Sibyl Vane In The Picture Of Dorian Gray
A story of a love between an actress and a heartless man is contained within the pages of The Picture of Dorian Gray written by Oscar Wilde. This actress was Sibyl Vane and the heartless man was the once innocent Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde uses pathos, appealing to an audience's emotions, to convince or convey a message. Oscar Wilde introduces Sibyl Vane as a poor indentured servant and the cruelty of Dorian Gray to make his audience more sympathetic to Sibyl Vane. Oscar Wilde’s appeal to pathos in chapters 5 and 7 fail to succeed because Sibyl Vane character development made her seem well off, the readers attention was drawn toward Dorian Gray, and that Sibyl Vane’s stereotypical characteristics turned off many readers that could have been sympathetic.
…show more content…
In the breakup between Dorian Gray and Sibyl Vane, Dorian sees “She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiselled lips curled in disdain. There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love” (75). In a saddening breakup between Sibyl Vane and Dorian Gray., Oscar Wilde fails to invoke sympathy but rather disgust. This disgust comes from the words “chiselled lips” and “disdain”. The “chiselled lips” describes a lack of passion and “disdain” is a strong word for disgusted. This portrayal of Dorian Gray being disgusted and being described with “beautiful eyes” to a sincere Sibyl Vane broken down figure makes the readers feel disgusted at Dorian Gray. All of these descriptive words are pointed at Dorian Gray and the only portrayal of Sibyl is “She crouched on the floor”. Even the description “like a wounded thing” is vague and unsympathetic to Sibyl Vane. The readers are only able to hate Dorian Gray because the main focus is not on Sibyl but on Dorian. Dorian own feelings of detachment describing “emotions” as “ridiculous” makes him seem cold and stone hearted. Another passage making the readers have disdain for Dorian Gray was when Dorian tries to describe himself as a victim stating “During the three terrible hours that the play had lasted, he had lived centuries of pain,
In the breakup between Dorian Gray and Sibyl Vane, Dorian sees “She crouched on the floor like a wounded thing, and Dorian Gray with his beautiful eyes, looked down at her, and his chiselled lips curled in disdain. There is always something ridiculous about the emotions of people whom one has ceased to love” (75). In a saddening breakup between Sibyl Vane and Dorian Gray., Oscar Wilde fails to invoke sympathy but rather disgust. This disgust comes from the words “chiselled lips” and “disdain”. The “chiselled lips” describes a lack of passion and “disdain” is a strong word for disgusted. This portrayal of Dorian Gray being disgusted and being described with “beautiful eyes” to a sincere Sibyl Vane broken down figure makes the readers feel disgusted at Dorian Gray. All of these descriptive words are pointed at Dorian Gray and the only portrayal of Sibyl is “She crouched on the floor”. Even the description “like a wounded thing” is vague and unsympathetic to Sibyl Vane. The readers are only able to hate Dorian Gray because the main focus is not on Sibyl but on Dorian. Dorian own feelings of detachment describing “emotions” as “ridiculous” makes him seem cold and stone hearted. Another passage making the readers have disdain for Dorian Gray was when Dorian tries to describe himself as a victim stating “During the three terrible hours that the play had lasted, he had lived centuries of pain,