Summary
and
Analysis
Chapter 15
Summary
Dorian Gray attends a dinner party at Lady Narborough's residence that evening. He appears to be well-dressed and at ease. The gathering is modest, and the guests are dull. Dorian is relieved to learn that Lord Henry will be arriving. When Lord Henry arrives late, he continues on with his usual aphorisms, much to Lady Narborough's pleasure. Dorian, for his part, is unable to eat. He is visibly preoccupied. Lady Narborough repeatedly questions him, and when the men are left alone after dinner for their cigars, Lord Henry probes him. Lord Henry inquires as to where he went the night before, as he departed the gathering early. Dorian says he went home first, then to the club, then corrects himself and says he strolled around till half past two when he returned home and had to ask his servant to let him in.
The two men continue their conversation. Dorian is preparing a party at his country house the following weekend, and they are going through the guest list. Dorian has invited the Duchess and her husband since she amuses him. Lord Henry advises him against her, claiming that she is too intelligent and that women are at their best when they are foolish and weak.
Dorian ultimately concedes that he must depart. He returns home and opens the hiding location where he has hidden Basil Hallward's coat and bag. He sets them on fire and waits until they are totally consumed. Then he sits for a long time, interested, staring at a cabinet. Finally, he stands up and takes a Chinese box from it. When he opens it, he detects a green paste with a distinct aroma within. (opium)
He pauses, a peculiar smirk on his face, and then replaces the box and closes the cabinet. He puts on his clothes and exits the house. He hails a cab and gives the driver the address. The cab driver almost refuses because it is too far away, but Dorian offers him a large tip and they depart for the river.
Notes
Dorian, after all, does not appear to have left his conscience upstairs in the chamber. He is anxious and preoccupied, unable to concentrate on anything other than what has occurred. He tries to have fun during the dinner party, but he is unable to eat. If he went to the dinner party to mitigate potential suspicions, he ended up doing precisely the opposite.
Chapter 16
Summary
It is pouring and freezing as Dorian rides to the city's outskirts. The journey is really long. He keeps hearing Lord Henry's aphorism that one can cure the soul via the senses and the senses through the souls. On the first day he met Lord Henry, he overheard him say that. He's said it many times throughout the years. Tonight, it's all he can think of to calm himself during the lengthy drive. The roads continue to deteriorate. People are chasing the cab, which has to be whipped away by the driver. They finally arrive, and Dorian exits.
He enters a building and walks through several filthy and run-down rooms. He walks through a tavern where a sailor slumps over a table and two prostitutes mock a crazy old man. He feels delighted when he smells opium. When he enters the opium den, he is unpleasantly startled to discover Adrian Darlington. Adrian informs him he no longer has friends and doesn't need friends as long as he has opium. Dorian is determined about not being in the same room as the young man Basil Hallway mentioned the previous night.
He purchases a drink for Adrian and gets disturbed by a prostitute. He tells her not to speak to him and pays her money in exchange for her silence. He tells Adrian to contact him if he ever has any problems, and then he departs. As he walks away, one of the prostitutes calls to him: "There goes the devil’s bargain." Dorian curses her, and she responds, "Prince Charming is what you like to be called, ain’t it?" The sailor who had been sleeping leaps up and chases towards Dorian as she says this.
Outside, Dorian is blaming fate and wishing he hadn't run into Adrian Singleton. He is rushing ahead when he is abruptly seized from behind and pushed up against the wall. A gun is thrust in his face. Dorian yells, and the man orders him to stay silent. Before he dies, the man advises him to make peace with God. He claims to be James Vane, the brother of Sibyl Vane, who committed suicide when Dorian wrecked her life. He intends to leave for India that night and will murder Dorian before doing so. Dorian suddenly sees a way out. He inquiries about the death of James' sister. James informs him that it occurred eighteen years ago. Dorian encourages James to examine his face in the light. James dragged him to a street light and looked at him. He notices a face that is far too youthful to be a young lover eighteen years ago. He lets Dorian go believing it to be a case of mistaken identity.
After Dorian has left, the prostitute emerges from the shadows and tells James that he should have murdered the man. She claims he struck a deal with the devil to keep his youth. She claims that the same man damaged her eighteen years ago and abandoned her to become a prostitute. He is now about forty years old. She swears this to be the truth. He rushes her but sees no trace of Dorian Gray.
Notes
The plot's resolution begins to take shape here, when Dorian meets James Vane, Sibyl Vane's brother. It is the first time the reader is led straight to one of the previously hinted-at locations. The rumour is that Dorian Gray spends his time in the shadiest of areas. Dorian is seen here walking to an opium den. When he arrives, he is greeted with displeasure by Adrian Singleton, the same young man upon whom Basil Hallward had been inquiring.
Basil had learned from Adrian's father that Dorian had broken him and abandoned him to his plight. Only one day after Dorian murdered Basil, he discovers evidence of what Basil claimed. Adrian Singleton is an opium addict who has lost contact with all of his friends. Dorian clearly feels guilty about Adrian since he encourages the younger man to call him if he needs aid and then departs the location to find another.
At first glance, the fateful meeting of Dorian Gray and James Vane appears far too artificial for the narrative. When a prostitute addresses him as Prince Charming, James awakens from his trance and rushes after Dorian, threatening to kill him. However, after James releases Dorian, believing him to be too young to have been his sister's young lover eighteen years previously, the prostitute who gave him the name informs James that Dorian has been coming to the establishment for eighteen years and that he is to blame for her current miserable situation. As a result, Oscar Wilde makes the strange coincidence that James would link Dorian Gray to his sister's Prince Charming seem believable.
