The Froshies Get So Close They Start To Unlock Sebek's Lore

One of my Dorian Gray hot takes is that there was absolutely nothing in Dorian and Basil's relationship that was healthy. I keep seeing posts like "Basil's love for Dorian was so pure, that's why the portrait was so pretty and the real villain of the story is Wotton because he corrupted it"

As I see it, yes, Wotton did corrupt him, but saying Basil's feelings for Dorian were pure is simply inaccurate to the story. Basil says himself he merely sees Dorian as an artistic ideal [Dorian Gray is to me simply a motive in art. I find him in the curves of certain lines, in the loveliness and subtleties of certain colours. That is all; ch1] and admitted he (a 10 year older man, who had power over him) tried to isolate him from other people and "keep him to himself". Furthermore, Basil also plays a big role in the way Dorian sees himself and his beauty, by painting him everyday and not maintaining any conversation with him, he's indirectly reaffirming what Wotton tells him: people only care about you because you're pretty and young. There is also this scene from the second chapter:

Dorian Gray turned and looked at him. "I believe you would, Basil. You like your art better than your friends. I am no more to you than a green bronze figure. Hardly as much, I dare say.

The painter stared in amazement. It was so unlike Dorian to speak like that. What had happened? He seemed quite angry. His face was flushed and his cheeksburning.

"Yes," he continued, "I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. I know, now, that when one loses one's good looks, whatever they may be, one loses everything. Your picture has taught me that. Lord Henry Wotton is perfectly right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find that I am growing old, I shall kill myself."

Hallward turned pale and caught his hand. "Dorian! Dorian!" he cried, "don't talk like that. I have never had such a friend as you, and I shall never have suchanother. You are not jealous of material things, are you?-you who are finer than any of them!"

Dorian is even dealing with a suicidal ideation over what Wotton has told him and the way Basil sees him, he needs emotional validation, he's asking to be told there's more than him than that, and Basil's reaction is just─ no. You're prettier than any other object (indirectly comparing him to one, too).

Basil's view of Dorian influences how he sees people as much as Wotton's. For example, to Dorian Sybil was only what she pretended to be, he loved her performance, her acting, how she did exactly what the public wanted (which can apply to Dorian himself), not the real her. She was only an artistic ideal to him, she meant to him exactly what Dorian meant to Basil. He ignored her desires, pain and everything not related to what he wanted to see, since that's what he's been taught he must appreciate.

I also disagree with the interpretation of the portrait as a "pure" reflection of Basil's love (I would personally rather describe it as an obsession, though) and Dorians soul because it's not. At least not entirely. Part of the point of the book is that everyone only saw the part of Dorian they wanted: the portrait represents Basil's idolized version of him, what he wanted to see and how he refused to see Dorian as a person instead of an artistic ideal. That's why he tried to make him redeem himself, because he hated seeing his version of Dorian shatter into pieces. It was never Dorian entirely, not even after aging terribly because that's the result of Basil and Wotton's influence. The portrait was not his real soul, it was a modified version of it other people played with because nobody cared about the whole thing, and the influence was so big those parts became his whole being. It was just an idolized, molded version at first but turned into his real self with the time and the sins. Dorian's soul (the portrait) was constructed upon what others appreciated about him, so when Wotton motivated him to sin, because Dorian's potential to be terrible was what mattered to him, it became ugly and terrible. There was absolutely nothing pure about that portrait since day 1.

Care for a ramble card? Ramble about anything and everything and anything you want for as long as you want

Aha thank you, this is a good excuse for me to talk for no reason /lh I suppose I'll discuss one of my theories about Jekyll and Hyde. One of my main theories is that Dr Jekyll lives at 28 Leicester Square. I'm pretty sure most people have this as a head canon but I'd like to go into a lot more detail about it. So, first of all, John Hunter was a surgeon in the mid-late 1700s and he was known for buying bodies and taking them in through the backdoor of his house so that he could experiment and dissect them. This, obviously, caused an uproar amongst the people of England and the debate ensued about whether it was "for the greater good" because the only way we can learn about the human body so that we can treat people is through an autopsy. Now, how does this relate to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? Well, at the beginning of chapter 5 it was said that Jekyll "had bought the house from the heirs of a celebrated surgeon" Suggesting that perhaps he had brought the house off of Dr Hunter. There is also a similarity not only in house the house is structured, with the main part of the house being separate to the theatre and cabinet to the point where the back door and the front door face completely different streets, but also on the basis that R.L.S also created a short story The Bodysnatcher 1884 (2 years before J&H was published) which suggested that Stevenson already had knowledge of bodysnatching and therefore must have heard about the tale of John Hunter. Thus leading me to believe that whilst it is not a directly spoken element of the story, Jekyll's House was heavily and consciously implied to be John Hunters house. Another reason why I particularly like this idea of this is that Leicester Square is only a ten minute walk from Soho which is where Hyde lives. I like this because Leicester square is shown to be quite a middle class residence (as shown on The Charles Booth 1898 map) whereas Soho was riddled with a mix of people ranging from those living comfortably and those who lived in extreme poverty. This links to the duality of man showing that despite these neighbourhoods being close, there is still such a difference between them. However it also relates to the profiling theory that some criminals like to stick close to their home base, showing that Jekyll chose a house for Hyde in Soho so that he could easily retreat to his own home if something were to go wrong, hence why Hyde has run of Jekyll's house. So to conclude, Stevenson made a conscious decision to have Jekyll's house at 28 Leicester square because it was John Hunter's house who was an unethical doctor too and also because it's close to Soho. :D So sorry this is very long but nonetheless a fun ramble. Thank you

the sheer amount of artistic talent put into these panels to portray the right feeling on clark’s face is amazing

Inktobertale 2023 - Day 18: Soap

I'm incredibly proud of being able to use the prompt as a punchline :D

Ink belongs to @comyet

English added by me :)

my least favourite turn based strategy game is email

Jirai girl goes outside with kangel ita bag

nobody got hurt so im allowed to giggle about this extremely looney tunes looking accident on a part of 64 i used to drive down at least once a week