The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Would Dorian have lived the life that he did if he'd never met Lord Henry? Was he guilty of Syble Vane and Alan Campbell's suicides? Lord Henry says that life is too short for people to take blame for others' poor choices. Is this true? Can we wash our hands of the blame even if we led people to their demise? How do you explain this? Did Dorian experience justice in the end?

I think that Dorian would have brushed against the life Lord Henry introduced him into had he not actually met Lord Henry. Harry forced him to grab onto the crazy life that we read about, but Dorian wanted that life to begin with. I don't think that Dorian would have gone as far or done as much without Lord Henry's help. Henry and Basil, both, fed Dorian's ego and selfcenteredness.

Wilde suggested that he was not directly responsible for Syble Vane. In chapter 12, Wilde describes the portrait's alterations, but does not hint at there being any blood on his hands. Our daily interactions with those around us can be just as damaging as they were in this story. It is possible that Syble has always felt that she wasn't good enough to find love and that Dorian gave her the final notch of conviction in her belief. Alan might have been lonely and secluded in his life as a scientist. Alan, after being used by Dorian, might have felt that there was no longer any way to bridge the gap that he saw between himself and the rest of humanity. So, yes, I think that Dorian was responsible for the deaths of those two characters and I disagree with Wilde's proposal that there was no blood on Dorian's hands. He was using his flowery writing and saving the "blood spattered hands" for a later description.

Life is not too short to accept blame. If we want our lives to be meaningful, outside of a life with God, then we are dependent upon our interactions with others and how we affect them. If we didn't take the blame, then we are selling our "legacy" short. However, forgetting what others have done and living life for yourself is Wilde's point, so he would be falling right into his own plot if we just forgot about how we hurt others. There is a distinct difference between forgetting about the hurt we have caused and not caring. When one washes their hands of an act, they believe that they are removing the blemish. I don't belive this is possible. We, as humans, have a short life. We cannot forget the "important" or "major" things in our life. We might want to, but it's not possible. Dorian might not have cared that he caused their deaths, but he will never forget and therefore never be able to wash his hands of them.

Did Dorian get justice in the end? He received the same as he gave... A fitting, ironic end. But not nearly good enough.