Is lord henry gay in dorian gray

The relationship between Lord Henry Wotton and Dorian Gray is crucial because Lord Henry's hedonistic influence shapes Dorian's life and actions, leading to his moral decline and ultimate demise. That is all. Of course, even as Wilde wrote these words, he knew that the critics did not agree with his assessment. In fact, the entire preface is a protest; a response to the backlash created by the original publication of his now-classic novel.

Dorian Gray leaped to his feet, with flushed cheeks and burning eyes. "Harry! Sibyl Vane is sacred!" "It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian," said Lord Henry, with a strange touch of pathos in his voice. "But why should you be annoyed? I suppose she will belong to you some day. I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet -- we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the Duke's -- we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it -- much better, in fact, than I am.

Lord Henry’s influence over Dorian is seductive, touching Dorian’s erogenous spot, his mind, and this dynamic relationship between Dorian Gray and Lord Henry was used against Wilde in the indecency trials where Wilde admitted to the court he had invited young men to his hotel room for stimulating conversations. The furor was unsurprising: no work of mainstream English-language fiction had come so close to spelling out homosexual desire. Once Dorian discovers his godlike powers, he carries out various heinous acts, including murder; but to the Victorian sensibility his most unspeakable deed would have been his corruption of a series of young men. You were his great friend.

The relationships between Basil Hallward and Dorian Gray and between Dorian Gray and Lord Henry represent the two most common human romantic attractions – the first is physical love, as seen in Basil’s obsession over Dorian’s beauty, and the second is an emotional attachment, as seen in Dorian’s devotion to all of Lord Henry’s beliefs. Preface: Tracking the representation of Dorian Gray is an extremely daunting undertaking. Luckily, another student had done some of the heavy lifting in this blog post for the class during I am grateful for the help in the detective work of uncovering the picture, so to speak, of Dorian Gray.