The Picture of Dorian Gray 3

Passage: ...He was a marvelous type, too, this lad, whom by so curious a chance he had met in Basil's studio, or could be fashioned into a marvelous type, at any rate. Grace was his, and the white purity of boyhood, and beauty such as old Greek marbles kept for us. There was nothing that one could not do with him. He could be made a Titan or a toy. What a pity it was that such beauty was destined to fade!...

The motif of Hedonism begins to consume the plot when Lord Henry meets Dorian Gray, the real Dorian Gray. Lord Henry is characterized as a hedonist when he goes on a rant to Dorian Gray about why "there is no such thing as a good influence", continuing by saying "the aim of life is self-development". The above passage encompasses Lord Henry's hedonistic views and Dorian Gray. As the story progresses, Dorian Gray and Lord Henry are found in the garden together. Lord Henry comments on the value of youth to Dorian Gray, commenting that "youth is the one thing worth having". The statement about youth echoes the last line of the above passage, that it is a pity Dorian Gray will inevitably loose his beauty. By saying "he could be a Titan or a toy" Lord Henry both complements and demeans Dorian Gray. He complements Dorian Gray by using the profound image of a Titan, however, also says he could be made into a toy. The alliteration brings an immense focus to the juxtaposition of the two vastly different images. A Titan (defined as a pre-Olympian Greek god; often depicted as giants) is a powerful image of a valiant, sculptural looking man. A toy is a mere object, with little value other than an attractive appearance, which is the only similarity between the images: attractive appearance. In the passage above, "the white purity of boyhood, and beauty such as old Greek marbles kept for us", is in reference to the relevance of Dorian Gray to the novel. "White", syntactically placed before "purity", over accentuates "purity" because purity is very often affiliated with the color white. He then says "old Greek marbles kept for us", the statement is continuing the Greek "Hellenic" motif. The "Greek marbles", an understatement for the Greek sculptures of over accentuated muscles, etc., are furthering a point made by Lord Henry that beauty doesn't last, but is kept unchanged through art (the picture of Dorian Gray). Dorian Gray wants to give his soul to look like the painting Basil painted, similar to the beauty encapsulated in "Greek marbles", which are also white like the "white purity of boyhood".

Syntactically, the observation made by Lord Henry is framed by ellipses. By doing so, it separates the observation from the streaming thought, and brings focus to the observation. The tone is very slow moving, long flowing sentences similar to Lord Henry, until the last sentence; It is dramatic, the word choice "destined" makes the situation sound more story like. The exclamation point is placed syntactically at the end of the observation. The sentence is put at the end to tell the reader, despite all the languidly observed beautiful features of Dorian Gray, they are "destined to fade!".