PODG #2

     As The Picture of Dorian Gray progresses, the reader is introduced to Sibyl Vane. Sibyl Vane is an actress at a local theater, and Dorian Gray falls in love with her. However, Dorian is infatuated with Sibyl’s stage presence rather than Sibyl herself. While conversing with Lord Henry, Dorian explains that Sibyl Cane “has personality also; and you have often told me that it is personalities, not principles, that move the age” (40). Dorian has barely spoken to Sibyl Vane, so Dorian could not possibly have fallen in love with her personality. Dorian knows Sibyl best through the characters she plays, and Dorian’s description of Sibyl to Lord Henry only shows Lord Henry’s increasing influence on Dorian. Dorian takes Lord Henry’s words as the absolute truth, and applies that truth to the way Dorian feels when watching Sibyl perform. Hence, Dorian is not in love with Sibyl Vane, for he is only becoming increasingly influenced by Lord Henry.