Rationality And Insanity In Oscar Wilde's The Picture Of Dorian Gray
532 Words3 Pages
A picture is worth one thousand words, or so they say. In the case of Dorian Gray, a picture was the difference between rationality and insanity. Passage #3 of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray reveals the impact of a picture on Gray’s psyche, driving him to murder a man; however, the passage also suggests that Gray, while enjoying killing Basil Hallward, was not fully aware of what he was actually doing. This suggestion is a direct result of Wilde’s diction and carefully selected metaphor.
It is explicitly stated that the idea of killing Hallward “came over [Gray] as though it had been suggested to him by [an] image.” The phrase ‘as though’ implies that the picture did not have any special power to speak, making it evident that Gray