Friday, February 19, 2010

Fishbowl Number 1

Does Dorian's sudden engagement to Sibyl prove that he is more mature or immature?

13 comments:

  1. Dorian's engagement to Sibyl definitely proves his immaturity. He stumbles across a somewhat grotesque theater and claims to fall in love with the actress on stage. But in some ways, he falls in love with the characters she plays instead of her true character. Dorian shows his immaturity in the fact that after a couple nights of watching a girl on stage, he has declared his love and proposed an engagement. On what foundation will this last?

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  2. I think that this engagement shows the depth of Dorian's immaturity. It does not seem very likely that he has really fallen in love with Sibyl because of the very small amount of time that he has known her, but instead he has become infatuated with the character the he saw her play. He is confused as to who she really is and has not even taken the time to step back and assess his situation. What makes this so immature is the fact that he makes such a rash decision in engagement without even a second thought, I do not see any way that this marriage will be long lasting.

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  3. I think that the sudden engagement to Subyl shows Dorian's immiturity. He fell in love with a girl who is never the same person. Sibyl is always changing characters and Dorian admits that is why he loves her so much. Also when Dorian first goes back stage to meet Sibyl the manager asks if he would like to know her background, and Dorian replies "no." Just the way he acts and talks around Henry shows how immature Dorian is about Sibyl.

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  4. I think that Dorian's sudden engagement to Sibyl actually shows his maturity. Dorian seems like a man who knows what he wants. He realizes that Sibyl is the woman of his dreams from the start of their relationship. It seems that he fell in love at first sight. A more immature man wouldn't have acted so quickly due to silly fears of rejection aand commitment. Dorian is an extremely mature man because he knows what he wants.

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  5. I think that Dorians sudden engagment doesnt necessiarly say anything about his maturity but lets us see a different part of his personality. It seemed as though he didnt care about much at the begining of the book and now he is passionatly and madly in love with someone. I dont know that this love will last because it has no depth besides physical. However for now Dorian has every intention of marrying her and following his heart. Whos to say if its more mature to follow your head or heart?

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  6. I think that Dorian's sudden engagement shows that he is immature. I know that marriages were handled differently in the time period, but I still think that it shows Dorian as a very rash person. He just met Sybil but he hardly knows anything about her. He only knows the characters he sees her play and I don't think he has realized that she is not them.

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  7. The sudden engagment to Sybil proves Dorian to be quite mature. He believes that he can make it work with her. As Adam said, it shows that he knows what he wants. An immature man would never even give the marriage a chance, because he would be so afraid it would fail miserably and that he would most likely be in the wrong. Just because Sybil plays many different characters doesn't mean that Dorian isn't doing the same thing. We have been discussing in class about how people have many different sides to them and I think this situation is a good example of this.

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  8. I think that the engagement with Sybil shows Dorian's immaturity. He is rushing into a relationship, and he doesn't even know her as a person. I feel like Sybil doesn't even know who she is, and I'm not sure that she is even herself with him. He has no idea what he's getting into, and I'm sure he will find out that they are not meant to be and things most likely won't work out. He also seems immature because he just wants to get married, without knowing what all goes into a true marriage. He should have gotten to know her better instead of rushing into this.

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  9. Dorian's sudden engagement portrays his immaturity. He is quick to change his mind as proven to how he so easily molded by Lord Henry's words. This is most adamantly seen in his view of the portrait Basil paints for him. At first he loved the thought of his portrait as he is a handsome, bright young man. After Lord Henry tells him, "There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" (Wilde 25) the idea of the portrait keeping something that he cannot, terrifies him to the core. Dorian thus takes Lord Henry's words to heart and goes about spending his youth doing what his whims tell him to. Being engaged to Sybil seemed to him the perfect idea of what a young man would do. It is tainted by lust and a desire for the youth he now feels is slipping away with every breath he takes. His thoughtless actions are immaturity at their finest.

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  10. I don't understand what this has to do with maturity. Are we saying that he is immature because he is getting married? since when is making a decision immature. I think this engagement shows more about his personality then whether he is mature or not. What this does show is that Dorian is quick to move on to the next thing. I predict they will get married and he will leave her after a few months because that is what I have gotten from Dorians actions and lord henrys teachings (which influence Dorian greatly). He is all about the "next" thing in life and i feel as if this marriage proposal is just apart of his personality.

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  11. This question to me could have two answers. On one hand suddenly engaging somebody shows no clear thought and is a great argument for immaturity. But on the other side, in these times engaging somebody suddenly was not unheard of. Today, if you got a shotgun wedding, it usually does not last. So to me it is hard to say weather it is mature or immature.

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  12. Dorians sudden engagement to Sybil I think does show that he is immature. He doesn't even know her and is claiming to love her. I think he is just over come by her "endless" beauty and her stage apperance. To claim that you love someone with out knowing them is immature...very full of lust.

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  13. I think that Dorian's engagement to Sybil proves that he is very immature. I believe this because he claims to fall in love with an actress he saw on stage at a theater. He is immature because after a few days of seeing this actress, he claims he has fallen in love. I also think he may have loved the character she played rather then that actual human.

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