There is a significant turning point in Dorian’s disposition after he sees Sybil Vane, the girl he is madly in love with for her beautiful acting skills, put on an embarrassingly poor performance as Juliet in front of Basil and Lord Henry. He began to show signs of a change in him after a discussion with Lord Henry about the fleetingness of youth, when his powerful desire to stay young forever emerges. Dorian, who had once professed his love for Sybil and her ability to emulate a beautiful work of art through acting, is aghast at Sybil’s dismal performance as Juliet.

Sybil explains to Dorian that his love has freed her, that her acting was only an “empty pageant” and now she truly knows what love is. (Wilde 72). In a dramatic fury, Dorian tells Sybil, ““you have killed my love. You used to stir my imagination. Now you don’t even stir my curiosity. … I loved you because you were wonderful, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away” (Wilde 73).

Heartbroken, Sybil kills herself. Basil is bewildered by Dorian’s indifference to the news, to which Dorian replies, “she lived her finest tragedy.” He goes on: “… she died, as Juliet might have died. She passed again into the sphere of art. There is something of the martyr about her. Her death has all the pathetic uselessness of martyrdom, all its wasted beauty. (Wilde 93). Dorian has no interest in Sybil if she cannot embody the artistic beauty he seeks. He tells Basil that he, Dorian, has grown, matured and developed into a new man with new passions. Basil finds himself moved by Dorian’s speech: “rugged and straightforward as he was, there was something in his nature that was purely feminine in its tenderness (Wilde 94)”.

In A Problem in Modern Ethics, John Addington Symonds contends that gay men posses a feminine soul, and are instinctually emotional and full of desire (1896). Dorian’s sexual awakening begins with Lord Henry’s speech, which has altered his view of the world entirely, and is catalyzed by Sybil’s butchered Juliet performance. Dorian himself is dramatic and emotional, aching with desire to blur the lines between life and art.

John Addington Symonds said, in his A Problem in Modern Ethics, that “the body of an Unrning is masculine, his soul feminine, so far as sex is concerned” (Symonds).  This meant that Urnings (homosexuals) were thought to have a masculine outer appearance, but have a feminine spirit and soul, which meant carrying out many of the features a female would have personality wise or spiritually.  He said that “the body of a male is visible to the eyes, is measurable, and ponderable, is clearly marked in its specific organs”, so that upon first glance one would recognize a male figure standing before them, “but what we call his soul … eludes the observation of the senses” (Symonds).  What Symonds means by this is that the soul would not be recognized as that of a male, but rather something unrecognizable at first, and perhaps even feminine.  He continues to say that “when I find that soul…had been directed in its sexual appetite from earliest boyhood towards persons of the male sex, I have the right to qualify it with the attribute of femininity” (Symonds).

Much like this passage, the attributes of the homosexual male talked about in the beginning of chapter 9 of Dorian Gray represent the feminine spirituality that is talked about in Symonds piece.  “The boyish beauty that had so fascinated Basil Hallward, and many others besides him, seemed to never leave him.  Even those who had heard the most evil things against him” (Wilde 91).  A beauty like this is normally not depicted unless a female is being talked about or described within a passage.  However, this time, the words were used to describe a homosexual male.  The passage goes on, saying “he had always the look of one who had kept himself unspotted from the world…there was something in the purity of his face that rebuked them” (Wilde 92).  Again, the beauty and purity used to describe Dorian Gray in this passage was language used to represent females.   Finally the passage ends saying, “They wondered how one so charming and graceful as he was could have escaped the stain of an age that was once sordid and sensuous” (Wilde 92).  The words “charming” and “graceful” are two strong words often used to describe something feminine.  It is through the specific words Wilde uses to describe the homosexual boy that we can see the similarities to Symonds article.

Lord Henry serves as a mentor to Dorian in the ways of life, so far, in The Picture of Dorian Gray” that is very similar to the Greeks, with older men serving as mentors to the confused youth. When Dorian believes Sibyl is the love of his life, he attempts to reject Lord Henry, his new found love fulfilling his need to be taught about life by actually living it until her love for Dorian destroys her acting and then he rejects her as easily as he had rejected Lord Henry and Basil. I chose a passage from chapter 6 after Dorian finds out that Sibyl has killed herself and Lord Henry is consoling the young Dorian, once again attempting to allure the beautiful young man. I argue that Lord Henry advises Dorian in a similar fashion as what John Addington Symonds talks about in “A Problem in Greek Ethics”. In this he is discussing the ways of the Greek and their teachings from one man to another as “the lover taught, (and) the hearer learned”; a dynamic Lord Henry practically forces onto Dorian the moment life throws him an unexpected turn with Sibyl’s suicide. In his attempt to help Dorian, he blatantly tells him the truth of what his life would have been like had they actually ended up together, that in marrying “this girl you would have been wretched” (65). He then continues on to tell Dorian an even more intrusively honest fact that “she would have soon found out that you were absolutely indifferent to her”, addressing Dorian’s sexual disinterest he himself hasn’t discovered yet (66). In this moment you can see Lord Henry’s influence on Dorian return, the obstacle of Sibyl no longer pulling Dorian interest away from him. In the next chapter, when Basil attends to Dorian expecting to find him in grief, it becomes clear how much Lord Henry has truly impacted him with his blasé dismal of Sibyl’s death, telling Basil “what is done is done” though the incident was only the day before (74). It becomes clear the true impact Lord Henry has on Dorian in his Grecian-like mentoring, stemming from this passage in chapter 6 in which Lord Henry pushes aside Dorian’s grief and makes him react entirely different to Sibyl’s death, reclaiming his influence on Dorian he had lost partially when Sibyl had his attention.

According to Labouchère Amendment, any man engaging in homosexual behavior, “shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and being convicted thereof shall be liable to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years with or without hard labor.”  In Chapter 7 of A Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil admits his feelings for Dorian.  Basil states that he was worried about putting his painting on for show because, “I grew afraid that the world would know of my idolatry.”  Basil’s fear is reasonable considering he could be jailed for being found to have feelings for Dorian.  It is also surprising that Basil is willing to admit these feelings to Dorian due to this law.  I think that this passage reveals that Basil trusts Dorian.  I think Wilde is commenting on this law because Basil has not acted on his feelings for Dorian, but could still be punished by law.  I think the words the Basil uses to describe his feelings for Dorian are interesting.  Basil uses words like idolatry and worship.  This is interesting because homosexuals were describe using Greek mythology and these kinds of words echo the divine and mythical.

Instructions:

Choose a passage from chapters 5-9 of Dorian Gray that relates to ideas expressed on the Sexology handout that I distributed in class. Write a 150-300 word blog post analyzing the connections between them.

Due

by April 3rd at 5pm for participation credit.

Tristan, although expressing sympathy for the prostitutes, still feels disturbed by the lives and actions of the prostitutes of the time. She writes, “To brave death is nothing; but what a death faces a prostitute! She is betrothed to sorrow, committed to abjection!- Physical tortures incessantly repeated, moral death all the time, and scorn for herself!” (Tristan)

Prostitutes are perpetually placed in a state of despair, knowing that they are acting against God, committing sin, and shunned by mankind.

Despite this, Tristan heavily blames society for a prostitutes’ place in the world. Their place was created by a division of class as well as a separation of gender. These women were offered no eduction, and even those who were educated had very limited job options. Due to this, Tristan believes that prostitutes could not be deemed immoral for actions that were out of their control.

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Thomas Hood, in his poem “Bride of Sighs” expresses this same sympathy for prostitutes. This view is similar to that of Tristan, but rather than blaming society and class differences, Thomas Hood associates the issue of prostitution with a lacking of family and close loved ones.

He blames the men for mistreating the prostitutes, rather than treating them as women, as humans. He writes, in lines 15-20,

Touch her not scornfully;

Think of her mournfully,

Gently and humanly;

Not of the stains of her,

All that remains of her

Now is pure womanly.

Thomas Hood feels great sympathy towards the prostitute, the subject of his poem, who ultimately kills herself by drowning. He wishes for the men who find her to treat her dead corpse with the same gentleness that he speaks of earlier in the poem.

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Both Thomas Hood and Flora Tristan note that prostitutes are part of the lower class, and that prostitutes are without a home.. Thomas Hood, however, blames this lacking of a home (lacking of a family) for the desolate & lonely life of a prostitute, where Tristan blames class differences.

Flora Tristan blames Victorian London’s rampant prostitution on a number of factors, including an unequal distribution of wealth and society’s oppression of women. She discusses the prejudices which prevent women from achieving a high social status, such as their lack of professional education and their inability to own land. According to Tristan, if women were allowed the same education and to hold the same occupational positions as men, they would not be subject to the poverty and degradation that ultimately leads them to prostitution. She also states that women, since they are not treated as autonomous individuals, cannot be held accountable to any sort of “moral law”— in fact, they’re taught their whole life the “art of pleasing”, so how could they not, in desperation, turn to prostitution just to get by (Tristan)?

Tristan goes on to give a lengthy description of Waterloo Road, a dangerous area of London where prostitutes and pimps lurk while awaiting clients, and one of the “finishes”, a sort of cabaret/tavern where wealthy men engage in orgies with prostitutes. Tristan explains that these finishes are the “meeting places for high society where the elite of aristocracy assembles”, where these men can indulge in food, drink, and sex, committing all sorts of debauchery she describes as “ revolting and frightening”.

Tristan notes that most prostitutes succumb to disease within three or four years, if not in hospitals, where they are given last priority, then on the streets. In his poem, “The Bridge of Sighs”, Thomas Hood laments the loss of a young prostitute. While he calls upon the reader to mourn for the woman, “loving, not loathing” (14), and treat her body with tender care, he does not offer any sort of critique of society to mirror Tristan’s. Instead, he writes:

Make no deep scrutiny

Into her mutiny

Rash and undutiful:

Past all dishonor,

Death has left on her

Only the beautiful (21-26).

While Hood does ask the reader to forgive her for her crimes, he speaks of the prostitute as a rebel to society, a disgraceful and sinful person. Hood would probably argue Tristan’s point that women are not subject to a “moral law”, and in fact describes prostitution as “evil behavior” (104). He places the blame on the prostitute, not society. Yet the poem is not angry or damning; instead, it emits a sense of sympathy, or at least pity, for the prostitute’s plight. The prostitute is not a victim to society, but she is still a victim who has suffered at the hands of her own actions.

Tristan describes prostitution in the Victorian period as being an issue created by men.  She believes that because women and men are not treated equally, particularly in regards to sexuality, prostitution has become a lifestyle for fallen women.  She is quiet sympathetic to prostitutes and states, “When a dog dies he is watched over by his master, whereas the prostitute ends on a street corner without anyone’s throwing her a glance of pity!”  (Tristan 5).  This illustrates that a dogs life is more valued by society than a prostitutes.  I think the Thomas Hood poem agrees with Tristan’s article, because he too seems sympathetic towards prostitutes.  In his poem, he talks about a dying prostitute and states, “Take her up tenderly / Lift her with care” (Hood 1).  The poem still uses words like sin and mutiny to describe her profession, but uses caring language about how she should be treated in her death.  I think in a way Hood is blaming the women, but also takes the woman’s life history into account.  Tristan’s article blames society and does not blame women at all for becoming prostitutes, but Hood’s poem is harder to determine.  Hood seems to blame homelessness for prostitution because he references a woman not having a home a few times.  He also describes a homeless woman as being cold which I think is his way of giving her reasoning to become a prostitute.  Tristan brings money into the equation the same way that Hood does.  If a woman is homeless than how else is she supposed to live?  I do think that Hood partially blames the woman because of the way he discusses prostitution, but he also seems to be stating the only God can judge her sins, not men.  The last stanza of the poem seems to support this.

The author of the piece in the appendix is clearly against women becoming governesses.  The author believes that it is detrimental for a woman to become a governess because “the miseries of the governess may even swell that sickening glamour about the ‘rights of women,’ in which would never have been raised had women been true to themselves” (570). The author believes that women should not be educated and also makes claims that becoming a governess will make women go insane.  The author also seems concerned with how the role of a governess has upset the class system.  The author states that women who used to work in shops have now become governess and when they decide they don’t want to be governesses, women of lower class have taken their spots at the shops (569).  I think the author is upset that women have found a way to raise themselves up in class without the help of a man.  Bronte clearly does not agree with this portrayal of the governesses.  The author clearly thinks that becoming a governess leads to insanity, but in the novel Jane becomes a governess because, “I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into its expanse, to seek real knowledge of life amidst its perils” (151).  The author also seems to think women almost brag about their intelligence once they acquire it, but in the novel Jane is quite modest about her abilities.  Mr. Rochester is also fascinated by Jane and speaks with her as if she is his equal.  I think in this sense Bronte is trying to eliminate class differences.  Jane also does not upset the class system thus far in the novel because she was a teacher at Lowood and then becomes a governess which isn’t much of a raise in class.

The piece from Fraser’s Magazine published in 1844 writes greatly of the necessity of becoming a governess. The job in itself is not ideal, in any way, but necessary. It writes, “There was such an overplus of single women that the old order of things was subverted. Women must have bread to eat as well as men. If they have no husbands to toil for them they must fin food for themselves. They found, if they would not sink in the scale, they must work with their heads, and not with their hands. Must! oh the ruthlessness of necessity,” (569)

As the article goes on, the magazine continues to show the reader the complex life of a governess. These women, although women, were now working women. Their roles as women had therefor shifted from unpaid domestic life and child rearing, to paid domestic roles and child rearing. The role as a governess stemmed from lower-class women who seemingly had no other option but to work. Being women, the only work deemed suitable was child-rearing and teaching.

These women were intelligent, yet isolated. The magazine piece speaks heavily upon this on page 573. If the children needed not to be attended to, the governess was forced to remain solemn in the school room, thus isolating her from the world around her.

The piece heavily criticizes the life of a governess, to the extreme.

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I would argue that Bronte argues on the opposing side of this magazine piece, even pushing for the idea of women become governesses. According to Bronte, a job as a governess is seen as an opportunity for a woman to work, a good opportunity at that.

Jane is excited about her job as a governess, and again, sees this as an opportunity for her to show her strengths. Bronte writes, “My heart really warmed to the worthy lady as I heard her talk; and  i drew my chair a little nearer to her, and expressed my sincere wish that she might find my company as agreeable as she anticipated, ” (Bronte 164).

Bronte goes on to portray the life of a governess as a wonderful experience for Jane, thus not focusing on the isolated aspect, or many of the negative aspects that the magazine addressed.

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Works Cited

Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Ed. Richard Nemesvari. Toronto: Broadview, 1999. Print.

“Hints on the Modern Governess System.” Fraser’s Magazine November 1844: 567-577. Print