6. Lord Henry Wotton – character analysis (Comment on his life, family and backgrounds, his behavior).

Lord Henry Wotton one of the main character in the novel. He’s rank and wealth. He lives in a house on Curzon Street. If we talk about his backgrounds, we know that he was in the shadow of his older brother and engaged in opium. He has aunt Agatha, who knew Dorian Gray and thought he’s very pretty boy; uncle George Farmer, an aristocrat, a Lord, whom the outside world called selfish because it derived no particular benefit from him, but who was considered generous by Society as he fed the people who amused him. He was good-natured and bachelor; wife Victoria, who too tried to look picturesque, but only succeeded in being untidy and she had a perfect mania for going to church. Henry had brothers, but he told : “ I don’t care for brothers. My elder brother won't die, and my younger brothers seem never to do anything else.” By the way, it was Harry, who killed his elder brother. All in all, he “can't help detesting my relations.” What about Henry’s attitude to people, he makes a great difference between people. He chooses his friends for their good looks, his acquaintances for their good characters, and his enemies for their good intellects. He said “have not got one who is a fool.” Surrounding people think that Lord Henry is “extremely dangerous”. Wotton is bossy, selfish and support the idea of hedonism. He has a huge impact on Dorian Gray. He tries to make him as his puppet, he convinces him of the rightness of his thoughts and ideas. He gets pleasure from that it works and he completely doesn’t care about effects of his actions.

7. The Vane Family (Comment on Sybil Vane, her mother and brother, their life, characters, interests, goals and fate)

In a filthy, run-down house on Euston Road lives the Vane family: seventeen-year-old Sybil Vane, her younger brother James Wayne, and their mother, a tormented, withered woman. The mother of Sibylla and James plays in the theater. But she strives to have elements of drama in life. It is noticeable that this woman has known better days. But currently she lives in debt. She rejoices only when she sees Sybil on the stage. She instills in her daughter the idea that she should only think about the theater, since their family still has not paid off the debt. By her behavior, she confirms Lord Henry's postulate that in our time people know the price of everything and they are always trying to get some benefit, but have no idea about the true value. This is not to say that she does not love her children, but money means a lot to her. She only approves of Sibylla's choice when she learns of Dorian Gray's wealth. Sibyl Vane is a talented actress, she plays beautifully in Shakespeare's plays. Sybil depicts girls in love with unusual expressiveness until she herself experienced love. As soon as her passion for Dorian Gray captures her, she becomes an unnatural, bad actress on stage. Sibylla loses the gift of an actress, because, having ceased, as before, to prefer ethereal shadows to real life, she, thanks to love, is drawn to reality. However, she is not only not depressing, but on the contrary, she is pleased with the return to a genuine life. Sybil and Dorian are opposites of each other. She frees herself from theatrical pretense to live artlessly in the real world. Dorian, on the contrary, seeks to exist in the world of art. Sybil cannot survive such a tragedy and commits suicide. Only her brother mourns the death of Sibylla. James Vane, a somewhat clumsy youth with messy dark hair and large arms and legs. There was not a trace of that subtle grace that distinguished his sister in him. It was hard to believe that they were so closely related that he had the most tender feelings for his sister. And unlike his mother, he does not accept the choice of his sister, from the very beginning he understood that Sibylla was in danger. After the death of his sister, he promises himself to avenge the death of Sibylla. He spent several years looking for the killer. However, having reached him, Dorian managed to convince James that he was not the one he needed. The realization that he just almost committed murder horrifies him. But for this attempt to raise a hand to the beautiful, James is punished. His death is another confirmation of the postulate that the one who encroaches on Beauty, regardless of the reasons and thoughts, becomes a victim himself.