Dorian Gray: Chap 3

"It posed the lad, made him more perfect as it were. Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic" (Wilde 39).

Explanation: Lord Henry has just finished talking with his uncle, Lord Fermor, about Dorian Gray's past. After that he begins to go over the story in his head. Learning that Dorian's mother risked everything she had to fall in love with a commoner. Then that her father chose to hire someone to murder Dorian's father. It started out as a beautiful story but had a tragic end. Now that Lord Henry found out about this, he believes that anything that started with beauty will end with regret. Just like Dorian Gray's beauty will soon be lost and have a tragic end; "What a pity it was that such beauty was destined to fade! (39).

"To get back one's youth one has merely to repeat one's follies" (44).

Explanation: Lord Henry is trying to explain a theory with this quote to the Duchess of Harley. That to feel young again you must relive all the mistakes you have made and relive all those dangerous situations. When you are young you may make the most mistakes of your life. By going through those experiences once more you believe that you are young once more. When you grow older you grow wiser and thinking about mistakes will prove that you may not be wise. And in a sense you may not be old.

Definitions:

1) Iridescent- adj. displaying a play of lustrous colors like those of the rainbow.
"let it escape and recaptured it; made it iridescent with fancy, and winged it with paradox.

2) Supercilious- adj. haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
"'I am told, on excellent authority, that her father keeps an American dry-goods store,' said Sir Thomas Burdon, looking supercilious" (41).