Characteristics of Lord Henry Wotton
Lord Henry Wotton is a person who gives too much attention to what he is wearing. A person who is rich by inheritance and does not need to work to earn a
living “I thought you dandies never got up till two, and were not visible till five”p. 36, he does not need to wake up early in the morning to work, and does
anything that he wants to spend his time He does not believe that people should live by moral standard, according
to society’s rule. He does not believe in God. He always breaks the social convention in viewing things. He wants to live according to his own rule. He does
not believe in love. To him being in love is equal to deceiving yourself. “When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving oneself, and always ends by
deceiving others” p.58. Lord Henry’s cynical words to Dorian stating his point of view about the society shows this.
The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion. These are two things that govern us. And yet-
p.22.
He is a very insensitive and mean person. He shows no consideration to Dorian’s grief on the death of his love, Sibyl Vane, who commits suicide. Lord
Henry’s terrible deed is shown through his words to Dorian after Sibyl’s death, ‘But, don’t waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real than they are’ p.
15. Lord Henry is someone who does not have love in his heart. Although he
has a wife, it is just a mere decoration to him, and the fact that he has a wife does not erase his true attitude in underestimating women as persons, “Never marry at
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all, Dorian. Men marry because they are tired and women, because they are curious; both are disappointed” p.53. He is considered as unfaithful; seen from
his reactions and speech, according to him “faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of intellect-simply a confession of failure” p. 55.
He never regards loyalty as something important. To him it is a disgrace, a failure. Due to his words and mannerism toward women, it is concluded that he regards
women as secondary creature. It can be seen from the way of how he always degrades women. No wonder his wife finally leaves him.
My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent
the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals p. 53.
Lord Henry Wotton is a manipulative person. He influences people with his ideology. He sees the world differently from others. He is a rebellious man. He
is self-involved, seen from the way he tries to influence Dorian in which he finally succeeds. He puts everything he has in his head into Dorian’s mind. He considers
Dorian as a living work of art. Being different from Basil who paints on canvas, Lord Henry paints his picture in Dorian’s soul, “Because to influence a person is
to give him one’s own soul p.22. It is also shown through Dorian Gray’s response toward Lord Henry’s words. Dorian is so easily trapped in Lord Henry’s
ideology of life. Lord Henry knows exactly what to say to influence people, especially Dorian.
With a subtle smile Lord Henry watched him Dorian Gray. He knew the precise psychological moment to say nothing. He was amazed at the
sudden impression that his word had produced p. 24.
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Not only that Lord Henry is manipulative, he also influences Dorian with his terrible words. He says many bad things to others. His words describing things
in the world seem so awful and horrible. “Yes Harry [Lord Henry Wotton], I know what you are going to say. Something dreadful about marriage. Don’t say it.
Don’t ever say things of that kind to me again” p. 108 Lord Henry thinks people nowadays do not have any courage, the courage
to face the world, to face themselves. He thinks that people are afraid of themselves because they try to deny their real passions and desires in life. He
considers that people suffer because they refuse what they really want that is to do sins, to fulfill their desires. For Lord Henry gaining pleasure is the main goal to
achieve in life. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your
soul grows sick with longing for things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful p.
23.
Lord Henry Wotton is not only a person who seeks purely pleasure but he is also asocial. His point of view of sharing trifles with others in life shows how
deeply ignorant he is about others. He is somewhat indifferent by nature. To him life should only be abundance of joy and satisfaction.
One should sympathize with the color, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life’s sores the better p. 45.
For Lord Henry, being above all men in England and making the old men jealous is important, one of his goals of life. He does not regard sentimental
feeling such as Basil who thinks that his piece of art is far more important than being famous because he has put too much of himself into it. It is shown through
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his reaction to Basil’s refusal in exhibiting his portrait, “It is silly of you [Basil] for there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is
not being talked about”p.7 Though Lord Henry is a perfect example of the living pleasure principle,
there is indeed a struggle in his mind between the two contradictory principles. He says that he does not believe either in social convention or in God. He says
amoral, asocial and lawless things, but in fact he is married to a woman which means he follows the social construction despite his unfaithfulness.