Victorian Blog #1: Literary Elements: Foreshadowing

      “Eternal youth, infinite passion, pleasures subtle and secret, wild joy and wilder sins- he was to have all these things. The portrait was to bear the burden of shame:that was all”(Wilde Pg.101).
       In this quote on page 101 I fell as if the author is giving all of his readers a look into the future. Foreshadowing is an author's use of hints or clues to suggest events that will occur later in the story, and in this story it was used brilliantly. He has given us the hint that we needed to come to a concrete conclusion that something very important is coming nearer as I type. The past tense use of words even tells us that he is looking back upon the past or as if he already knows what is to happen. This foreshadow is very important to the plot of the book and to share it with you is a pleasure.

Victorian Blog #1 : Historical Context Elements

     In the book there is a section where Dorian is explaining to Lord Henry how he had come amidst his new love. He told Henry of his adventures into "a labyrinth of grimy streets and black, grassless squares" and it came to my attention that even the Victorian Era had "ghettos". Even as Dorian leaves the rigidity old theater on a different occasion he walks through the "evil looking houses". As he walks he can even hear the "hoarse voices of the women that were calling to him. there was even a drunks, doesn't this sound familiar? The Victorian Era was also the era of technological advancements, and yet they still had ghettos? one has to understand that the Victorian Era was just a less dramatic today, then; for many of the people of that time thought like many people of today. That goes into the plot of the story as well, for there is barely any differentiations from now and then.

Victorian Blog #1: Literary Elements: Pure Irony

             "Poor Sibyl!...She had often mimicked death on the stage. then Death himself had touched her, and taken her with him,"
         On  the page of one hundred any one who wishes it can see the quote themselves and evaluate its meaning there, but for now I'll tell you how I interpret it. Irony is the contrast between what is expected or what appears to be and what actually is.The irony in this statement actually jumped out at me while I was reading and I had to write it down. Sibyl is used to playing death on her day to day life, whether it be acting out the very last acts of Romeo and Juliet where she is Juliet and is kissing Romeo then dropping to the ground. But now death has come and taken her to the place of no return. It is even more ironic that she also died as Juliet died. Heartbroken and no one left to love her, she decided to leave the world with a suicide so pure that it could make a mass murder cry. She drinks the prussic acid and sacrifices her self to the world, kind of in the same way Juliet does. The coldest irony that has been set upon the world. Well at least she went out as someone she loved

Victorian Blog #1 : The relationship between Dorian Gray and Sibyl Vane

          The "love" that is shared between the beautiful Dorian Gray and his lovely lady is only shown by a few kisses and some warm embraces, and yet Dorian runs home to Lord Harry and tells him that he has saw the "loveliest thing" that he has ever seen. Dorian loves this seventeen year old with all the strength that he has in his body.He says that he loves the way she can so well play out the particular characters of many of his favorite Shakespearian plays, but wait, it seems that as soon as she no longer has those dearly loved talents his love seems to dissipate with those talents. I think that the fact that Dorian would do such a thing is a look into the future of Dorian's life. Dorian will go through his life, literally, breaking young girls hearts, and will look back into the portrait which was once beautiful, and will see a creature so horrid that it looked as if the devil had rejected him from hell.