CHAPTER 6

Task 1. Explain the words and expressions and remember the situations they were used:

Vile - подлый - extremely unpleasant,wicked

Basil says to Harry that he hopes the girl who Dorian is engaged with is good. He doesn’t want to see Dorian
tied to some vile creature, who might degrade his nature and ruin his intellect.

Infatuation- страстное увлечение – an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or
something

Basil asks if Harry approves this engagement. And he answers himself that it's impossible to approve it
because it's just silly infatuation.

Take a notice – обращать внимание - to become aware of or give attention to something or someone, to
observe or treat something or someone with special attention

Harry says to Basil that he never approve, or disapprove, of anything now. He has never takes any notice of
what common people say, and he has never interferes with what charming people do.

Retain – удерживать, сдерживать - continue to have (something), keep possession of

During the conversation with Basil Harry says that the real drawback to marriage is that it makes one
unselfish. He considers unselfish people colourless. But believes that some of married people retain their
egotism, and add to it many other egos.

Sheer – настоящий, истинный - nothing other than, unmitigated

Harry says that the reason people all like to think so well of others is that they are all afraid for ourselves. He
believes that the basis of optimism is sheer terror.

Highwayman – разбойник с большой дороги - is a robber who stole from travelers

Harry says that the reason people all like to think so well of others is that they are all afraid for ourselves.
They praise the banker that they may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in
the hope that he may spare our pockets.

To mar- портить - impair the quality or appearance of, spoil

Harry says he has the greatest contempt for optimism. He considers that if a person want to mar a nature, he
has merely to reform it.

A hooded cloak – закрытый капюшоном плащ - a long cloak with a hood that can be pulled over the head

Sibyl was playing Rosalind. Dorian has attended this playing. He describes to Basil and Harry how she has
looked like: "... she wore a moss-coloured velvet jerkin with cinnamon sleeves, slim, brown, cross-gartered
hose, a dainty little green cap with a hawk’s feather caught in a jewel, and a hooded cloak lined with dull
red."

Incorrigible – неисправимый -

Dorian says that Harry is quite incorrigible but he doesn’t mind it. It is impossible for Dorian to be angry
with Harry.
 A prig – педант, тупой самодовольный человек - a self-righteously moralistic person who behaves as if
they are superior to others

Harry says that to be good is to be in harmony with one’s self. He believes that one’s own life— that is the
important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, he says if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can
flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s concern.

A flaunt – щеголять, афишировать - display (something) ostentatiously, especially in order to provoke

envy or admiration or to show defiance

Harry believes that one’s own life— that is the important thing. As for the lives of one’s neighbours, he says
if one wishes to be a prig or a Puritan, one can flaunt one’s moral views about them, but they are not one’s
concern.

Drive off - отрываться, отталкиваться, покидать - to leave

Basil couldn't bear this marriage. After a few minutes, Basil, Dorian and Harry all have passed downstairs.
Basil has driven off by himself. He feels that Dorian Gray will never again be to him all that he used to be.

Task 2. Answer the questions:

1. What subject did Lord Henry discuss with Basil Hallward at the Bristol?

Lord Henry discussed with Basil Hallward Dorian Gray's engagement.

2. What was Basil’s reaction?

Basil didn't believe in Dorian Gray's engagement because he thought that Dorian was far too sensible.

3. What did Dorian tell them on his arrival?

Dorian told them on his arrival that they must both congratulate him because he had never been so happy
and it seemed to him to be the one thing he had been looking for all his life. He told them that after he left
Henry he went to the theatre. Sibyl was playing Rosalind; she was perfectly wonderful. After the
performance was over, Dorian and Sibyl kissed each other. After that, he decided to engage with her. He
didn't make any formal proposal, but she said that she was not worthy to be his wife. But the whole world is
nothing to Dorian compared with her. Dorian doesn't care about the opinion of other people. He will be of
age in less than a year, and then he can do what he likes.

4. Dorian thought that Sibyl will save him from Lord Henry’s “wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful
theories” about life, love, and pleasure, didn’t he?

Yes, he did. Dorian sincerely admired Sybil, who changed his attitude to love and made him doubt the
correctness of Lord Henry's ideas.

5. What did Basil feel on his way to the theatre?

Basil was silent and preoccupied. There was a gloom over him. He could not bear this marriage, and yet it
seemed to him to be better than many other things that might have happened. A strange sense of loss came
over him. He felt that Dorian Gray would never again be to him all that he had been in the past. Life had
come between them. When the cab drew up at the theatre, it seemed to him that he had grown years older.

Task 3. Give character sketches to:

Dorian Gray loves only himself and the Beauty that surrounds him and is a direct continuation of his
personal external virtues. An eternally young youth appreciates only sensual pleasures - the joy of bodily
pleasures, the brilliance of precious stones, the gentle play of oriental fabrics. Everything that is devoid of an
ideal component loses its charm for him once and for all. This is what happens with Sybil Vane, with whom
Dorian falls in love not as a specific woman, but as a whole host of romantic heroines of previous cultural
eras. The young actress, in turn, begins to feel a passionate attachment to Dorian because of her young
nature, eager to reject the imaginary world of theatrical play and enter real life with her burning heart.

Basil Hallward is an old-fashioned aesthete in the sense that he is willing to give up art for the sake of
moral responsibility. When he sees Dorian has become upset over the portrait he paints of the boy, he is
willing to destroy the painting. This is a painting he has just said is the best work of his artistic career.

Basil is a very famous painter in a circle of London’s aristocracy. He likes Dorian a lot; he painted him so
many times in order to make his ideal variant of Dorian’s picture. It was exactly Basil, who introduced
Dorian to Lord Henry. He's an eternal idealist who truly believes in the innate goodness of mankind. Basil is
very talented. As each artist and a person close to such a profession, he believes in Beauty, Truth, and Love.
As he sees Beauty in front of him (we mean Dorian) he keeps thinking that Truth and love are near; the
world is beautiful; nothing bad is happening.

Basil sincerely cares about Dorian and considers him a great friend, but in this chapter we see how the
feeling that he is losing Dorian is slowly emerging in him.

Task 4. Identify the stylistic devices and agree or disagree with the speaker:

The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colourless. (Lord
Henry) – (anadiplosis)

I can partially agree with Lord Henry about his statement about marriage and its influence on a person.
Marriage affects people in different ways: in someone it opens up new interesting sides, inspires
achievements and develops a new personality, and for someone it is enough to have already found happiness
and it becomes, as Lord Henry said, colorless, which means static in terms of something new and
interesting. These two behaviors take place in our life and depend solely on the person, his beliefs and
principles.

I have a theory that it is always the women who propose to us, and not we who propose to the women.
(Lord Henry) – (anadiplosis)

In my opinion, Lord Henry's statement is very contradictory, so I disagree with him. Lord Henry based his
theory on his own experience, as according to him he did not even understand how he married his wife. At
all times it has been the case that men take responsibility for a woman and decide to get married, so this, in
my opinion, is solely their initiative. However, in the modern world, one can observe examples when a
woman is the first to take the initiative, but such a situation can very rarely occur. Therefore, I adhere to the
fact that it is the prerogative of men, not women, to take responsibility and decide on such a serious step as
marriage.

Task 5. Analyze the extract

“There is really not much to tell?’ cried Dorian? As they took their seats at the small round table. … I
have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth.”

This phrase (“There is really not much to tell?") was used by Dorian in a situation when he came to a
meeting with Lord Henry and Basil Hallward, and Basil expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Dorian
did not inform him about his engagement. Basil demanded that he tell everything in order, but Dorian
replied that he hadn't much to tell.

This phrase ("I have had the arms of Rosalind around me, and kissed Juliet on the mouth") was also used by
Dorian Gray. He used it in the context of explaining to Basil his feelings and delight that he had found a
wife in Shakespeare's plays, the female characters of whose works hugged and kissed him.
 CHAPTER 7

Task 1. Explain the words and expressions and remember the situations they were used:

p. 95 Tawdry girls – looking bright and attractive but in fact cheap and of low quality.

This was used to describe the setting of the theater where Sybil performed and where Dorian invited his
friends.

p. 95 Popping of corks – the sound of a short, cylinder-shaped piece of cork, plastic, or rubber that is put
into the top of a bottle, especially a wine bottle, to close.

The sound of the popping of corks came from the bar in the theatre.

p. 95 Dahlia – a brightly coloured garden flower with long, thin petals in a shape like a ball

The heat was terribly oppressive, and the huge sunlight flamed like a monstrous dahlia with petals of yellow
fire

p. 96 Turmoil of applause – loud noise; applause

After the curtain had risen, amidst an extraordinary turmoil of applause, Sibyl Vane stepped on to the stage.

p. 96 To be of the same flesh and blood as one’s self – may refer to one's family, or may denote all mankind.
It is also used to denote the living material of which people are mostly composed.

It was said by Dorian to Lord Henry in an attempt to express how Sybil stands out from the others. "It was
here I found her, and she is divine beyond all living things. feels that they are of the same flesh and blood as
one's self.

p. 98 Storm of hisses – to say something in a quiet angry way

The audience lost their interest in the play. They got restless, and began to talk loudly and to whistle. When
the second act was over, there came a storm of hisses, and Lord Henry got up from his chair and put on his
coat.

p. 96 Fawn – a young deer

Lord Henry thought that there was something of the fawn in Syblil's shy grace and startled eyes. A faint
blush, like the shadow of a rose in a mirror of silver, came to her cheeks as she glanced at the crowded
enthusiastic house.

p. 99 Mediocre actress – ordinary and not very good actress

In a conversation between Dorian and Basil about playing Sybil, Dorian said that this evening she is merely
a commonplace mediocre actress. Basil told him not to talk like that about any one you love, Dorian. Love is
a more wonderful thing than art."

p. 100 Drag on - continue at tedious and unnecessary length.

p. 100 Interminable – endless.

These words were used when Dorian, Henry and Basil went to the theater to see the play with Sibyl. Sibyl
played terribly, and Henry and Basil decided to leave. Dorian stayed and he was very upset. And it seemed
to him that the play dragged on and was interminable.
p. 101 Hollowness - the state of being hollow; having an empty space within.

p. 101 Sham - a thing that is not what it is purported to be.

p. 101 Pageant - a public entertainment consisting of a procession of people in elaborate, colorful costumes,
or an outdoor performance of a historical scene. – play

These words were used by Sibyl when she explained to Dorian why she acted so horribly. She said that to-
night, for the first time in her life, she saw through the hollowness, the sham, the silliness of the empty
pageant in which she had always played. She realized that she didn’t want to act here.

p. 103 Chiseled lips - a strong clear shape of lips.

p. 103 Disdain - the feeling that someone or something is unworthy of one's consideration or respect.

p. 103 Crouch on the floor - your legs are bent under you so that you are close to the ground and leaning
forward slightly.

These words were used to describe the situation, when Dorian said that Sibyl had killed his love, that he
loved her because she was a great actress, but she threw it all away. And then Sibyl decided to apologize,
she crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray, with his beautiful eyes, looked down at
her, and his chiseled lips curled in exquisite disdain. Her tears and sobs annoyed him.

p. 107 Make amends - to do something to correct a mistake that one has made or a bad situation that one has
caused.

This phrase was used after Dorian noticed that his portrait had been changed. His smile became cruel. He
realized that he had been selfish and cruel to Sibyl and he should go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends,
marry her, try to love her again. It was his duty to do so.

Task 2. Answer the questions:

1. What was the friends’ impression of Sibyl?

Lord Henry thought that Sibyl Vane was lovely to look at. She was one of the loveliest creatures that he had
ever seen. But her play was listless. The staginess of her acting was unbearable, her gestures were absurdly
artificial. It was simply bad art. She was a complete failure. When the second act was over, Lord Henry got
up from his chair and put on his coat. He said that she was quite beautiful, but she couldn't act. And Basil
thought that Miss Vane was ill and said that they would come the other night.

2. Why was Dorian horribly disappointed?

Dorian was horribly disappointed due to Sibyl's bad play. He was puzzled and anxious because she seemed
to his friends to be absolutely incompetent. She seems to Dorian to be simply callous and cold. She has
entirely altered. Last night she was a great artist. This evening she is merely a commonplace mediocre
actress. He kicked them out and cried because his heart was breaking.

3. How did Sibyl explain her bad acting?

Sibyl said that before she knew Dorian, acting was the one reality of her life. It was only in the theatre that
she lived. She thought that it was all true. The painted scenes were her world. Dorian freed her soul from
prison. He taught her what reality really is. Tonight, for the first time she saw through the hollowness, the
sham, the silliness of the empty pageant in which she had always played. Dorian had made her understand
what love really is.
4. What was Dorian’s reaction?

Dorian said that Sibyl had killed his love. She used to stir his imagination, now she didn't even stir his
curiosity. He loved her because she was marvelous, she had genius and intellect, she realized the dreams of
great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. Now she is shallow and stupid. Without the
art, she was nothing. He didn't love her anymore.

5. What did Dorian notice when he happened to glance at the portrait at home?

Dorian noticed when he happened to glance at the portrait at home

that the face in the portrait has slightly changed, taking on a look of cruelty around the mouth. But looking at
his reflection in a mirror, Dorian looked fresh and youthful.

6. What did he realize?

Dorian realized what he had said in Basil Hallward's studio the day the picture had been finished. He had
uttered a mad wish that he himself might remain young, and the portrait grows old; that his own beauty
might be untarnished, and the face on the canvas bear the burden of his passions and his sins; that the
painted image might be seared with the lines of suffering and thought, and that he might keep all the delicate
bloom and loveliness of his then just conscious boyhood. There was the picture before him, with the touch
of cruelty in the mouth.

7. Did the faint echo of his love come back to him?

The faint echo of his love came back to him when he thought only of Sibyl. He repeated her name over and
over again. The birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about
her. Dorian would decide to go back to Sibyl Vane, make his amends, marry her, and try to love her again.

Task 3. Divide the chapter into logical parts and retell it: on behalf of the author; on behalf of Dorian;
on behalf of Sybil.

On behalf of the author:

Lord Henry, Dorian and Basil arrived at the theatre. While Lord Henry was sceptical, Basil said that he
approves their marriage, because Sibyl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, she can create
the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly, she can strip them of their selfishness
and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of Dorian's adoration, worthy of the
adoration of the world. The gods made Sibyl Vane for Dorian.

Sibyl Vane stepped on to the stage. She was certainly lovely to look at. There was something of the fawn in
her shy grace and startled eyes. As the play began Sibyl was curiously listless. She spoke the brief dialogues
in a thoroughly artificial manner. Her tone was absolutely false. She over-emphasised everything that she
had to say. And by the end of the second act the audience was hissing the performance. Lord Henry urged
the friends to leave. He said that "She is quite beautiful, ...., but she can't act". Basil suggested that Sibyl was
ill and said that they would come some other night. Dorian dismissed Lord Henry and Basil and watched the
end of the play.

As soon as it was over, Dorian Gray rushed behind the scenes into the greenroom. There she was standing
there alone, with a look of triumph on her face. She was proud that badly acted and explained that she used
to believe the fictions she was playing, but now that she has discovered the reality of love she hated the
theatre and wanted only to be with Dorian. Her poor acting disturbed him so much that he told her she has
killed his love and he broke up with her, ignoring her promises to do better. He said he couldn't see her
again.

Arriving home, Dorian noticed that the picture has changed. It showed cruelty in the face, while his own
face remained pure and innocent looking. He realized that his strange wish has come true and that every sin
that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck his picture's fairness. Dorian decided to resist temptation,
as the picture became to him the visible emblem of conscience. After that, Dorian decided to make amends
with Sibyl and avoid seeing Lord Henry any more. He drew a large screen right in front of the portrait to
hide it.

On behalf of Dorian:

Henry, Basil and I went to the theater. I would like to show them my Sibyl, my beautiful girl and great
actress. She was playing Juliette and I thought that it was her the best role. She acted this role many times
and she was really good at it. That day the theater was full of guests and the owner of the theater was glad to
see us. We took our seats and waited for the beginning.

When Sibyl began to act it was so awful. She was speaking in a thoroughly artificial manner. It was
absolutely false and wrong in colour. I became pale and was anxious. I didn’t understand what had happened
to her, why she was acting so horribly. I was disappointed.

My friends couldn’t bear this acting and they left, but I decided to stay. After this play I went to her, because
I wanted to know what it was. She was really happy, that surprised me. I asked her if she was ill, but she
said that she played badly because she realized that she didn’t want to act here and she wanted that I took
her away with me.

However, she killed my love, because I loved her for the fact that she realized the dreams of great poets and
gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. But now she had thrown it all away. And I didn’t want to
see her again. I was furious and disappointed. I said a lot of bad things to her, like that she was a third-rate
actress with a pretty face.

She was shocked and couldn't believe that I could say this to her, but she disgusted me. She asked for
forgiveness and said that she would fix everything, but I didn’t need anything.

I went to my house and noticed that the portrait that Basil gave me had changed a little. The smile on my
face became even more cruel. I began to think about my behavior with Sybil. I realized that I was too strict
with her and wanted to apologize to her.

On behalf of Sybil:

Dorian is going to watch my play with his friends. The theater is crowded when the men arrive. After
playing Dorian finds me on the backstage. I'm quite happy though I know I have been bad today. Dorian
says that I has been absolutely terrible. I see that Dorian is heartbroken. I explains that before I has met
Dorian and has experienced true love, I used to be able to inhabit other characters and feel their emotions
easily, which have made possible my success as an actress. Now, however, these pretend emotions no longer
interest me, since they pale in relation to my real feelings for Dorian. I tell Dorian that he has freed my soul
from prison and taught me what reality really is. As a result, I declare that my career on the stage is over. I
see that Dorian is horrified by my decision. He flings himself down on the sofa and turns away his face. He
cried that I has killed his love. He says that he used to love me because I have been marvellous and had
genius and intellect. I can't believe that he's serious. It seems to me that he's acting. I feel how I become
white and tremble. He spurns me cruelly and tells me that he wishes never to see me again. I'm terrified and
completely miserable at this moment.
Task 4. Give character sketches to: Dorian; Sibyl.

Dorian:

In Chapter 7, Dorian's narrative supercedes all others in the novel. From now on, it will be his story, not
Lord Henry's. The novel becomes more dynamic because Dorian's character grows — changes — while
Lord Henry's remains unchanged.

The change in Dorian's character in this chapter is dramatic. Dorian begins the chapter as a dedicated lover.
Then, in a few short pages, he becomes a disgusted critic, a heartless deserter, briefly a contrite sinner, and
then finally a lover rededicated to Sibyl — not because he loves the woman, but because he fears hurting
himself and the portrait. Even though the chapter ends with Dorian intending to do "his duty" by being
honorable and marrying Sibyl, his honor is false because it is based on selfishness. His "honorable
intentions" are simply a continuation of his soul's degradation. The number and degree of changes that
Dorian goes through in this chapter, most of them negative changes, hint at the turn his nature will take in
the rest of the book.

Sibyl:

Dorian Gray deifies the young actress, is captured by her art, she is for him a real union of perfect art and
life. Sincere passion for this girl makes you want to always be with her, so Dorian Gray wants to get
married. He convinces Lord Henry that his ideas about marriage, about married life, about relations between
a man and a woman, about love are not correct, since he does not recognize sincerity, frankness in marriage.
One gets the impression that a happy marriage can become a certain "crown" of Dorian Gray's life
achievements, and his own happy family will help him forget the tragedy of an unhappy childhood forever.

Sybil Wayne's helpless acting causes Dorian deep suffering. It can be assumed that the presence of his
closest friends at the performance greatly increases the suffering of Dorian Gray in love, but this is not the
collapse of his love. The explanations that Sybil gives Dorian should have made him happy: the girl
convinces her beloved that it was her insane love that made it impossible for her to replace the lives of the
dramatic heroines of her own life. That is, she admits that Dorian Gray has become the meaning of her life,
that love for him is the most precious thing for her in her own life. But it is precisely this frankness that
infuriates Dorian, since his love is the love of a "narcissus" - almost in its purest form.

Task 5. Find the description of London on Dorian’s way home and comment how the author uses
setting to depict Dorian’s interior.

«Where he went to he hardly knew, he remembered wandering through dimly-lit streets, past gaunt
blackshadowed archways and evil-looking houses. Women with hoarse voices and harsh laughter had called
after him, drunkards had reeled by cursing, and chattering to themselves like monstrous apes. He had seen
grotesque children huddled upon doorsteps, and heard, shrieks and oaths from gloomy courts».

"This London eventually becomes for Dorian a truer reality than his own world of art and privilege. The
coarse brawl, the loathsome den, the crude violence"

The author describes an intensity of experience that allows Dorian to forget his fears and anxious. However,
London also remind the reader that the ugly face of poverty shown here was a reality, one to be feared if no
social change was forthcoming

Task 6. Identify the stylistic devices:

… sunlight flamed like a monstrous dahlia with petals of yellow fire. - simile
…if she can create the sense of beauty in people…., if she can strip them of their selfishness…. she is
worthy of all your adoration. - repetition

Sybil Vain moved like a creature from a finer world. - simile

You have no idea what it was. You have no idea what I suffered. – anaphora

… you freed my soul from prison. - metaphor

She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing. - simile