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The Picture of Dorian Gray 149
losing himself and disclosing the contents of his soul, Henry notes the
danger influence poses to Dorian, who risks losing his ability to make
his own moral decisions by submitting to the personality of others. In
both cases, boundaries between self and “other” are crossed, defiling
the sanctity of the self-contained soul. Thus, the powerful effect Basil
and Henry have on Dorian’s development and, conversely, Dorian’s
power to influence the art and soul of Basil, are both taboo transgressions
that threaten our sanctified notions of individuality.
Dorian’s pristine beauty and peculiarly “unconscious” innocence
are irresistible to both painter and philosopher. In the second chapter,
we are told that his beauty is such that it reminds the spectator of
the beginning of things, of an innocent, prelapsarian “candor of
youth” as well as “all youth’s passionate purity . . . unspotted from the
world” (Wilde 197). Both of his admirers are drawn to this state of
“blankness,” which makes Dorian the perfect receptor to all influence
as well as profoundly vulnerable: his personality is not strong
enough to counter the influence Henry will bring to bear on him. The
chapter where these two characters meet makes the outcome of their
encounter clear. In what is clearly a scene of covert seduction, Henry
Wotton gets the upper hand over Basil in their struggle to court the
affections of Dorian, who is clearly drawn in by the amoral and hedonistic
philosophy Henry espouses. Unlike Basil, Henry is fascinated by
how easily he is able to cross boundaries of the self and sway Dorian
with his ideas. In the following passage Henry revels in the God-like
re-creation of Dorian that his influence can bring about:
There was something terribly enthralling in the exercise of
influence. No other activity was like it. To project one’s soul
into some gracious form, and let it tarry there for a moment; to
hear one’s own intellectual views echoed back to one with all the
added music of passion and youth; to convey one’s temperament
into another as though it were a subtle fluid or a strange
perfume: there was a real joy in that (Wilde: 1891 34).
Henry savors his projection of self onto Dorian’s pristine, “unspotted”
psyche, and the reader senses erotic undertones in the passage. Just as
Dorian plays the part of a destructive tempter in his relationship with
Basil, Henry threatens the integrity of Dorian’s soul, seducing him
with his pleasure-seeking philosophy of life. 2 Henry’s education of