! Isn't that ironic coming from Mr. Selfish himself. All he thinks about is himself. Not even once did he consider Sibyl's feelings, until it was too late. Dorian's obsession with how he looks and Lord Henry's influence is making Dorian egotistical. He thinks because he's young he has all of the world at his finger tips, that it doesn't matter if he does unmoral or unjust things.

I know that I've used the "I'm young" card one to many times when it comes to making mistakes, but there's no excuse. You have to be responsible for your actions and how they affect others. A lesson that Dorian would benefit from learning. Making mistakes is OK, because everyone makes them, but you have to learn from them. Dorian Gray seems to not even acknowledge his mistakes. The next day after hearing about the death he acts as if it never happened.

There's also the situation with the portrait. At first it scared him, but now he's excited about it. He feels untouchable. The fact that he never will age is all he cares about. It reads, " What did it matter what happened to the colored image on the canvas? He would be safe. That was everything." I predicted that this would backfire and turn out poorly for Dorian. He has become obsessed with material things searching all over the world for the most luxurious items. He's travelling more and people are starting to take notice of his weird behavior. The portrait is starting to haunt him. He doesn't want anyone to see it but I have a feeling someone will.