Plot: Dorian stabs the picture, hence himself.
Theme: self-consciousness that leads to loath his evil nature, desire to be free of it.
Key words: beauty, purification, blood, death, sin, hypocrisy
The symbolism of the character of Hetty:
She represents the lost innocence: p. 251 “she knew nothing, but she had everything he had lost”
The crucial point is that seems there’s no possible way to become good, the non-return point has passed by. Dorian is scared by that: Lord Henry had made him reflecting on his “renounce”, now he’s not sure if he is able, actually, to change.
p. 251 “Was it really true one could never change?” p.252 “But was it all irretrievable? Was there no hope for him?”
p. 251 “he knew that he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption” There is a curious structure: just before, Lord Henry is nominated, and the initial “he” seems alluding to him.
Attempts to blame an “external” factor instead of himself. Why? Maybe he cannot stand (or even recognise) the feeling of guiltiness. He is trying to convince himself it was the destiny that decided for him, he couldn’t interfere.
p. 252 “All his failure had been due to that”, that is the prayer to be always young.
p. 252 “It was his beauty that had ruined him, his beauty and the youth that he had prayed for”
p. 253 “It was the portrait that had done everything”
He is worried about the consequences of his actions: p. 252-3 he remember to himself the three people he could fear of are dead (James Vane, Alan Campbell, Basil Hallward) but he doesn’t regret his behaviour. “It was the living death of his own soul that trouble him” (p.253) That’s an hint to the fact he cannot change now, if he is not even able to feel responsible.
Still fear: “The picture itself-that was evidence. He would destroy it” (p.255)
There is a process, from p. 253 to p.255
Dorian wants a new life “he would be good”
He hope his renounce of Hetty was the beginning “Perhaps if his life became pure, he would be able to expel every sign of evil passion from the face”
Peak of tension: “A cry of pain and indignation broke from him. He could see no change” indeed, there is hypocrisy drawn on his face.
Doubt: “Had it been merely vanity?….. or perhaps all this?” (p.254)
Self-awareness: “Through vanity he had spared her. In hypocrisy he had worn the mask of goodness. For curiosity’s sake he had tried to denial of self. He recognised that now” (Answers to the question rose in the previous chapter)
hence “It had been conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience. He would destroy it.”
The knife takes a symbolic connotation: “As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter’s work” (p. 255) worth to be noticed, “kill” is repeated, although is not an adequate verb for an object
Aestheticism: beautiful=good, ugly=bad
p. 251 “He had told her once that he was wicked, and she had laughed at him, and answered that wicked people were always very old and ugly”
