PODG7

Oscar Wilde uses vivid imagery of the opium districts, in which Dorian travels, to reflect the grim and dark emotions that Dorian attempts to suppress. The scene is set as,

"A cold rain began to fall, and the blurred street-lamps looked ghastly in the dripping mist. The public-houses were just closing, and dim men and women were clustering in broken groups round their doors. From some of the bars came the sound of horrible laughter. In others, drunkards brawled and screamed" (135).

The dark and dreariness of the street reflects Dorian's complex emotions towards his murder of Basil. Wilde attempts to hide and suppress Dorian's emotions; Dorian acts very casually at Lady Narborough's party, albeit he speaks suspiciously around Henry. Dorian does not directly state the reason for his unhappy feelings. In order to reveal Dorian's true feelings, Wilde projects Dorian's bleak emotions on the weather and the poor district. The scene is described as "cold" and "ghastly", just as Dorian's emotions are chilling and ghostly. Despite his attempts at controlling his emotions, Dorian feels regret for killing his friend. His main goal in traveling to the opium district is "'To cure the soul by means of the senses'" (135). Dorian wants to drown his feelings in artificial happiness and pleasure brought on by opium high. While his emotions are not explicitly stated, one can see the true feelings of Dorian gray projected onto the secne around him.