Literary Devices in The Picture of Dorian Gray

Allusion

"He felt as if he had come to look for Miranda and had been met by Caliban."

(95)

Dramatic Irony

“‘Besides, what on earth could happen to you, Dorian? You have everything in the world that a man can want. There is no one who would not be delighted to change places with you.’”

(215)

Sir Geoffrey’s reassuring words to Dorian’s fears are ironic because the audience is fully aware of Dorian’s cruelty which contributed to Sibyl Vane’s suicide and led him to murder his good friend Basil Hallward. The horrific effect that this evil has on Dorian’s soul and conscience is revealed to the audience through the aging of Dorian’s portrait but is unknown to most characters in the novel including Sir Geoffrey.

Foil

The contrast between Basil Hallward’s sincere care for Dorian and Lord Henry’s ill-motivated friendship with Dorian emphasizes Basil’s kind nature and Lord Henry’s slyness. This is clearly revealed in their differing reactions to news that Dorian has been engaged to a Sibyl Vane, a young actress. Basil expresses his concerns of the quickness of this engagement and the affect it may have on Dorian’s reputation while Lord Henry is merely amused as, to him, Dorian is a “subject made to his hand [that]…seemed to promise rich and fruitful results” (73).

Foreshadowing

“‘Oh, if it were only the other way! If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! Why did you paint it? It will mock me some day – mock me horribly!’”

(43)

Hyperbole

“During the three terrible hours that the play had lasted, he had lived centuries of pain, aeon upon aeon of torture.”

(105)

Litotes

"…my nerves are dreadfully out of order. That is all.”

(26)

Metonymy

“‘Why, man, it's nigh on eighteen years since Prince Charming made me what I am.’”

(203)

Personification

“Gradually the events of the preceding night crept with silent, blood-stained feet into his brain and reconstructed themselves there with terrible distinctness.”

(174)

Paradox

“It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances. The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”

(39)

Simile

“The dim roar of London was like the bourdon note of a distant organ.”

(9)