The Picture of Dorian Gray #8

At the end of the book, Dorian has finally begun to see his evil nature.  When he walks with Lord Henry, and he tells Dorian more and more of his epigrams as he usually does.  However, Dorian reacts differently in this scene than he ever has before.  He does not accept them as fact, and he becomes skeptical of Lord Henry’s central philosophy.  When Lord Henry mocks the romantic relationship Dorian has with a country girl for example, Dorian reacts with a paragraph-long monologue, telling Lord Henry, “I can’t bear this, Harry! You mock at everything, and then suggest the most serious tragedies” (155).  Dorian has finally learned to think critically and objectively, to question Lord Henry’s convincing epigrams, and to stand up for himself.  Later, as Dorian observes two men gossiping about him, he reflects that “He was tired of hearing his name now” after recalling “how pleased he used to be when he was pointed out, or stared at, or talked about” (161).  Dorian sees now what other people think of him, and he has come to realize that he is not the man he would like to be.  He has become cruel and vane, and the people who used to adore him have noticed and have begun to hate him and gossip about him.  Dorian is disappointed in himself, and he realizes in the final chapters of the novel that he must distance himself from Lord Henry and reform his ways.