Chapter 2

"'Yes," continued Lord Henry, 'that is one of the great secrets of life-- to cure the soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul.  You are a wonderful creation.  You know more that you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know.'"

In this passage, Wilde uses diction, paradoxes, and syntax.

Wildes choice of the words "wonderful creation" to describe Dorian Gray has a little bit of a religious connotation to it.  He is going back to the Bible's view that people are creations, and this is a holy characterization of Gray.  He is something that required time and thought to build.  However, there is also a negative aspect to being called a creation.  It is a little degrading to be called a creation.  It takes away the human essence from Gray.  He is so perfect that it is unnatural.

Wilde also uses two paradoxes.  The first is "to cure he soul by means of the senses, and the senses by means of the soul."  This sounds wrong because the soul is first the problem and then it is the remedy and vice versa with the senses.  However, it can be interpreted as meaning that Dorian Gray needs to use his senses and take in the world to garner some of that human essence he so lacks because of his other-worldliness.  I take the second part of the paradox to mean that Gray needs to stick with his soul, or his gut, and listen to what his heart tells him to do in order to stay alive, in order to keep his body in good shape.

The reverse parallelism in this paradox makes the line much more beautiful and profound. Throughout the book, Wilde writes in such a beautiful manner that is appropriate for his book on art.  This is what I believe to be one of his key purposes: to write beautifully, because this book is to him as a painting is to Basil.  Furthermore, the syntax of the line helps draw a distinction between the senses and the soul.  The soul represents the physical body and the soul is more the emotional body.  Both need to remain in balance and check the other in order for a body to properly function.  This mechanical like task also relates to the idea that Gray is a creation.  The unnatural way Gray is described correlates with the idea that Gray's body needs to regulate itself.

The second paradox, "You know more than you think you know, just as you know less than you want to know," discusses the subconscious versus the conscious mind.  How can a person know more than he thinks he knows?  If he is not conscious of this knowledge.  This paradox conveys Gray's obliviousness of his own mind.  He has been ignoring seeds of thought in his mind for so long that he has completely thrown some things into his subconscious.  This represents a struggle within Gray, a man with self conflict.  Gray doesn't know what he wants, or what he wants does not correlate with the things he believes he should want.  I think this idea will be an important one in the book.  It goes along with the previous paradox as the soul can be identified as the subconscious, and the senses are more real and more obvious the way the conscious mind is.  The second clause of the paradox portrays Gray's desire to know more about his subconscious and how he wants to address the things that lie there but cannot because of the boundaries set by version of him that is proper for society.  Within the paradox, Lord Henry uses the words "you" and "know" many times.  This creates a more flowing line and makes the paradox resemble a riddle in the convoluted way both the riddle and the paradox state things.  The repetition also adds to the beauty of the line. 

Drawing distinctions between two things seems to be common with Lord Henry.  He is the character that is always simplifying the world into two opposing sides.

Chapter 1.

"Upon my word, Basil, I didn't know you were so vain; and I really can't see any resemblance between you, with your rugged, strong face and your coal-black hair, and this young Adonis, who looks as if he were made of ivory and rose-leaves  Why , my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you-well, of course, you have an intellectual expression, and all that.  But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins.  Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face.  The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid... Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks.  I feel quite sure of that.  He is some brainless, beautiful creature, who should be always here in winter when we have no flowers to look at, and always here in summer when we want something to chill our intelligence.  Don't flatter yourself, Basil; you are not in the least like him."

This passage is key because of the great characterizations it leaves the reader with.  Harry, the speaker, juxtaposes Basil and Dorian Gray.  Basil is associated with ruggedness and Intellect while Dorian Gray is associated with rose-leaves and Beauty. Harry explicitly states in his lines that Beauty ends when Intellect comes in.  The idea that two cannot exist together serve as a foreshadow and lead the reader to believe one of the two, Beauty and Intellect, has to give in. 

Characterization of Harry is achieved as well.  We see through the syntactical structure of Harry's words and his biased diction, the kind of person he is.  For instance, when he is describing Basil's intellect he says, "Why , my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus, and you-well, of course, you have an intellectual expression, and all that."  Placing the additional "and all that" at the end of the line shows Harry's almost-contempt for intellect.  Harry also describes Intellect as "an exaggeration" that "destroys," and leaves "horrid" things.  This kind of negative diction differs greatly from the flattering diction Harry uses to describe Beauty like "harmony" and "flowers." Even in describing the dull Dorian Gray, Harry's respect for Beauty is shown in his calling Dorian Gray, a "beautiful brainless creature."  There is a nice "b" consonance here. Also, his repetition in the line, "But Beauty, real Beauty" and his including mythological allusions like "Adonis" and "Narcissus" express his thoughtfulness and reverence of the concept of Beauty.  We see that Harry sees Beauty as higher than Intellect, and we also see his honest and blunt nature through his easily insulting a close friend.  The reader can infer that Harry might be a good character to depend on for characterizations and truth.

Besides characterizations, the passage also brings up the flower motif.  Throughout this first chapter, various kinds of flowers are mentioned frequently, and in this passage alone, "rose-leaves" and "flowers" are brought up; both times they are used portray a delicate and beautiful Dorian Gray.  I believe the significance of using flowers as a symbol for Dorian Gray is the fact that flowers are so ephemeral, they do not last.  This is supported by the way Oscar Wilde frequently has Harry plucking daisies in between lines, has him say that flowers are only present in the summer, and has Basil mention that a flower is an easy decoration when tucked in a coat.  Something that adds to the flower motif, is the name Basil.  It's quite fitting that Basil, who represents Intellect, has a name with the denotation: an herb or vegetable, and Dorian Gray, Beauty, is symbolized is by a flower.  In terms of beauty, herbs tend to pale beside flowers, and if the two types of vegetation had brains, I would imagine herbs to be the smarter of the two.