Basil Hallward

Basil Hallward

Basil Hallward is God the creator, she has just created the portrait. Lady Henry is the tempter who wants to persuade Dorian to ignore all conventional rules of society just as the serpant wants Eve to disregard God's orders.
1. Just as this is the story of the fall of man this when we see the fall of Dorian
Quotes
1. "But think of Dorian's birth and position and wealth""It would be absurd for her to marry so much beneath her"
  1. Victorian class/values
  2. "you are the one person that has really influenced my art"
  3. "Pray, Dorian Pray" "Lead us not into temptation" "Forgive our sins"
  4. "the prayer of your repentance will be answered also "
  5. "I worshipped you too much" "I am punished for it"
  6. "You worshipped yourself too much"
2. "It would be absurd for her to marry so much beneath her"
3. "she is all art to me now"
4. "I flatter her dreadfully"
5. "takes real delight in giving me pain"
6. "As long as I live the personality of Dorian Gray will dominate me"
7. "why is your friendship so fatal to young women"
8. "you don't want people to talk of you as something vile and disregarded"
  1. Importance of reputation
9. "i want the Dorian Gray I used to paint"
10. "when you were away you were present in my art"
11. "your friendship is dearer to be then any fame or reputation"
12. "I grew afraid others would know of my idolatry"
  1. Fear of being prosecuted as homosexuality was illegal? Fear as he knew his love was unrequited
Critic Frances Gray expresses that "Basil is the only central character with a sense of right and wrong"
1. "her refusal to articulate her longing means that it remains at the level of worship"
Basil's self denial makes her the heart of the story. she is prepared to destroy the portrait when provokes a quarrel between Lady Henry and Dorian Gray. She crushes her own jealousy to voice approval to the love between Dorian and Sybil abandoning class prejudices. This implicitly poses the question which Lady Henry never asks whilst preaching a Hedonistic lifestyle "where do the desires of other people fit in"
Critic Terence Dawson describes Basil as "an artist who worships a young man of extraordinary personal beauty" who in turn "worships an actress of extraordinary loveliness"
1. Terence Dawson- "Basil is fascinated by the kind of young man of unstained purity"
2. "Dorian is fascinated by the image of eternal girlhood, Basil, by an image of eternal boyhood"

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	Created by maariyahali over 10 years ago