“From the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me. I was dominated, soul, brain, and power by you. You became to me the visible incarnation of that unseen ideal whose memory haunts us artists like an exquisite dream. I worshipped you. I grew jealous of everyone to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you.”
ROGER CLARKasLord Henry Wotton in: Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Directed by Quin Gordon Performed at The Sonnet Repertory Theater in New York, NY in August of 2012
“Dorian, from the moment I met you, your personality had the most extraordinary influence over me. I was dominated, soul, brain, and power, by you. […] I worshipped you. I grew jealous of every one to whom you spoke. I wanted to have you all to myself. I was only happy when I was with you. When you were away from me, you were still present in my art…. Of course, I never let you know anything about this. It would have been impossible. […] You would not have understood it. I hardly understood it myself. Weeks and weeks went on, and I grew more and more absorbed in YOU. […] I felt, Dorian, that I had told too much, that I had put too much of myself into it.”
Basil Hallward, The Picture of Dorian Gray, O. Wilde
“Dorian Gray? Is that his name?” asked Lord Henry, walking across the studio towards Basil Hallward.
“Yes, that is his name. I didn’t intend to tell it to you.”
“But why not?”
“Oh, I can’t explain. When I like people immensely, I never tell their names to any one. It is like surrendering a part of them. I have grown to love secrecy. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous to us. The commonest thing is delightful if one only hides it. When I leave town now I never tell my people where I am going. If I did, I would lose all my pleasure. It is a silly habit, I dare say, but somehow it seems to bring a great deal of romance into one’s life. I suppose you think me awfully foolish about it?”
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it” after all.
Exactly, Henry. I’m too tired to care about some “morals” anymore. What other thing are they than artificially constructed supressions?
I believe you have rarely spoken something so accurate before, at least in my presence.
Maybe you were so engrossed in your studies you just didn’t hear
Thank you, Henry! This is one of the few times I have heard an actual compliment from you!
Impossible
You’re welcome, Francis. Really? I thought I have complimented you plenty. Just last week I mentioned your translation being “fairly passable”.
Oh of course, how could I forget! That’s /obvious/ “fairly passable” coming from you is equal to the highest of compliments! My bad for being so ignorant.
It was actually meant to encourage you to do better. I think you’re better than what you present in class, you’re just not trying. It was a … double-layered compliment. Along the lines of “passable but beneath you”. If you’d ever like me to explain myself, say so, please.
You know I have always felt ambiguous about Greek… Latin is what I truly love. I could try, surely, but why waste time on something that is not my passion?
We are not the same, Henry. You live the life of ancient scholars, your heart is with Athens, the language has been injected in your blood. I’m merely a Roman who was sent there to learn Greek in order to get by among the intelligence of our world.
No, we are not the same at all.
I just think sometimes you underestimate yourself, that is all. Aude. Este audax.
I’ll take your words under consideration, thank you.
Enjoy sinning.
I certainly will ;)
This is an amazing conversation.
(If you’re a Dark Academia fanatic who hasn’t read The Picture of Dorian Gray, get on it.)
I can never watch the movie Dorian Gray (2009) because the anger I feel seeing a man with BLACK HAIR who looks like a FUCKING VAMPIRE play Dorian Gray fills me with so much rage I can barely contain myself.
no one paints portraits of their lover’s decaying soul and moral corruption’s physical manifestation to keep their lover themself youthful anymore they don’t do it like they used to
