Dorian talks with Harry about public suspicions surrounding Basil's death. Then he asks Harry what he thinks: "Harry, did it ever occur to you that Basil was murdered?"
What does "occur" mean?
Question #3
Harry does not think that Basil was murdered: "Why should he be murdered? He was not clever enough to have enemies. Of course he had a wonderful genius for painting."
What does "genius" mean?
Question #4
Dorian has recently tried to do a good deed in order to reverse the damage to his soul. He wonders if this good deed has made an impact on the portrait: "He had spared one innocent thing, at any rate . . . As he thought of Hetty Merton, he began to wonder if the portrait in the locked room had changed. Surely it was not still so horrible as it had been?"
What does "spared" mean?
Question #5
When Dorian's body is discovered, how are the servants able to identify it as his?
Question #6
How does the portrait look at the end?
Question #7
Were there any events that still aren't clear to you?
Feedback
You made it to the end! Here is your feedback for "Chapter 13"
Think about what strategies worked (and didn't work) for you this time. How can you do well next time?
Chapter 13
Text of Book
Chapter 13, page 1
Chapter 13, page 2
Chapter 13, page 3
Chapter 13, page 4
Chapter 13, page 5
Chapter 13, page 6
Chapter 13, page 7
Chapter 13, page 8
Chapter 13, page 9
Chapter 13, page 10
Chapter 13, page 11
Chapter 13, page 12
Chapter 13, page 13
Chapter 13, page 14
Chapter 13, page 15
Questions
| 1) | What is the main idea of this chapter? |
| 2) | Dorian talks with Harry about public suspicions surrounding Basil's death. Then he asks Harry what he thinks: "Harry, did it ever occur to you that Basil was murdered?"
What does "occur" mean? |
| 3) | Harry does not think that Basil was murdered: "Why should he be murdered? He was not clever enough to have enemies. Of course he had a wonderful genius for painting."
What does "genius" mean? |
| 5) | When Dorian's body is discovered, how are the servants able to identify it as his? |
| 6) | How does the portrait look at the end? |
| 7) | Were there any events that still aren't clear to you? |
Preface – From 1891 Version, page 0
Table of Contents
THE PREFACE
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.
Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.
The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject–matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.
All art is quite useless.
OSCAR WILDE