His eye fell on the yellow book that Lord Henry had sent him.
From PUDNEY 122: Wilde himself, in letters to his critics, described his own book as "poisonous" - precisely the same adjective used to describe the little yellow book in the novel. In likening Dorian Gray to the little yellow book while defending it from accusations of immorality, Wilde was perhaps enjoying a private joke at the expense of his critics.
CHAPTER TEN
Chapter XII in 1891.
CHAPTER NINE
Chapter XI in 1891.
From WINWAR 166: This chapter is almost a synthesis of À Rebours in its detailed themes of aestheticism.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Chapter X in 1891.
7th
From LAWLER 255: Changed to "9th" in 1891 and the birthday from the "thirty-second" to "thirty-eighth."
From TEMPLE: It's highly possible that Wilde changed Dorian’s age in the 1891 edition so that no one could argue that as a connection between them (they were both 32 at the time).
and in a long latticed room, with a vermilion-and-gold ceiling and walls of olive-green lacquer, he used to give curious concerts in which mad gypsies tore wild music from little zithers, or grave yellow-shawled Tunisians plucked at the strained strings of monstrous lutes,
From WINWAR 166: Wilde imitated Gustave Moreau’s jeweled words, exotic effects, catalogues of offities that intoxicated with their very sound, cast a spell over his pages, drugging the senses.
infamous!"
From LAWLER 259: Changed to "bad, and corrupt, and shameful" in 1891.
devoted
From LAWLER 259: Changed to "a staunch friend" in 1891.
—things that I could hardly repeat to you."
From LAWLER 257: This was dropped in 1891.
face
Wilde cancelled the following lines in the manuscript: "Now, I will show you my soul. You shall see the thing you fancy only God can see."
Your name was implicated in
From LAWLER 258: Stoddart changed this from "It was" and then cancelled the next sentence, which read: "He said that he suspected you."
you.
From LAWLER 258: Stoddart cancelled the following sentence: "It is quite sufficient to say of a young man that he goes to stay at Selby Royal, for people to sneer and titter."
Dorian, Dorian, your reputation is infamous. I know you and Harry are great friends. I say nothing about that now, but surely you need not have made his sister's name a by-word.
From LAWLER 258: Wilde removed this sentence and added another section of dialogue 1891: “Stop, Basil. You are talking about things of which you know nothing,” said Dorian Gray, biting his lip, and with a note of infinite contempt in his voice. “You ask me why Berwick leaves a room when I enter it. It is because I know everything about his life, not because he knows anything about mine. With such blood as he has in his veins, how could his record be clean? You ask me about Henry Ashton and young Perth. Did I teach the one his vices, and the other his debauchery? If Kent’s silly son takes his wife from the streets, what is that to me? If Adrian Singleton writes his friend’s name across a bill, am I his keeper? I know how people chatter in England. The middle classes air their moral prejudices over their gross dinner-tables, and whisper about what they call the profligacies of their betters in order to try and pretend that they are in smart society and on intimate terms with the people they slander. In this country, it is enough for a man to have distinction and brains for every common tongue to wag against him. And what sort of lives do these people, who pose as being moral, lead themselves? My dear fellow, you forget that we are in the native land of the hypocrite.” [New paragraph] “Dorian,” cried Hallward, “that is not the question. England is bad enough I know, and English society is all wrong. That is the reason why I want you to be fine. You have not been fine. One has a right to judge of a man by the effect he has over his friends. Yours seem to lose all sense of honour, of goodness, of purity. You have filled them with a madness for pleasure. They have gone down into the depths. You led them there. Yes: you led them there, and yet you can smile, as you are smiling now. And there is worse behind. I know you and Harry are inseparable. Surely for that reason, if for none other, you should not have made his sister’s name a by-word.” [New paragraph] “Take care, Basil. You go too far.” [New paragraph] “I must speak, and you must listen. You shall listen."
The Renaissance knew of strange manners of poisoning,—poisoning by a helmet and a lighted torch, by an embroidered glove and a jewelled fan, by a gilded pomander and by an amber chain. Dorian Gray had been poisoned by a book. There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful.
From LAWLER 255: The original ending of this chapter read: "Lord Henry had given him one, and Basil Hallward had painted the other."
harlot
From LAWLER 255: Wilde restored "harlot" to the line above after Stoddart had changed it to "one."
with Fratricide
From LAWLER 255: Was originally "with Incest and Fratricide."
;
From LAWLER 254: Stoddart cancelled the following line: "that her guilty lover might suck swift death from the dead thing he had fondled."
Vice
From LAWLER 254: Stoddart changed this from "Love."
chapter
From LAWLER 254: Changed by Wilde from "passage" in the typescript. In the next line, Stoddart substituted "the hero" for "Raoul."
had caroused with the green-shirted jockeys in their stables, and supped in an ivory manger with a jewel-frontleted horse;
From LAWLER 254: Stoddart changed what was originally "had drank the live philter of Caesonia, and wore the habit of Venus by night, and a false gilded beard."
chapter
From LAWLER 254: "Fourth chapter" was cancelled in the typescript. Wilde changed this to "seventh chapter" in 1891.
dangerous
From LAWLER 254: Wilde changed this to "wonderful" in 1891.
hero
From LAWLER 254: Originally "Raoul" in the typescript.
and the strange stories that were told about her lovers.
From LAWLER 253: Wilde added and Stoddart cancelled the following, thus reinstating the original reading: "and the deaths of those whom she had granted her favors."
room
From LAWLER 252: The conclusion of this paragraph, crossed out by Stoddart in the typescript, was as follows: "It was said that even the sinful creatures who prowl the streets at night had cursed him as he passed by, seeing in him a corruption greater than their own and knowing but too well the horror of his real life." An additional passage in the same spirit, which Wilde blotted out in the manuscript, described Dorian's appeal in terms of his "strange and dangerous charm."
him
From LAWLER 252: Stoddart also canceled the following marginal insert that ended the sentence: "and in the eyes of some it was a question whether that was an honor or a disgrace."
men
From LAWLER 252: Stoddart cancelled the following here" who were jealous of the strange love he inspired in women."
Carlton
From LAWLER 252: Changed to "Churchill" in 1891. The Carlton was a famous conservative political club located in Pall Mall.
until he was driven away.
From LAWLER 251: This last phrase is Stoddart's. The original read, "till they almost drove him out in horror and had to be appeared with monstrous bribes."
Blue Gate Fields,
From LAWLER 251: Wilde originally wrote "the Docks."
He had a special passion, also, for ecclesiastical vestments, as indeed he had for everything connected with the service of the Church. In the long cedar chests that lined the west gallery of his house he had stored away many rare and beautiful specimens of what is really the raiment of the Bride of Christ, who must wear purple and jewels and fine linen that she may hide the pallid macerated body that is worn by the suffering that she seeks for, and wounded by self-inflicted pain. He had a gorgeous cope of crimson silk and gold-thread damask, figured with a repeating pattern of golden pomegranates set in six-petalled formal blossoms, beyond which on either side was the pineapple device wrought in seed-pearls. The orphreys were divided into panels representing scenes from the life of the Virgin, and the coronation of the Virgin was figured in colored silks upon the hood. This was Italian work of the fifteenth century. Another cope was of green velvet, embroidered with heart-shaped groups of acanthus-leaves, from which spread long-stemmed white blossoms, the details of which were picked out with silver thread and colored crystals. The morse bore a seraph's head in gold-thread raised work. The orphreys were woven in a diaper of red and gold silk, and were starred with medallions of many saints and martyrs, among whom was St. Sebastian. He had chasubles, also, of amber-colored silk, and blue silk and gold brocade, and yellow silk damask and cloth of gold, figured with representations of the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ, and embroidered with lions and peacocks and other emblems; dalmatics of white satin and pink silk damask, decorated with tulips and dolphins and fleurs de lys; altar frontals of crimson velvet and blue linen; and many corporals, chalice-veils, and sudaria. In the mystic offices to which these things were put there was something that quickened his imagination.
From LAWLER 251: Wilde added this paragraph on two handwritten pages to add to the typescript.
Elagabalus
From LAWLER 249: Wilde changed this to "Priest of the Sun" in 1891. Elagabalus was priest of the sun god at Emesa and later Roman emperor under the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
one hundred and four pearls
From LAWLER 248: Wilde changed this to "three hundred and four pearls" in 1891.
He discovered wonderful stories, also, about jewels.
From LAWLER 247: Wilde added four paragraphs here in three long manuscript pages, beginning at "He discovered wonderful stories..." and ending at "luxury of the dead was wonderful." The following lines of the insert never appeared in print. Since there were no instructions from Stoddart or other editorial marks, the omission may have been a typesetting error or a deliberate omission to avoid an ambiguity of reference or syntax: "It was a pearl that Julius Caesar had given to Servilia when he loved her. Their child had been Brutus. [New paragraph] The young priest of the Sun, who while yet a boy had been slain for his sins, used to walk in jewelled shoes on dust of gold and silver."
some pearly cell in the brain, or some white nerve in the body,
From LAWLER 246: Stoddart or another editor at Lippincott's knew anatomy better than Wilde and revised the typescript from Wilde's "ivory cell... or scarlet nerve."
cope
From LAWLER 245: Changed to "dalmatic" in 1891.
part
From LAWLER 242: Cancelled in the manuscript: "twelfth and thirteenth chapters." No parallels seem to exist in these and other allusions between the contents of the yellow book and either A Rebours or Monsieur Venus except for similarities in tone, general subject matter, and angle of treatment.
Parisian
From LAWLER 242: Stoddart's substitute for Wilde's "Raoul."
book's
From LAWLER 242: Stoddart changed from "Catulle Sarrazin's."
"Ah, if you have discovered that, you have discovered a great deal," murmured Lord Henry, with his curious smile. "Come, let us go in to dinner. It is dreadfully late, and I am afraid the champagne will be too much iced."
From LAWLER 241: Changed to "'Ah, you have discovered that?' murmured Lord Henry. And they passed into the dining room" in 1891.
Décadents
From LAWLER 241: Changed to "Symbolistes" in 1891.
the work of some of the finest artists of
From LAWLER 241: Wilde added this in the typescript.
full of argot and of archaisms, of technical expressions and of elaborate paraphrases,
From LAWLER 241: Wilde added this in the typescript.
up
From LAWLER 240: Stoddart cancelled the following here: "Le Secret de Raoul par Catulle Sarrazin. What a curious title." All subsequent references to the title of the notorious yellow book were also removed by Stoddart. The author and title are fictitious, although Wilde knew a Gabriel Sarrazin, a French writer who reviewed for Wilde's Woman's World magazine. The title may have suggested to Stoddart the scandalous French novel by Rachilde (Marguerite Vallette) Monsieur Venus (1899), in which there is a character, M. Raeoule de Vénérande.
into a gilt basket.
From LAWLER 240: Reduced to "away" in 1891.
"A terrible load to carry,"
From LAWLER 238: Wilde changed this line three times. In the typescript, there was another sort of pun in Dorian's reply: "There is a good deal of heaviness in modern art." In 1891, Wilde changed it again to the deliberately prosaic "I am afraid it is rather heavy," emphasizing a different mood entirely.
ZABROUSKI: While the original quote portrayed a fictional character's humor, the 1891 change seems to portray Wilde's personal struggle in publishing this book. This change may be alluding to the backlash Wilde received when Dorian Gray was first published. Thus, this darker, sadder, and overall more pessimistic tone would be bringing attention to Wilde's opinion on the debate between morality vs. art.
"Well, Master Dorian," she said, "what can I do for you? I beg your pardon, sir,"—here came a courtesy,—"I shouldn't call you Master Dorian any more. But, Lord bless you, sir, I have known you since you were a baby, and many's the trick you've played on poor old Leaf. Not that you were not always a good boy, sir; but boys will be boys, Master Dorian, and jam is a temptation to the young, isn't it, sir?"He laughed. "You must always call me Master Dorian, Leaf. I will be very angry with you if you don't. And I assure you I am quite as fond of jam now as I used to be. Only when I am asked out to tea I am never offered any. I want you to give me the key of the room at the top of the house."
From LAWLER 234: This section was cut in 1891. Wilde's revision all but removed the comic side of Leaf's personality. Most of her dialogue and Dorian's replies were changed in both substance and tone. This is the lone instance when Wilde eclipsed a character or diluted a scene in his last revision.
Or was that only his fancy?
From LAWLER 235: Wilde added this effect in the typescript, which originally read, "the man bowed and retired."
"There is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral,—immoral from the scientific point of view.""Why?""Because to influence a person is to give him one's own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of some one else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him. The aim of life is self-development. To realize one's nature perfectly,—that is what each of us is here for.
From PUDNEY 122: Lord Henry's view, which sounds very much in line with Wilde's own ideas as developed in The Soul of Man Under Socialism, implies that influence over another is necessarily "immoral." This, by implication, flatly contradicts the claim made in the Preface that there can be no such thing as a moral or immoral book, and it does this very clearly and unambiguously by depicting a book that is immoral "from the scientific point of view."
The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind, and poisons us.
From DUGGAN 63: Wilde, through Lord Henry, laments the stifling nature of his contemporary Victorian society and how the supposed morality it boasts necessitates self-denial and rejection of life’s most beautiful aspects. Lord Henry warns that without an enthusiastic embrace of aestheticism, one will perpetually anguish with the desire of precisely what he must deny himself, all for the sake of propriety. This philosophy espoused by Wilde and Lord Henry often leads, not surprisingly, to the conclusion that Dorian Gray is a declaration of Wilde’s, promoting the adoption of purely aesthetic lives without qualification.
CHAPTER THREE
This chapter shows up as Chapter IV in the 1891 edition.
ZABROUSKI: Wilde added six additional chapters to the entire 1891 edition. The first 1891 chapter addition would be found here, in between this edition's Chapter II and Chapter III. The additional chapter, in summary, includes a scene between Lord Henry and his uncle, Lord George Fermor, in which Henry asks for any information regarding Dorian Gray. Uncle George tells Henry that he knew Dorian's mother, Lady Margaret Devereux, "intimately," and that she was a very beautiful woman. Lady Devereux had run off to marry some "penniless man," and, though tragic, Henry found it romantic. After learning about Dorian's wealthy parentage, Henry headed to his Aunt Agatha's house; on the way, he marveled about Dorian's backstory and beauty. Lawler mentions in his footnotes that "the scene at Aunt Agatha's house is one of the two social cameos Wilde added in the revised addition. The other comes late in the novel at Selby Royal. Each forms a background for another kind of dramatic action. In this scene, Henry's performance established his influence over Dorian's mind. The scene itself, however, foreshadows the success Wilde was soon to enjoy in the theatre" (34).
When our eyes met, I felt that I was growing pale. A curious instinct of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with some one whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself. I did not want any external influence in my life.
ZABROUSKI: Throughout the novel, Wilde chooses to describe Dorian as "fascinating." Etymologically, the word derives from the Latin "fascinātus," and means to enchant or bewitch. ("Fascinate") Concepts of witchcraft and enchanting nature build the foundation of Dorian's character; not only does Dorian not physically age or lose his beauty, but whenever he talks to other men, they seem to be set under a spell by his natural charms. By using witchcraft as a cover for homoerotic seduction, Wilde was able to keep sections like these in the novel.
I knew that if I spoke to Dorian I would become absolutely devoted to him, and that I ought not to speak to him.
From LAWLER 177: Was "I would never leave him till either he or I were dead" in the original manuscript. Omitted completely from the 1891 text.
It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inartistic manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style. They affect us just as vulgarity affects us. They give us an impression of sheer brute force, and we revolt against that. Sometimes, however, a tragedy that has artistic elements of beauty crosses our lives. If these elements of beauty are real, the whole thing simply appeals to our sense of dramatic effect. Suddenly we find that we are no longer the actors, but the spectators of the play. Or rather we are both.
From PUDNEY 120: The use of the word "tragedy" - which of course can denote a theatrical genre as well as an event in real life - hints at something interesting: the idea that life can itself become a form of art. Lord Henry suggests that a person can be both actor and audience; this is certainly the case with Dorian himself. Dorian is a devotee of the arts in all their forms (audience). But it is also suggested that he is himself an artist (actor), a man for whom "Life itself was the first, the greatest, of the arts." Dorian Gray's status as both artist and artwork, is both exemplified and confused by his relationship with his portrait. The beautiful, "real" Dorian does not reflect the sinful reality of his existence - instead, the painting does. The novel also effects an almost farcical reversal of the Preface's dictum about art concealing the artist, as Dorian, the artist, quite literally conceals art, by locking it up in his attic. Perhaps significantly, the painting's other creator, Basil Hallward, also intended to hide it from public view. This is not the only point at which the novel appears consciously and subtly to mock the opinions expressed in the Preface.
CHAPTER FIVE
Chapter VII in 1891.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Chapter IX in 1891.
CHAPTER SIX
Chapter VIII in 1891.
secret
From LAWLER 233: Stoddart cancelled the following lines in the typescript: "There was love in every line, and in every touch there was passion."
From "Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, Annotated & Uncensored": This sentiment belongs to an established literary convention: the artistic process is being equated with sexual intimacy. Normally, however, the artist is male and his subject (or model) female. Wilde is adding an unmistakably homoerotic twist to this tradition.
CHAPTER FOUR
This chapter shows up as Chapter VI in the 1891 edition.
ZABROUSKI: Directly preceding this chapter, Wilde had added his second chapter addition, considered to be "Chapter V". The added chapter is told from Sibyl Vane's perspective, describing her excitement about the engagement with Dorian. Also in this chapter is the first mention of Sibyl's brother, James Vane, whom Wilde created in 1891. James will eventually become Dorian's unsuccessful nemesis.
delightful
From LAWLER 209: Added in the typescript. Wilde inserted almost two additional pages at this point in 1891.
ZABROUSKI: WRITE AN SUMMARY ON THE TWO ADDITIONAL PAGES
I was jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you.
ZABROUSKI: Carson cited this line during Wilde's trial and had asked, "May I take it that you, as an artist, have never known the feeling described here?" to which Wilde had responded, "I have never allowed any personality to dominate my art." Carson then asked, "Then you have never known the feeling you described?" and Wilde responded, "No. It is a work of fiction." This separation between the art of fiction and personal experience is common among many fiction writers. One example is L.T. Meade, author of The Sorceress of the Strand (1902), who has claimed she found it "difficult to write of real experiences." This idea also encompasses the concept of aestheticism, the doctrine in which art exists for the sake of beauty alone.
worshipped
From LAWLER 233: Wilde made extensive revisions to this paragraph in 1891, deleting two passages, "It is quite true... country" and "I quite admit... was with you," and adding as much as he removed. Carson made much of such passages during the first cross-examination of the libel trial.
There was something tragic in a friendship so colored by romance.
From LAWLER 234: Wilde originally had the following before it was changed by Stoddart in the typescript: "There was something infinitely tragic in a romance that was at once so passionate and so sterile."
whom I have been really fond.
From LAWLER 234: The manuscript originally had "whom I had loved."
Did you really see it?"
From LAWLER 233: Originally read "Perhaps you did not see it. But you suspected it. You were conscious of something you did not like."
But that was all.
From LAWLER 233: Wilde cancelled "He felt no romance for him" in the typescript.
usually
From LAWLER 232: Stoddart changed Wilde's "should ever give" to this reading.
Rugged and straightforward as he was, there was something in his nature that was purely feminine in its tenderness
From LAWLER 230: This was deleted in 1891.
ZABROUSKI: Because of the typical stereotypes Victorian men and women were placed, readers would have viewed this characteristic as immoral effeminacy.
herself.
ZABROUSKI: Following this line, Wilde added another line of dialogue in 1891: The elder man buried his face in his hands. 'How fearful,' he muttered, and a shudder ran through him." Following this line of dialogue, Dorian continues as seen here.
And her only child, too!
From LAWLER 228: Wilde let this stand in 1891, but added Dorian's reply below that Sibyl had a brother (an invention of the revised edition).
For a moment he thought of praying that the horrible sympathy that existed between him and the picture might cease. It had changed in answer to a prayer; perhaps in answer to a prayer it might remain unchanged. And, yet, who, that knew anything about Life, would surrender the chance of remaining always young, however fantastic that chance might be, or with what fateful consequences it might be fraught? Besides, was it really under his control? Had it indeed been prayer that had produced the substitution? Might there not be some curious scientific reason for it all? If thought could exercise its influence upon a living organism, might not thought exercise an influence upon dead and inorganic things? Nay, without thought or conscious desire, might not things external to ourselves vibrate in unison with our moods and passions, atom calling to atom, in secret love or strange affinity? But the reason was of no importance. He would never again tempt by a prayer any terrible power. If the picture was to alter, it was to alter. That was all. Why inquire too closely into it?
From LAWLER 227: This paragraph was added in the typescript.
Her little hands stretched blindly out, and appeared to be seeking for him.
From LAWLER 215: This sentence was added in the typescript.
"If you want him to marry this girl, tell him that, Basil. He is sure to do it then.
From LAWLER 206: This was written in the manuscript's margin, and the following sentence was added in the typescript.
I have a distinct remembrance of being married, but I have no recollection at all of being engaged. I am inclined to think that I never was engaged."
From LAWLER 206: Added in the typescript.
"Except in America.
From LAWLER 206: Wilde added this in the typescript.
Poor Sibyl! what a romance it had all been! She had often mimicked death on the stage, and at last Death himself had touched her, and brought her with him. How had she played that dreadful scene? Had she cursed him, as she died? No; she had died for love of him, and love would always be a sacrament to him now. She had atoned for everything, by the sacrifice she had made of her life. He would not think any more of what she had made him go through, that horrible night at the theatre. When he thought of her, it would be as a wonderful tragic figure to show Love had been a great reality. A wonderful tragic figure? Tears came to his eyes as he remembered her child-like look and winsome fanciful ways and shy tremulous grace. He wiped them away hastily, and looked again at the picture.
From LAWLER 226: This paragraph was added in the typescript.
in your life
From LAWLER 223: Changed to "during the last fortnight" in 1891.
slowly
From LAWLER 221: The Lippincott's text misprinted "slowing pulling his gloves off."
fault
From LAWLER 221: After this sentence, Wilde originally had the following: "And besides, no one knows that you were at the theatre last night."
to explain to him the new life he was going to lead,
From LAWLER 220: Originally read "to sever their friendship at once."
He covered page after page with wild words of sorrow, and wilder words of pain.
From LAWLER 220: Wilde added this in the typescript.
Three o'clock struck, and four, and half-past four, but he did not stir. He was trying to gather up the scarlet threads of life, and to weave them into a pattern; to find his way through the sanguine labyrinth of passion through which he was wandering. He did not know what to do, or what to think.
From LAWLER 220: Wilde added these sentences in the typescript.
Or was there some other, more terrible reason? He shuddered, and felt afraid, and, going back to the couch, lay there, gazing at the picture in sickened horror.
From LAWLER 220: Wilde had added these sentences in the typescript.
scientific interest
From LAWLER 219: Originally, the manuscript read, "He was strangely calm at this moment."
Victor
From LAWLER 218: In the manuscript, the valet was named Jacques. The conversation was in French, as it was whenever Dorian and Jacques spoke. Wilde changed this to English in stages: first, Dorian's speech in MS, then the name of the valet and his dialogue.
What was he to say of that?
From LAWLER 217: Following this question, Wilde originally had the following lines: "Where was he to hide it? It could not be left for common eyes to gaze at." He cancelled them in the typescript.
surprise
From LAWLER 216: In the manuscript, the following lines were cancelled at this point: "then he smiled to himself and went on into his bedroom. 'It is merely an effect of light,' he murmured. 'I did not know that the dawn was so unbecoming.'"
He
ZABROUSKI: Immediately preceding this paragraph, Wilde added the following paragraph in 1891: "In the huge gilt Venetian lantern, spoil of some Doge’s barge, that hung from the ceiling of the great, oak-panelled hall of entrance, lights were still burning from three flickering jets: thin blue petals of flame they seemed, rimmed with white fire. He turned them out and, having thrown his hat and cape on the table, passed through the library towards the door of his bedroom, a large octagonal chamber on the ground floor that, in his new-born feeling for luxury, he had just had decorated for himself and hung with some curious Renaissance tapestries that had been discovered stored in a disused attic at Selby Royal. As he was turning the handle of the door, his eye fell upon the portrait Basil Hallward had painted of him. He started back as if in surprise. Then he went on into his own room, looking somewhat puzzled. After he had taken the button-hole out of his coat, he seemed to hesitate. Finally, he came back, went over to the picture, and examined it. In the dim arrested light that struggled through the cream-coloured silk blinds, the face appeared to him to be a little changed. The expression looked different. One would have said that there was a touch of cruelty in the mouth. It was certainly strange."
A long line of boys carrying crates of striped tulips, and of yellow and red roses, defiled in front of him, threading their way through the huge jade-green piles of vegetables. Under the portico, with its gray sun-bleached pillars, loitered a troop of draggled bareheaded girls, waiting for the auction to be over.
From LAWLER 216: Added in the typescript.
ZABROUSKI: After these sentences, Wilde revised the rest of the paragraph in 1891: "Others crowded round the swinging doors of the coffee-house in the piazza. The heavy cart-horses slipped and stamped upon the rough stones, shaking their bells and trappings. Some of the drivers were lying asleep on a pile of sacks. Iris-necked and pink-footed, the pigeons ran about picking up seeds. After a little while, he hailed a hansom and drove home. For a few moments he loitered upon the doorstep, looking round at the silent square, with its blank, close-shuttered windows and its staring blinds. The sky was pure opal now, and the roofs of the houses glistened like silver against it. From some chimney opposite a thin wreath of smoke was rising. It curled, a violet riband, through the nacre-coloured air."
The sky was pure opal now, and the roofs of the houses glistened like silver against it.
From LAWLER 216: This sentence was also added in the typescript.
apes
From LAWLER 215: Wilde had originally had these lines in the typescript, but crossed them out before publication: "A man with curious eyes had suddenly peered into his face and then dodged him with stealthily footsteps, passing and repassing him many times." It is likely that Sibyl's avenging brother, James, added in 1891, may have originated here.
I couldn't bear it.
From LAWLER 215: Wilde added the following in 1891 to foreshadow: "Oh! Don't go away from me. My brother... No; never mind. He didn't mean it. He was in jest... But you, oh!"
The joy of Beatrice was my joy, and the sorrows of Cordelia were mine also.
From LAWLER 214: Was originally "If I died as Desdemona, I came back as Juliet."
God
From LAWLER 211: Changed to "the gods" in 1891.
darkened
From LAWLER 210: Wilde originally had "filled with tears."
sad
From LAWLER 209: Changed to "tired" in 1891.
And it is an irrevocable vow that I want to take.
From LAWLER 209: After this sentence, Wilde originally had the following: "Why she would loathe me if she thought I merely meant to use her till I grew weary of her and then threw her away." Wilde crossed this out in his manuscript.
I have the greatest contempt for optimism.
From LAWLER 207: This sentence and the four immediately following were added in the typescript.
and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets.
From LAWLER 207: Added in the typescript.
it
ZABROUSKI: Wilde added the following lines in 1891: "As for marriage, of course that would be silly, but there are other and more interesting bonds between men and women. I will certainly encourage them. They have the charm of being fashionable."
appointment
From LAWLER 206: Wilde added several lines here in 1891: "Are you serious?" / "Quite serious, Basil. I should be miserable if I thought I should ever be more serious than I am at the present moment."
ZABROUSKI: This may just be a personal opinion, but I don't think adding that extra dialogue was necessary. However, I suppose the extra back and forth between Basil and Henry is meant to emphasize how beautiful Sybil is. Because there was no lead up to Basil asking Harry if he approves of the marriage, one may have argued that Basil was hinting at previous romantic relations between Harry and Dorian.
They got up and put on their coats, sipping their coffee standing. Hallward 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.
From SANNA 32: This would seem to be the jealous reaction of a hypothetical lover when told about the engagement of his beloved with another person. Instead of being sincerely happy for his friend’s love for a woman and his future marriage with her, Basil is actually preoccupied with his own place in Dorian’s life, and with the possibility of his love being reciprocated. It is indeed love that he feels toward the young and fascinating man.
Hallward turned perfectly pale, and a curious look flashed for a moment into his eyes, and then passed away, leaving them dull.
From LAWLER 206: Wilde changed these lines to "Hallward started, and then frowned." This change was to mute Basil's reaction.
To reveal art and conceal the artist is art’s aim.
From PUDNEY 119: By arguing that art is what matters, rather than the character of the artist, Wilde anticipated some of the more personal criticism of his work. This aphorism suggests that readers should be focusing on the book itself, rather than attacking the author. It also implies that Wilde remains hidden: the novel cannot be seen as self-revelatory. This is a convenient position for Wilde to take, since some of his angrier critics came as close to explicitly condemning the book for its homoerotic elements as was possible in late Victorian public discourse. But the statement is more than just an expedient way of defending its author. There is a serious point here, and as Isaac Elimimian points out in a short article on the subject, this point is repeated in Wilde's essays The Truth of Masks and The Decay of Lying.
There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.
Here, Wilde challenges what is considered "good" or "bad" literature by claiming that books, poems, or other forms of art should be judged on its writing. Thus, regardless of Dorian Gray's homoerotic undertones, Wilde's prose evokes deep emotion and, because of that, the novel should be considered "well written." Additionally, through this quote, Wilde calls out the critics who have defined his art as immoral or "bad" because of perceived obscenities and failed to judge the text itself. In Wilde's first response to St. James's Gazette, he claimed the following: "My story is an essay on decorative art. It reacts against the crude brutality of plain realism. It is poisonous if you like, but you cannot deny that it is also perfect, and perfectionism, is what we artists aim at." As a whole, the preface seems to emphasize that rebuttal, but it is especially prominent here.
From DUGGAN 63: After further discourse on the novel, Wilde himself admits, in a letter to the St. James’s Gazette, that Dorian Gray “is a story with a moral. And the moral is this: All excess, as well as all renunciation, brings its own punishment." Aestheticism does well to condemn the renunciation of desires, but it is an excessive obedience to these desires that is subversively dangerous. Therefore, in the practice of Wilde’s aestheticism, forethought and constraint are necessities, yet too often lacking, and without them, one is doomed to suffer the same fate as Dorian Gray.
Also, Wilde's phrasing that "there is no such thing as a moral book" sent Christians into an uproar, for the basis of their faith is based on a holy, moral book: the Bible. Christians believed that Wilde, in saying this, was practically denouncing Christian religion.
All art is quite useless.
From ELIMIMIAN 626: By saying "All art is quite useless," Wilde is not only using paradox or a rhetorical style, but enforces the concept that contraries do not imply a negation. By claiming "Vice and Virtue" form suitable "material for the artist," Wilde encourages us, as readers, to think that the realm of artistic discourse is limitless. Art enables us to view life clearly, but art, by itself, is incapable of any permanent rendering. Similarly, when we interpret art, we interpret life, since life's colors are enshrined in it. Thus, Wilde would argue Art and life are not contingent but may complement each other.
From WINWAR 171: This line struck right in the face of Victorian materialism and was coined indiscriminately; Its defenders interpreted it as an exaltation of art, but its opposers claimed it was dangerous to established values.
From DUGGAN 61: In this one sentence, Wilde encapsulates the complete principles of the Aesthetic Movement popular in Victorian England. That is to say, real art takes no part in molding the social or moral identities of society, nor should it. Art should be beautiful and pleasure its observer, but to imply further-reaching influence would be a mistake.
No artist desires to prove anything.
In Wilde's Decay of Living, a collection of essays promoting aestheticism over realism, he claims: "Many a young man starts in life with a natural gift for exaggeration which, if nurtured in congenial and sympathetic surroundings, or by the imitation of the best models, might grow into something really great and wonderful. But, as a rule, he comes to nothing. He either falls into careless habits of accuracy..." (Wilde 294) In that excerpt, Wilde argues that art requires "no reason for existence except that each creation be a work of art," and thus art is independent from morality. (Elimimian 627).
In the following sentence, "Even things that are true can be proved," Wilde accounts for science and mathematics. Wilde would argue that artists make their art for the sake of creating, not to prove their talent or how "truthful" their work is. Science, on the other hand, is meant to be proven. So, because art is primarily subjective in that it is not something that could be proven, art could not be "proven" to be moral or immoral. This strengthens Wilde's argument for aestheticism, for he separates art from other forms of knowledge and creation.
The artist is the creator of beautiful things.
"The Preface of Dorian Gray" was an addition to the 1891 edition of The Picture of Dorian Gray in protest to the backlash Wilde received from the 1890 publication. Additionally, critics have considered it to be a "bulwark against prosecution of Wilde for homosexuality, which was a real danger at the time" (Temple). The first few lines of the preface directly addresses the critics, claiming that any perverse imagery that is elicited by the sensitive reader is a demonstration of the perversity of the reader’s own mind, and not necessarily that of the author or his prose. (Revolt)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
From LAWLER 274: Wilde added chapters 15-18 here in 1891. Lippincott's chapter 13 was then divided into chapters 19 and 20 (1891).
ZABROUSKI: In summary, chapters 15-18 describe Dorian Gray's character deterioration. - In Chapter 15, Dorian flirts with bored noblewomen at a dinner party, and ends up leaving early to abuse opium. - In Chapter 16, Dorian travels to an opium den in London and has a run-in with Sibyl Vane's brother, James Vane. James had been on the hunt for Dorian to avenge his dead sister, but once faced with the young Dorian, he assumes he was mistaken and had been following the wrong man. After the men part ways, James learns that he was fooled and resolves to hunt down Dorian again. The concept of Dorian's inability to age further plays into the fantastical nature of the novel. - In Chapter 17, Dorian entertains guests at his estate in Shelby, and they discuss the beauty of art. Dorian sees James out in the conservatory, and he faints from terror. - In Chapter 18, Dorian hides indoors for two days before gaining the courage to venture outside. Later in the day, he attends a shooting party in the park, and, attempting to shoot a hare, shoots and kills a man (it is later revealed in this chapter that the man was in fact James Vane). When Dorian claims the incident was a "bad omen," Lord Henry disagrees and tries to change the subject; he teases Dorian about his relations with a duchess. Dorian shuts down Lord Henry's teasing and says, "I wish I could love." This loaded utterance could possibly reference Dorian's poor mental state resulting in his inability to love, or his inability to love a woman. Either way, it is unclear what Dorian exactly means.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Chapter XIV in 1891.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Chapter XIII in 1891.
It was not till they had examined the rings that they recognized who it was.
From LAWLER 281: The original ending read "When they entered, they found on the wall the portrait of a young man of extraordinary personal beauty, their master as they had last seen him. Lying on the floor was a dead body, withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage with a knife in his heart." Wilde changed the ending to what it is now in the Lippincott's typescript.
Old Mrs. Leaf was crying,
From LAWLER 281: Wilde changed to this from "One of he maids was crying."
ripping the thing right up from top to bottom.
From LAWLER 280: Wilde deleted this after changing "canvas" to "picture" in 1891.
It would kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free.
From LAWLER 280: Wilde added this sentence in the typescript and added the following sentence in 1891: "It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace."
glistened
From LAWLER 280: Wilde originally had "He took it up and darted it into the canvas."
tell?
From LAWLER 280: Wilde added five lines here in 1891: "...No. There had been nothing more. Through vanity he had spared her. In hypocrisy he had worn the mask of goodness. For curiosity's sake he had tried the denial of self. He recognized that now."
think
From LAWLER 279: Wilde added the following reference to Sibyl's brother here in 1891: "James Vane was hidden in a nameless grave in Selby churchyard."
him?
From LAWLER 279: Wilde added two paragraphs here in 1891: Ah! in what a monstrous moment of pride and passion he had prayed that the portrait should bear the burden of his days, and he keep the unsullied splendour of eternal youth! All his failure had been due to that. Better for him that each sin of his life had brought its sure swift penalty along with it. There was purification in punishment. Not “Forgive us our sins” but “Smite us for our iniquities” should be the prayer of man to a most just God. [New paragraph] The curiously carved mirror that Lord Henry had given to him, so many years ago now, was standing on the table, and the white-limbed Cupids laughed round it as of old. He took it up, as he had done on that night of horror when he had first noted the change in the fatal picture, and with wild, tear-dimmed eyes looked into its polished shield. Once, some one who had terribly loved him had written to him a mad letter, ending with these idolatrous words: “The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history.” The phrases came back to his memory, and he repeated them over and over to himself. Then he loathed his own beauty, and flinging the mirror on the floor, crushed it into silver splinters beneath his heel. It was his beauty that had ruined him, his beauty and the youth that he had prayed for. But for those two things, his life might have been free from stain. His beauty had been to him but a mask, his youth but a mockery. What was youth at best? A green, an unripe time, a time of shallow moods, and sickly thoughts. Why had he worn its livery? Youth had spoiled him.
out.
From LAWLER 278: Chapter 19 (1891) ends here.
be
From LAWLER 278: A dozen lines or so were added here in 1891, nearly half of which argue against art influencing human action: As for being poisoned by a book, there is no such thing as that. Art has no influence upon action. It annihilates the desire to act. It is superbly sterile. The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame. That is all. But we won’t discuss literature. Come round to-morrow. I am going to ride at eleven. We might go together, and I will take you to lunch afterwards with Lady Branksome. She is a charming woman, and wants to consult you about some tapestries she is thinking of buying. Mind you come. Or shall we lunch with our little duchess? She says she never sees you now. Perhaps you are tired of Gladys? I thought you would be. Her clever tongue gets on one’s nerves. Well, in any case, be here at eleven.” [New paragraph] “Must I really come, Harry?” [New paragraph] “Certainly. The park is quite lovely now. I don’t think there have been such lilacs since the year I met you.”
have been
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "are" in 1891.
"
ZABROUSKI: This passage is connected to the previous paragraph in 1891.
heliotrope
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "lilas blanc" in 1891.
I
ZABROUSKI: In 1891, this paragraph begins with "Yes: you are the same. I wonder what..."
had!
From LAWLER 277: Following this exclamation, Wilde originally had the following: "I have always been too much of a critic. I have been afraid of things wounding me, and have looked on." He canceled it in the typescript.
The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young
From LAWLER 277: Wilde added this epigram in the typescript.
of
From LAWLER 277: Wilde originally had "of moments of anguish and regret" here.
It was his chief defect.
From LAWLER 276: Wilde added about four new pages here in 1891, beginning "what would you say, Harry" and ending with "given up our belief in the soul."
and always wore a Waterbury watch. Why should he be murdered?
From LAWLER 276: Wilde added this in the typescript.
her
From LAWLER 276: Wilde added the following in 1891: "But then one regrets the loss even of one's worst habits. Perhaps one regrets them the most. They are such an essential part of one's personality."
Victoria
From LAWLER 276: Stoddart cancelled the following: "She was desperately in love with you at one time, Dorian. It used to amuse me to watch her paying you compliments. You were so charmingly indifferent. Do you know I really miss her? She never bored me. She was so delightfully improbably in everything that she did."
wretched
From LAWLER 275: After "wretched," Wilde originally had the following passage: "Upon the other hand, had she become your mistress, she would have lived in the society of charming and cultivated men. You would have educated her, taught her how to dress, how to talk, how to move. You would have made her perfect, and she would have been extremely happy. After a time, no doubt, you would have grown tired of her. She would have made a scene. You would have made a settlement. Then a new career would have begun for her." Stoddart cut this entire section to eliminate ambiguity.
But
From LAWLER 274: Stoddart canceled "her life is not spoiled" here in the typescript.
I
From LAWLER 274: Stoddart canceled "said to myself, 'I won't ruin this girl. I won't bring her to shame. And I...'" in the typescript.
week
From LAWLER 274: Stoddart canceled "Finally, she promised to come with me to town. I had taken a house for her, ad arranged everything." Wilde cancelled Stoddart's emendation: "She would have come away with me."
to her. You remember Sibyl, don't you? How long ago that seems! Well, Hetty
From LAWLER 274: Wilde added this in the typescript.
He remembered that the night before, for the first time in his life, he had forgotten to hide it, when he crept out of the room.
ZABROUSKI: Wilde changed this to "He remembered that the night before he had forgotten, for the first time in his life, to hide the fatal canvas, and was about to rush forward, when he drew back with a shudder" in 1891.
grinning
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "leering" in 1891.
chimney-piece.
From LAWLER 272: Following this sentence, Wilde originally had the following: "The pain in his forehead was less than it had been but he was shivering..."
hollow
From LAWLER 271: This paragraph originally ended with the following: "He tried to speak, but his tongue seemed to be paralyzed."
Why, they will hang me, Alan! Don't you understand? They will hang me for what I have done."
From LAWLER 270: Wilde added this in the typescript.
that
From LAWLER 270: Wilde cancelled the following from his manuscript for the typescript: "Had this happened three years ago, I might have consented to be your accomplice."
This was the man that Dorian Gray was waiting for, pacing up and down the room, glancing every moment at the clock, and becoming horribly agitated as the minutes went by. At last the door opened, and his servant entered
From LAWLER 268: Wilde replaced these sentences and added the following: "This was the man Dorian Gray was waiting for. Every second he kept glancing at the clock. As the minutes went by he became horribly agitated. At last he got up and began to pace up and down the room, looking like a beautiful caged thing. He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold. [New paragraph] The suspense became unbearable. Time seemed to him to be crawling with feet of lead, while he by monstrous winds was being swept towards the jagged edge of some black cleft of precipice. He knew what was waiting for him there; saw it, indeed, and, shuddering, crushed with dank hands his burning lids as though he would have robbed the very brain of sight and driven the eyeballs back into their cave. It was useless. The brain had its own food on which it battened, and the imagination, made grotesque by terror, twisted and distorted as a living thing by pain, danced like some foul puppet on a stand and grinned through moving masks. Then, suddenly, time stopped for him. Yes: that blind, slow-breathing thing crawled no more, and horrible thoughts, time being dead, raced nimbly on in front, and dragged a hideous future from its grave, and showed it to him. He stared at it. Its very horror made him stone. [New paragraph] At last the door opened and his servant entered. He turned glazed eyes upon him."
very quietly, but watching the effect of each word upon the face of the man he had sent for,
From LAWLER 269: Wilde added this in the typescript.
The binding was of citron-green leather with a design of gilt trellis-work and dotted pomegranates. It had been given to him by Adrian Singleton.
From LAWLER 266: Wilde wrote this in after completing the manuscript.
Gautier's "Émaux et Camées,"
From LAWLER 266: Wilde's original choice was a volume of "sonnets by Verlaine."
and then got up hastily,
From LAWLER 266: Here, Wilde canceled the following in the typescript: "and having thrown on his heavy white dressing gown, passed into the bathroom. When he came out again, he felt calmer.
But youth smiles without any reason. It is one of its chiefest charms.
From LAWLER 265: Added in the typescript.
He walked up and down the room for a quarter of an hour, biting his lip, and thinking.
From LAWLER 265: Added in the typescript.
except that he would write to you."
From LAWLER 265: Added in the typescript.
pain
From LAWLER 263: Wilde changed this from "in the uncertain gloom" in the typescript. In 1891, Wilde changed "as if in pain" to "to and fro."
him
From LAWLER 263: Wilde added to this sentence in 1891: "as though it had been suggested to him by the image on the canvas, whispered to his ear by those grinning lips."
God
From LAWLER 262: Stoddart changed the original "Christ!" here, but Wilde put it back into the 1891 text.
shameful.
ZABROUSKI: In 1891, Wilde added another sentence here: "You were to me such an ideal as I shall never meet again."
romance
From LAWLER 262: Wilde changed "romance" to "ideal" in 1891.
The room is damp. The mildew has got into the canvas. The paints I used had some wretched mineral poison in them. I tell you the thing is impossible."
From LAWLER 261: Wilde added this in the typescript margin.
He knew it, and he felt as if his blood had changed from fire to sluggish ice in a moment.
ZABROUSKI: Reordered to "He knew it, and he felt as if his blood had changed in a moment from fire to sluggish ice" in 1891.
passed entirely away
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "completely passed away" in 1891.
lips
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "mouth" in 1891.
marred
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "spoiled" in 1891.
leering
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "grinning" in 1891.
thing
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "face" in 1891.
Hallward's
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "the painter's" in 1891.
Good artists give everything to their art, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in themselves.
From LAWLER 203: Changed to "Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are" in 1891.
"You don't mean to say that Basil has got any passion or any romance in him?"
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "Oh, Basil is the best of fellows, but he seems to me just a bit of a Philistine. Since I have known you, Harry, I have discovered that" in 1891.
A "Philistine" is a person who is indifferent to the culture or the arts (Oxford Dictionary). This alteration not only ties into Wilde's interest in aestheticism but more importantly detaches Basil from any romantic characteristics. Additionally, the following two lines of dialogue are deleted in the 1891 edition, which mutes the homoerotic undertones between Basil and Lord Henry; Lord Henry's comment that "[Basil] certainly has romance" provides insight that there was some sort of romantic relationship between the two. Furthermore, the fact that Henry asks Dorian if Basil has ever "let [him] know that" rather than "tell [him] that" also points to Basil's homosexuality. Because having any homosexual relations was illegal at the time, Henry's phrasing acts as an unspoken tip to Dorian. One could argue, then, that Basil, Lord Henry, and Dorian are homosexual. Another thing to note is that this particular deletion draws more attention to Basil's art rather than romantic relations. In this way, Wilde adds emphasis to the romance of art rather than homosexual romance.
From LAWLER 203: Originally, Dorian had asked whether "Basil has got a passion for somebody?" Lord Henry answered, "Yes, he has. Has he never told you?" This dialogue was cancelled, and Wilde wrote the changes in the margin.
"He gives you good advice, I suppose. People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves."
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity" in 1891.
me."
ZABROUSKI: Wilde added "He gives me good advice" in 1891.
'The Bard.'
From LAWLER 201: Wilde had substituted this from "Shakespeare."
"I believe he was quite right there. But, on the other hand, most of them are not at all expensive."
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "I should not wonder if he was quite right there. But, on the other hand, judging from their appearance, most of them cannot be at all expensive" in 1891.
all
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "every one of them" in 1891.
"I was not surprised either.
ZABROUSKI: This sentence was deleted in 1891.
yours
From LAWLER 200: Was originally "your mistress," but Stoddart changed it. Wilde altered Stoddart's emendation in 1891, making it "I suppose she will belong to you some day."
ZABROUSKI: I found this specific change interesting, for it seems like such a minor alteration yet makes a big impact in the grand scheme of things. Lawler claimed that the 1891 alteration is "stronger" than what is here. Given the time this was published, that claim rings true; because Victorian women were typically viewed as property or arm candy rather than an actual partner, saying the phrase "belong to" would have been fitting for a heterosexual Victorian man.
"Harry, Sibyl Vane is sacred!"
From LAWLER 200: Stoddart altered this statement, for it was originally "How dare you suggest such a thing, Harry? It is horrible. Sibyl Vane is sacred!"
Sibyl
From LAWLER 197: Stoddart changed the spelling from Wilde's "Sybil" here and throughout the text of this edition, and it remained "Sibyl" in the 1891 text.
correctly
From LAWLER 179: J.M. Stoddart, Lippincott's editor changed the original reading "live with their wives," removing an expression inadmissible to the American public. Wilde let these and similar changes stand even though they are clearly inferior to the original.
And now tell me,—reach me the matches, like a good boy: thanks,—tell me, what are your relations with Sibyl Vane?"
From LAWLER 200: This is another of the series of bowdlerizations by Stoddart. This line was written by Wilde: "is Sybil Vane your mistress?" Stoddart simply rewrote it in its present form, and although Wilde made an addition in 1891, he did not restore the original reading."
Faithlessness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the intellectual life,—simply a confession of failure.
From LAWLER 198: Wilde added this epigram to the typescript and followed it up with four additional sentences in 1891: "Faithfulness! I must analyze it someday. The passion for property is in it. There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up."
love
From LAWLER 198: Wilde added three more sentences here in 1891: "A grande passion is the privilege of people who have nothing to do. That is the one use of the idle classes of a country. Don't be afraid. There are exquisite things in store for you. This is merely the beginning."
Jew
From LAWLER 198: An example of modern censorship of Dorian Gray may be found in some recent paperback editions (Dell and Signet) in which, "Jew" is silently changed to "man" here and to other equally neutral nouns throughout.
I am putting it into practice, as I do everything you say."
From LAWLER 197: This sentence was added in the typescript.
patchouli
From LAWLER 196: Wilde changed the perfume to frangipanni in 1891. Patchouli was a scent identified with London prostitutes.
Nowadays people know the price of everything, and the value of nothing."
From LAWLER 196: This well-known epigram was added to the typescript.
twenty-seven,
From LAWLER 195: Wilde changed the number of photographs to "eighteen" for humorous effect in 1891.
"And, after all, it is purely a question for physiology.
ZABROUSKI: Changed to "Why, even in love it is purely a question for physiology" in 1891.
It is either an unfortunate accident, or an unpleasant result of temperament.
From LALWER 194: Wilde dropped this sentence in 1891.
"Am I really like that?""Yes; you are just like that.""How wonderful, Basil!"
From LAWLER 194: Wilde added this to the typescript.
"And you know you have been a little silly, Mr. Gray, and that you don't really mind being called a boy.""I should have minded very much this morning, Lord Henry.""Ah! this morning!
From LAWLER 193: Wilde added these sentences to the typescript.
"If it is not, what have I to do with it?"
From LAWLER 192: Was originally "Comme vous voulez, mon cher." (English Translation: "As you wish, my dear.")
"My doing?""Yes, yours, and you know it."
From LAWLER 192: Wilde dropped Henry's question and Basil's answer in 1891.
Oh, if it was only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me some day,—mock me horribly!"
From LAWLER 192: Added by Wilde in the typescript.
When I find that I am growing old, I will kill myself."
From LAWLER 192: Wilde added this sentence in the typescript.
Hermes
From LAWLER 191: Originally "Sylvanus."
From COLLINS DICTIONARY: Sylvanus is the Roman god of the woodlands, fields and flocks. Its Greek counterpart is Pan, god of the wild.
"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray, with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . . If it was only the other way! If it was I who were to be always young, and the picture that were to grow old! For this—for this—I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give!"
From LAWLER 191: Wilde altered this passage each time he revised his text. After "dreadful," he cancelled the following: "Life will send its lines across my face. Passion will create it and thought twist it from its form." For the typescript of this edition, Wilde added the last sentence of this paragraph. In 1891, Wilde added another sentence at the paragraph's end: "I would give my soul for that."
forever
LAWLER: Following this sentence, Wilde originally had the following: "Like priests, they terrify one at the prospect of certain eternity, attempt to terrify one, I should say."
well
From LAWLER 190: Following this sentence, Wilde originally had the following passage: Most modern portrait painting comes under the head of elegant fiction or if it aims at realism, gives one something between a caricature and a photograph. But this was different. It had all the mystery of life, and all the mystery of beauty. Within the world, as men know it, there is a finer world that only artists know of--artists or those to whom the temperament of the artist has been given. Creation within creation--that is what Basil Hallward named it, that is what he had attained to."
or when some thought that terrifies us lays sudden siege to the brain and calls on us to yield.
From LAWLER 198: Wilde added this in the margin of the typescript.
ignoble
From LAWLER 191: Wilde change this to "dreadful" in 1891.
"Stop!" murmured Dorian Gray, "stop! you bewilder me. I don't know what to say. There is some answer to you, but I cannot find it. Don't speak. Let me think, or, rather, let me try not to think."
From LAWLER 186: Wilde added this sentence and the following five paragraphs to the typescript of this edition in a long marginal note ending with "...of the silence."
ZABROUSKI: This addition plays into Wilde's interest in aestheticism, especially in regards to music, art, and linguistics.
And Beauty is a form of Genius,—is higher, indeed, than Genius, as it needs no explanation. It is one of the great facts of the world, like sunlight, or spring-time, or the reflection in dark waters of that silver shell we call the moon.
From LAWLER 188: These lines were originally spoken by Basil in the previous chapter. Wilde relocated them here and transferred them to Henry.