(b) is the correct
answer.
Lord Henry tells Dorian
Gray,
"There
is no such thing as a good influence, Mr. Gray. All influence is immoral--immoral from
the scienfific point of
view.""Why?"
"Because to
influence a person is to give him one's soul. he does not think his natural thoughts, or
burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not new to him. His sins, if there are
such things as sins, are
borrowed.
Lord Henry Wotten
is amoral and cynical in his attitudes and expresses no sympathy after the death of
Sibyl Vane or the disappearance of Basil. He sometimes expresses a desire to be young
again when one can get rid of temptations by yielding to them; however, he also
disguises his real intention with a witticism:
"To get back my youth, I would do anything in the
world except take exercise, get up early, and be
respectable."
The reader
wonders how much of what Lord Henry says is his or if he is merely a mouthpiece for his
author, Oscar Wilde, who himself was filled with witticisms and cynical
observations.
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