Horror QQ #13 - It is only the sacred things that are worth touching

Music: The Spirit of Giving by The New Pornographers

I like Dorian Gray. I think there's something tragic about his life (which is pretty much the case with some book characters anyway), and I feel sad with how his innocence had melted away and replaced with such perversion and...emptiness. I also like Ben Barnes...well, actually, Ben Barnes in the movie version of the book. I hated the Emily character though, and the fact that they changed the ending and added another woman character that wasn't even supposed to be there, especially since I kind of like Sibyl Vane, or at least, what she represents in Dorian's life. Plus, Sibyl was an actress, and the actress who portrayed her in the movie is the same actress who did the Wendy role for Peter Pan, which I absolutely loved.

But I digress.

For the night before Valentines day, I've decided to quote a passage from the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, specifically the conversation between Dorian and Lord Henry (never liked him, both in the novel and film) about Sibyl.

"But an actress! How different an actress is! Harry! Why didn't you tell me that the only thing worth loving is an actress?"

"Because I have loved so many of them, Dorian."

"Oh, yes; horrid people with dyed hair and painted faces."

"Don't run down dyed hair and painted faces. There is an extraordinary charm in them, sometimes," said Lord Henry.

"I wish now I had not told you about Sibyl Vane."

"You could not have helped telling me, Dorian. All through your life you will tell me everything you do."

"Yes, Harry, I believe that is true. I cannot help telling you things. You have a curious influence over me. If I ever did a crime, I would come and confess it to you. You would understand me."

"People like you--the willful sunbeams of life--don't commit crimes, Dorian. But I am much obliged for the compliment, all the same. And now tell me--reach me the matches, like a good boy: thanks--what are your actual relations with Sibyl Vane?"

Dorian leaped to his feet, with flushed cheeks and burning eyes. "Harry, Sibyl Vane is sacred!"

"It is only the sacred things that are worth touching, Dorian," said Lord Henry, with a strange touch of pathos in his voice. "But why should you be annoyed? I suppose she will belong to you some day. When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one's self, and one always ends by deceiving others. That is what the world calls a romance."