The Picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Chapters 1-6

Preface

There is no such thing as moral or immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.

All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril.

It is the spectator, not the life, that art really mirrors.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. Art is quite useless.

1 Match the words with their definitions

1. easel	a) a short pointed knife that is used as a weapon
2. infatuation	b) a mild oath or expression of surprise
3. window-pane	c) a wooden frame to hold a picture while it is being painted
4. dagger	d) sth that people are interested in only a short period of time
5. full-length	e) the act of making people aware of sth that has been secret
6. fad	f) a piece of glass in a window
7. revelation	g) very strong feeling of love or attraction for smb, especially when these are unreasonable and do not last long
8. egad	h) extending to or showing the complete length

2 Make word combinations

to pluck	of pure gold
subtle	presence
visible	a daisy
vacant	of annoyance / jealousy
pang	seat
nugget	influence

3 Synonyms/antonyms

to mirror	to lift
to elevate	serious/sincere
exquisite	to reflect
earnest	strong/ sharp/elegant
deception	boring
tedious	sincerity

4 Fill in the prepositions

1. It's silly ___ you, for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked ___, and that is not being talked ____.

2. I know you will laugh ___ me.

3. A bishop keeps __ saying at the age of eighty what he was told to say when he was a boy __ eighteen.

4. It seems to be the one thing that can make modern life mysterious or marvellous __ us.

5. After a pause, Lord Henry pulled ____ his watch.

6. I insist __ your answering a question I put to you some time ago.

7. "I'm all expectation," continued his companion, glancing __ him.

8. According ____ your category I must be merely an acquaintance.

9. I thought you would never care ___ anything but your art.

10. He began to smoke a cigarette with a self-conscious and satisfied air, as if he had summed ____ the world in a phrase.

11. Just turn your head a little more ____ the right, Dorian.

12. He put his hand ___ his shoulder.

13. It is only shallow people who do not judge ____ appearances.

14. Hallward stepped back and looked at his work ____ a distance.

15. Reality entered the room in the shape ____ a servant.

16. He was always late ____ principle.

17. When one is ____ love, one always begins by deceiving one's self and one always ends ___ deceiving others.

18. One could never pay too high a price ___ any sensation.

19. Mr. Isaacs has been very good ___ us.

20. Sibyl, you are mad ____ him.

21. He replied, touching the thin stem ___- his glass with his pale, fine-pointed fingers.

5 Explain/translate:

1. vain/in vain

2. conscience

3. to be hard on someone

4. to flatter

5. to be bound to do sth

6. blush

7. worship

8. to send a wire

9. chap

10. cosmopolitan

11. to hiss

6 Discussion

· Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not the sitter

· You like everyone; that is to say, you are indifferent to everyone

· There is no such thing as a good influence. All influence is immoral-immoral from the scientific point of view. A person becomes an echo of someone else's music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him.

· The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.

· Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing

· Men marry because they are tired; women, because they are curious; both are disappointed

· Experience is merely a name people give to their mistakes

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