the colonization of several arenas by celebrity logic.
I think this is relevant to us considering all three of us have solid evidence of the celebrities work being used to make a social or political point, and how the emotionalization of a certain issue can raise awareness in a way it otherwise couldn't.
always wore a Waterbury watch.
Waterbury watches were created using fewer parts than any other watch on the market at the time. They were very cheap, and described by Mark Twain as "simple sweet, and humble." I think this idea of being common but in a good way was to support how people felt toward Basil, and why he would not have an enemy.
It is only shallow people who require years to get rid of an emotion.
"A lack of compassion can be as vulgar as an excess of tears." (Downton Abbey)
You must play Chopin to me. The man with whom my wife ran away played Chopin exquisitely.
I find it interesting that Lord Henry should want to hear something that reminds him of something as unpleasant as his wife leaving him for another man. Maybe he's just filling the void? When he first spoke of his wife I didn't get the feeling he was terribly fond of her to begin with though..
passed his hand across his forehead
I'm not sure if this is an intentional connection, but in the very first chapter, and the most recent one just before he died, Basil seemed to have a habit of wiping sweat off his forehead, and I wonder if Dorian's adoption of this tick is evidence of some kind of guilt in killing Basil.
he grew cold with passion.
Passion is usually connected to warmth ?
“I was wrong. It has destroyed me.”
I was a little confused by this, when Dorian first saw a change in the picture it prompted him to right his wrongs, and played the function of a conscience. It reminded him that he was destroying himself, I don't see how the picture could've hurt him.
passed out of the room,
On a more pleasant note, this is where I realized when they use the phrase 'passed out' they don't mean unconscious, they mean someone left the room.
the man who had painted the portrait that was the origin of all his shame was to be burdened for the rest of his life with the hideous memory of what he had done.
wow Dorian does a great job of taking responsibility for his own actions! (but not really) He's a child who does bad things and then convinces himself that it's somebody else's fault and that he's such a victim. Maybe next time he should be careful what he wishes for.
cardinal virtues cannot atone for cold entrées, as Lord Henry remarked once,
For someone who accuses others of being terribly shallow, Lord Henry, as well as Dorian, seem to have placed some of their highest priorities on material things
Charles of England had ridden in stirrups hung with three hundred and twenty-one diamonds.
I'm so confused why Wilde felt it was important to include all these details about the jewels and the musical instruments and whatnot, is there some connection between all these details that I'd have to research to find, or were these commonly known references that everyone of the time would understand?
It was a poisonous book.
I wonder if Lord Henry is trying to corrupt Dorian for his own amusement, or is blind to the damage he is inflicting? In the first chapter he promised Basil he would lay off, but he clearly is not, and that's causing me to question the kind of friendship Lord Henry and Basil have.
I have not been wounded.
When he claims to be unharmed by this tragedy, is he considering only his physical, or his conscience as well? Just recently he was grieving over the fact that he 'killed' her, is the feeling of regret not a kind of wound?
How little you can know of love, if you say it mars your art
While I'm super upset that Dorian is so shallow to throw her over after one bad performance, he does make a good point in that experiencing life and people should be education for an artist, and should help Sybil in understanding her craft.
This marriage is quite right. I did not think so at first, but I admit it now. God made Sibyl Vane for you. Without her you would have been incomplete.”
Is he trying to convince Dorian of this, or himself?
But then the middle classes are not modern.”
From a current perspective, I'd argue that the middle class is more modern than the upper class. The upper class is fighting to keep things the same, as they're on top and wouldn't want that to change, while the middle classes are looking for newness and change, so they may have a chance to rise in wealth and society.
“Oh, she is more than good,—she is beautiful,
I wonder what Wilde believed in the respect of the value of beauty over intellect or goodness.He has compared himself to Lord Henry and Basil in the quote from the letter, so I wonder how much he identifies with what the characters say/believe.
To a large extent, the lad was his own creation.
Can a person be 'created' by someone? Is this a form of art? Neil Labute, in the play 'The Shape of Things' makes the claim that the two most pliable materials are the human flesh, and the human will.
women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly.
I wonder if Wilde was sexist (a product of his time, to say the least) and believed the words he gave some of his characters. The idea that women are useless but pretty seems prevalent in a lot of his work.
You like your art better than your friends.
I personally really like this, and think there is some humor as well as some truth in it, in regard to all artists.
“It is not my property, Harry.” “Whose property is it?” “Dorian’s, of course.”
I wonder if this was after the dispute over Wilde's image, in which case, I think it's clear where he stood on the matter of the ownership of his portrait.
They spoil every romance by trying to make it last forever.
throwback to the discussion about the value of beauty being that it is fleeting, and if you take that away, it loses its value
It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.
When he says 'judge by appearance' I think he means what you see people do, not just what they look like. The unseen then would be a judgement made about someone that is not founded. I think he's saying this under the assumption that there is more than one kind of beauty, (I'm not sure if I'm making any sense, but I don't think Lord Henry is speaking only of what an individual looks like when referencing beauty)
Now and then, however, he is horribly thoughtless, and seems to take a real delight in giving me pain.
This is actually the same as how Bosie was toward Wilde, on a childish whim he'd be so rude and careless while Wilde was so blindly devoted to him.
They feel that drunkenness, stupidity, and immorality should be their own special property, and that if any one of us makes an ass of himself he is poaching on their preserves.
I just really like this and it's so relevant to the hypocrisy seen today, where if we do something wrong it's excusable, but if another does the same thing they will be subject to criticism.
I couldn’t be happy if I didn’t see him every day. Of course sometimes it is only for a few minutes. But a few minutes with somebody one worships mean a great deal.” “But you don’t really worship him?” “I do.”1
This was about where I was pretty sure there was a connection between Basil's feelings toward Gray and Wilde's feelings toward Bosie. Both used the other as inspiration for their art (conscious or otherwise) and both older admire the youth and potential in the younger. It is even suggested that there are times Gray is harsh or unkind to Basil, as Bosie was to Wilde.
What is striking about these nineteenth-century letters is their expression of concerns and desires common to fan letters published in contemporary young women's magazines. It seems useful, then, to examine the issues raised in the letters in the light of the 'star' theory which emerged as a subsection of film theory in the late 1970s.
-Key terms in this would be "expression of concerns and desires" and the "'star' theory". -I would say the reference to the star theory is Academic English, but Throsby goes on to explain it well enough that it's easily understood. -Throsby explores Dyer's star theory in relation to Byron's creation and employment of the 'byronic hero' and his use of it in his work to create a recognizable persona.
With his textual flirtation, Byron invites the reader to invest themselves in his image and participate in the creation of the Byronism.
I know we were supposed to look for the thesis, but I thought this would be the conclusive statement, as it seemed to answer or further elaborate on the initial claim made at the beginning.
Many others are more concerned to save Byron's soul: 'I am anxious that it should return to its natural bias before it is too late, that while you have time you should repent'
I just thought this was interesting and it reminded me a lot of Anne Byron's portrayal in the BBC Biopic
At the heart of Dyer's theory is the idea that the audience grows to feel as if they know a star because of the actor's development of an immediately recognisable and consistent persona.
I know I've passed up the thesis, but I thought this was vital to Thorsby's claim, as it gives an explanation as to why the readers get so attached to Byron, as well as a strategy Byron may have used to build this relationship with his readers.
e blue eyes, fair locks, and snowy hands
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old had a mother – not forgot, Though parting from that mother he did shun; A sister whom he loved, but saw her not Before his weary pilgrimage begun: 85 If friends he had, he bade adieu
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like moths, are ever cau
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ngs would flash along Childe Harold’s brow; 65 As if the memory of some deadly feud62 Or disappointed passion lurke
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the boy was grieved to leave the lake On whose firm banks he grew from Infancy, Eftsoons his little heart beat merrily With hope of foreign nations to behold, And many things right marvellous to see, Of which our lying voyagers oft have told, In many a tome as true as Mandeville’
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re drugged he almost longed for woe, And e’en for change of scene would seek the shades
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hough he loved but one,52 And that loved one, alas! could n’er be his. 40 Ah, happy she! to ’scape from him whose kiss Had been pollution unto aught s
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prose, nor honeyed lies of rhyme, Can blazon evil deeds, or consecrat
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Soregiventorevelandungodlyglee; 15FewearthlythingsfoundfavourinhissightSaveconcubinesandcarnalcompanie,Andflauntingwassailersofhighandlowdegree.
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It is highly improbable, from my situation, and pursuits hereafter, that I should ever obtrude myself a second time on the Public;
I can't tell if, in saying this, Byron is genuinely only intending on publishing his work this once, or if he's doing that thing where he publicly talks himself down, expecting people to think he's humble, and be kinder toward him or encourage him in return.
air – Frowns become not one so fair. ’Tis
When I first read this, it reminded me of the controversial "you'd be prettier if you smiled" compliment. Most women I think revert to being defensive when told that, but I don't think Byron intended it to be rude.
is given to some others – That is to say, unskilled to cozen, It shares itself among a
I like how this shows despite the compliments Byron has given until now was not with the intent to flatter Marion, but as genuine advice. He says his heart is "unskilled to cozen," or can't mislead her, and he means and believes what he's saying to her.
to most women, he could be tender,melancholy, and idealistic. But this weakness was also Byron’s strength. His chameleon-like character was engendered notby hypocrisy but by sympathy and adaptability, for the side he showed was a real if only partial revelation of his true self.
This quote supports Byron's portrayal in the movie, as he had a harder shell through the most of it, but around people he was close to (Augusta, and sometimes Hobhouse) he would be a bit more vulnerable, making him easier to sympathize with. This is again reflected in the movie when Byron first talks to Annabella (in part 1 at 23:40) she says she sees a sincerity in him, and believes in his good nature even if he does not.