Dorian Gray settings

Dorian Gray settings

1. East End

   • Vane home
     • "shrill intrusive light" - sense of home - light is sibyl - she has a chance of escaping poverty
     • "dingy sitting-room" - poor and old - contrasts upper class
   • Opium dens
     • "shabby ulster"
     • "blurred street lamps looked ghastly" - emotive - conveys a negative image of disgust
     • "grotesque things" - foul word - sums up the opium dens
     • Remote derelict section - sordid state of DG's mind - he flees to them after crucial moments - killing Basil - an escape - drug induced state - he leaves his safe house to travel to the dark dens - reflects the degradation of his soul
   • Riverside
   • Theatre
     • "heat was terribly oppressive" - over crowded - symbolise poor peopl ebeing opressed - hyperbole
     • shabby
     • Where DG first sets his eyes on Sibyl
   • "The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ"
     • Figurative lang - classes are kept distant

2. West End

   • Dorian's house
     • Living room - the public place - for show
     • School room - keeps his deep dark secrets - sins - has a past there - painting is hidden
   • Basil's studio
     • "rich odour of roses" - connotes beauty, elegance and wealth
     • "Persian saddle-bags" - expensive - rich in culture
     • "tussore-silk curtains" - luxurious
     • Typical wealthy person - lives in luxury unaware of the wider world
   • Lord Henry's house
     • "luxurious arm chair" - privelleged place to be
     • "Mayfair" - high end
     • "carpet strewn with silk" - expensive

3. Travels

   • Goes to Paris
   • 18 years of sin and corruption
   • Goes on the pursuit of Hedonism - experience new pleasures and sensations