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Chapter 17

Characters:
Dorian
Lord Henry
Lady Narborough

Summary

A week has passed and Dorian is hosting a dinner party at his estate in Shelby Royal. Lord Henry, Lady Narborough, the Duchess of Monmouth and her husband have attended. The house is full of twelve people for the party. Lord Henry, Dorian, and the Duchess of Monmouth begin to discuss the topic of beauty. Lord Henry says he believes it is better for a person to be beautiful than to be good. But he does acknowledge the fact that it would be better to be good than an ugly person. The Duchess quips than Lord Henry must consider ugliness one of the seven deadly sins. Lord Henry explains he considers ugliness “one of the seven deadly virtues.”

Soon the Duchess tires of the way Lord Henry views beauty and changes the subject to the topic of love. Lord Henry thinks a person can only really love once in his life and simply seek to reproduce that once encounter it different aspects of their lives. The Duchess asks Dorian what he thinks. Dorian doesn’t really answer, he just says he agrees with everything Henry says. The Duchess asks Dorian how he feels about philosophy, does it make him happy. Dorian answers he doesn’t care about happiness, he searches for only pleasure. The Duchess asks if he’s found out. Dorian answers, “Often. Too often.”

Questions:

1. What do you think of Lord Henry’s statement that ugliness is “one of the seven deadly virtues?”

2. Do you think Dorian is right in only searching for pleasure? Do you think pleasure can exists without happiness or are they intertwined?

Read the complete summary and join the discussion here.