Dorian Gray Foreshadowing Quotes

Your rank and wealth, Harry; my brains, such as they are – my art, whatever it may be worth; Dorian Gray’s good looks – we shall all suffer for what the gods have given us, suffer terribly.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 1. Basil tells Lord Henry that it is better not to be different than one’s fellows. He warns that Lord Henry, Basil and Dorian will suffer for the gifts the gods have given them – position and wealth, art, and good looks. There is a great deal of foreshadowing here of tragic consequences to come.

A curious sensation of terror came over me. I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, Chapter 1. Dorian Gray has a huge influence on Basil Hallward’s entire being. The painter describes his reaction to seeing Dorian for the first time at a party thrown by Lady Brandon. The "terror" he experiences and his sudden fascination and obsession with Dorian is foreshadowing of the dangerous relationship he will develop with the young man, which will end badly for both.

As a rule, he is charming to me, and we sit in the studio and talk of a thousand things. Now and then, however, he is horribly thoughtless, and seems to take a real delight in giving me pain. Then I feel, Harry, that I have given away my whole soul to some one who treats it as if it were a flower to put in his coat, a bit of decoration to charm his vanity, an ornament for a summer’s day.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 1. Artist Basil is describing his friend and sitter Dorian to Lord Henry. Neither Henry nor the readers have met Dorian yet. But this passage refers to signs of a vanity and thoughlessness in Dorian, foreshadowing his later cruelty and embrace of evil.

Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 2. Lord Henry is speaking to Dorian on sensorial experiences – this belief lies at the heart of Henry’s new hedonism. Just before this quote we read: "Lord Henry went out to the garden and found Dorian Gray burying his face in the great cool lilac-blossoms, feverishly drinking in their perfume as if it had been wine." Here Dorian is shown burying his head in lilac blossoms, drinking in their fragrance, suggesting that he is still someting of an innocent. But Henry sees this as a challenge to be overcome. The line about curing the soul with the senses foreshadows that Dorian will because of Henry’s influence abandon his innocence and embark on a life of sensual pleasure and vice with abandon.

How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June…If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that – for that – I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 2. Be careful what you wish for! Dorian’s life is forever changed when he wishes to remain always young and handsome like his portrait. Basil’s piece of art has captured Dorian’s remarkable beauty and he is astonished by the picture. Dorian grows immediately jealous of his portrait, because it will not grow old, as he will. In a climactic moment and fearing for his mortality, he wishes for the picture to grow old instead. He says that he would give his soul for eternal youth and so makes a Faustian bargain – Faust sold his soul to the devil in return for worldly knowledge and pleasure! This foreshadows that Dorian will lose his soul.

"I am jealous of everything whose beauty does not die. I am jealous of the portrait you have painted of me. Why should it keep what I must lose? Every moment that passes takes something from me and gives something to it. 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!" The hot tears welled into his eyes; he tore his hand away and, flinging himself on the divan, he buried his face in the cushions, as though he was praying.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 2. The portrait of Dorian is a constant reminder to him of the fleeting nature of his youth and good looks and the inevitability of growing old. So Dorian is upset every time he looks at the picture because it is a reminder that this will happen. His joy at first seeing the painting is now replaced by anger and jealousy. This shows his ever-growing vanity. When Dorian says that the portrait will mock him horribly some day, this is foreshadowing his ultimate downfall and death.

With a stifled sob the lad leaped from the couch, and, rushing over to Hallward, tore the knife out of his hand, and flung it to the end of the studio. "Don’t, Basil, don’t!" he cried. "It would be murder!"

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 2. Dorian runs to stop Basil from cutting up his portrait with a knife, pleading that it would be murder. When Basil reaches for the palette-knife to destroy the painted canvass of Dorian this is foreshadowing of when Dorian will murder Basil by stabbing him with a knife in the final chapter.

Yes, the lad was premature. He was gathering his harvest while it was yet spring. The pulse and passion of youth were in him, but he was becoming self-conscious. It was delightful to watch him. With his beautiful face, and his beautiful soul, he was a thing to wonder at. It was no matter how it all ended, or was destined to end. He was like one of those gracious figures in a pageant or a play, whose joys seem to be remote from one, but whose sorrows stir one’s sense of beauty, and whose wounds are like red roses.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 4. After Dorian leaves his home, Lord Henry reflects on how fascinating a psychological study Dorian has become for him, even with his sudden love affair with Sibyl. Henry pays close attention to the young man’s striking physical beauty, which some believe hints at male worship and a subtext of homosexual attraction. But for Henry, Dorian is more of a scientific experiment in his ongoing manipulation to mold the boy into his own image. He finds it amusing to compare Dorian to a piece of art, a figure in a pageant or play, as the master manipulator feeds him his lines. Selfishly Henry confesses that he doesn’t really care about how it all ends, including the "sorrows" and wounds "like red roses" it will bring. This foreshadows that the toxic relationship with Lord Henry will bring about his protege’s destruction. The passage uses both metaphor and simile in its description of Dorian ("gathering his harvest while it was yet spring" and "wounds are like red roses").

His sudden mad love for Sibyl Vane was a psychological phenomenon of no small interest. There was no doubt that curiosity had much to do with it, curiosity and the desire for new experiences; yet it was not a simple but rather a very complex passion. What there was in it of the purely sensuous instinct of boyhood had been transformed by the workings of the imagination, changed into something that seemed to the lad himself to be remote from sense, and was for that very reason all the more dangerous.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 4. Dorian has become an interesting study for Lord Henry, especially now that he has fallen in love. In this passage Henry thinks to himself about the young man’s sudden passion for the actress Sybyl Vane. Not a believer in longterm love himself, Henry puts Dorian’s love down to curiosity for life and for new experiences. He describes Dorian’s crazy passion for Sibyl as a complex and no simple matter, but also "dangerous," foreshadowing the tragic events to follow in the novel.

Thin-lipped Wisdom spoke at her from the worn chair, hinted at prudence, quoted from that book of cowardice whose author apes the name of common sense. She did not listen. She was free in her prison of passion. Her prince, Prince Charming, was with her. She had called on Memory to remake him. She had sent her soul to search for him, and it had brought him back. His kiss burned again upon her mouth. Her eyelids were warm with his breath.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 5. Mrs. Vane has learned that her daughter Sibyl has fallen lock, stock and barrel for Dorian Gray. With her "thin-lipped wisdom" she advises Sibyl that she mustn’t think of anything but her acting. But Sibyl does not listen. Wilde describes Sibyl’s "prison of passion" in which she believes that she is free to be alongside her "Prince Charming." Sibyl as a damsel in distress swooning with the happiness of love and needing a Prince hero to rescue her (from her acting life) is one of the classic elements of Gothic fiction. The prison metaphor is also foreshadowing that the love affair will bring her disaster.

As sure as there is God in heaven, if he ever does you any wrong, I shall kill him.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 5. James Vane, who is jealous of Dorian Gray and has a deep hatred of him for coming between him and his sister Sibyl, believes that her "Prince Charming" will break her heart. This is foreshadowing of how Dorian will indeed cast Sibyl aside, resulting in her suicide, after which James spends years tracking Dorian with the intention of avenging his sister’s by killing her lover. James has a very strong moral code, which dictates that he protects a loved one even at the expense of breaking the law.

Yet she was curiously listless. She showed no sign of joy when her eyes rested on Romeo. The few words she had to speak…with the brief dialogue that follows, were spoken in a thoroughly artificial manner. The voice was exquisite, but from that point of view of tone it was absolutely false.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Sibyl plays Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, to which Dorian has invited Henry and Basil. Dorian observes how poorly she performs her art, her performance is artificial and listless. Sibyl’s depiction of the tragic heroine in the classic tragedy about two star-crossed lovers is foreshadowing of the disaster that will strike her own love relationship with Dorian.

"I must sow poppies in my garden," sighed Dorian.
"There is no necessity," rejoined his companion. "Life has always poppies in her hands."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 8. When Dorian says this he doesn’t mean he is literally going to sow poppies in his garden. This is a metaphor meaning that he is going to mourn the death of Sibyl Vane, poppies being a symbol of remembrance and the garden signifying life. Lord Henry tells him that there is no need to mourn, that life will continue to produce occasions of mourning – this is foreshadowing of further deaths to come.

"Dorian, this is horrible! Something has changed you completely. You look exactly the same wonderful boy who, day after day, used to come down to my studio to sit for his picture. But you were simple, natural, and affectionate then. You were the most unspoiled creature in the whole world. Now, I don’t know what has come over you. You talk as if you had no heart, no pity in you. It is all Harry’s influence. I see that."
The lad flushed up and, going to the window, looked out for a few moments on the green, flickering, sun-lashed garden. "I owe a great deal to Harry, Basil," he said at last, "more than I owe to you. You only taught me to be vain."
"Well, I am punished for that, Dorian – or shall be some day."

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. Basil notices that Dorian has changed from the simple and unspoiled young man who used to come to sit in his studio for his picture. He blames Dorian’s transition to someone who speaks without heart or pity on the bad influence of Lord Henry. Dorian replies that Basil has taught him to be vain. To which Basil ominously says that he will be punished for that some day. This foreshadows that Dorian will later kill his friend when a horrified Basil sees in the portrait the depravity of soul that has overtaken the once innocent and beautiful Dorian.

One day, a fatal day I sometimes think, I determined to paint a wonderful portrait of you as you actually are, not in the costume of dead ages, but in your own dress and in your own time.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. Basil tells Dorian that when working on his painting he tried to portray Dorian in various historical settings, such as Paris and Adonis. But then one "fatal day" he decided to paint Dorian as he appeared in his own dress in the present day. The use of the word "fatal" is foreshadowing of the deaths to come, caused by Basil’s creation of the portrait and the narcassism it represents in Dorian – in Chapter 1 when Lord Henry first sees the painting he exclaims: "Why, my dear Basil, he is a Narcissus."

How much that strange confession explained to him! The painter’s absurd fits of jealousy, his wild devotion, his extravagant panegyrics, his curious reticences – he understood them all now, and he felt sorry. There seemed to him to be something tragic in a friendship so coloured by romance.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 9. After Basil’s "strange confession" of love for him, it is clear that Dorian doesn’t not have the same romantic feelings for Basil. When he speaks of it being tragic for romance to intrude on friendship, this could be seen to be foreshadowing of how Basil will meet a tragic end at the hands of the man who idolizes.

An exclamation of horror broke from the painter’s lips as he saw in the dim light the hideous face on the canvas grinning at him. There was something in its expression that filled him with disgust and loathing…he felt as if his blood had changed in a moment from fire to sluggish ice.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 13. When Dorian flings the cover off the portrait hidden in the attic, Basil lets out a cry of horror at the sight of the hideous face of Dorian on the canvass. The painting has changed, reflecting Dorian’s corrupted soul. Basil’s imminent murder at the hands of a morally destitute Dorian – as reflected by the portrait – is also foreshadowed when Basil’s blood changes "from fire to sluggish ice."

He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold. The suspense became unbearable. Time seemed to him to be crawling with feet of lead, while he by monstrous winds was being swept towards the jagged edge of some black cleft of precipice. He knew what was waiting for him there; saw it, indeed, and, shuddering, crushed with dank hands his burning lids as though he would have robbed the very brain of sight and driven the eyeballs back into their cave…Then, suddenly, time stopped for him. Yes: that blind, slow-breathing thing crawled no more, and horrible thoughts, time being dead, raced nimbly on in front, and dragged a hideous future from its grave, and showed it to him.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 14. In this classic piece of Gothic writing, Dorian’s sense of terror and horror are vividly brought to life as he waits for scientist Alan Campbell to come to dispose of Basil’s body. Dorian’s conscience troubles him greatly over Basil’s killing. He has a vision of a most terrible future being dragged out of its grave and being shown to him. This foreshadows the death of Dorian.

The moon hung low in the sky like a yellow skull. From time to time a huge misshapen cloud stretched a long arm across and hid it. The gas-lamps grew fewer, and the streets more narrow and gloomy.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 16. A simile linking the moon with death and the description of the dramatic sky creates an ominous atmosphere as Dorian heads for the opium dens. The comparison of the moon to a skull is foreshadowing of the attempt on Dorian’s life by James Vane in revenge for his sister Sibyl’s suicide. The passage has an air of Gothic foreboding that is found throughout the novel.

The way seemed interminable, and the streets like the black web of some sprawling spider. The monotony became unbearable, and as the mist thickened, he felt afraid.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 16. The Gothic atmosphere of the novel is very evident in the night description of the gloomy streets of London’s East End as Dorian journeys to the opium den. The sense of unease is emphasized by the use of a vivid simile comparing the streets to the dark web of a "sprawling spider." As the mist thickens, Dorian feels afraid – foreshadowing the danger he will soon face when James Vane sets out to kill him.

Upstairs, in his own room, Dorian Gray was lying on a sofa, with terror in every tingling fiber of his body. Life had suddenly become too hideous a burden for him to bear. The dreadful death of the unlucky beater, shot in the thicket like a wild animal, had seemed to him to prefigure death for himself also.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 18. Dorian fears that death is coming for him. So he becomes more and more anxious and terrified over every little thing. He feels the death of the man in a shooting accident – James Vane, thought Dorian doesn’t know this yet – is foreshadowing of his own death.

It was a lovely night, so warm that he threw his coat over his arm and did not even put his silk scarf round his throat. As he strolled home, smoking his cigarette, two young men in evening dress passed him.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 20. The opening lines of the final chapter describes the loveliness and warmth of the night as Dorian walked home. This is a perfect example of ironic foreshadowing, as what happens inside Dorian’s mension will be anything but lovely and warm.
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