Dorian Gray: Chap 7

Definitions-
1) Sordid- ignoble or base; vile
"[...] if she can create some sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly" (Wilde 86).

2) callousness- devoid of feeling or passion; halfheartedness
"He remembered with what callousness he had watched her" (95).

Quote: "I knew nothing but the shadows, and I thought them real. You came-oh, my beautiful love!-and freed my soul from prison. You thought me what reality really is" (90).

Explanation- Sibyl may have given the poorest performance of her acting career but she is happy as can be. No longer will she be all these characters and pretend their realities to be her own. Instead of everything being her reality, Dorian is now her one and only reality. She will never act as she once did because the words she utters seem fake and hollow. They do not give her meaning as they once did. Her Prince Charming has freed her from the redundancy of stage life into the warm embrace of love.

Quote: "I don't wish to be unkind, but I can't see you again. You have disappointed me" (92).

Explanation- Dorian was not in love with Sibyl, he was in love with all the characters she played. He was in love with the genius and pure beauty of her acting; he loved her art. Dorian loved how passionate she was about her character, but when she acted so horrible. He lost all interest. She was no longer Juliet or Rosalind; she was just plain Sibyl. She no longer had the same enthusiasm as she once had. She played her role as Sibyl and not like Juliet, because of this Sibyl had killed Dorian's love. All she was now, was some third rate actress who "had been shallow and unworthy" (95) of his love. This is different then the way we experience love because we seem to love the person and not the action; for Dorian it seems to be the other way around.