Sibyl Vanes death is inevitable. In light of this comment, explore how power is presented in the novel.

The balance of power in The Picture of Dorian Gray is very clear from the beginning, the upper-class such as Lord Henry, Dorian Gray and even Basil Howard seemed to hold power in their hands, all born with a silver spoon in their mouth, therefore its to be expected that the lower class seemed to have no or little power at all. When Dorian meets Sybil Vane an actress from the lower-class of the East End and they both embark on their impulsive romance, it stands to reason that the clash between the two classes and Dorians volatile and impulsive nature was going to create problems. And so Sybil Vanes death was no great surprise to the readers. However others may argue that Dorian really did seem to love Sybil she is everything to me in life and Sybil had simply overreacted to Dorian's harsh words. Oscar Wilde had in some sense foreshadowed that the unstable romance of Dorian and Sybil was going to be short-lived; he did this through highlighting the two lovers different background. The first four chapters of the book are set in the homes of the upper-class gentlemen and ladies, with chapter four being in Lord Henrys study, the description of the room cream-coloured frieze and of raised plasterwork...silk longfringed Persian rugs shows the luxuriousness and wealth of Lord Henry, this is deliberately contrasted to chapter five which was set in Sibyl Vanes home shrill intrusive light...dingy sitting room. The contrast of the words cream and silk to the word shrill shows just how far apart Dorian and Sybil are in terms of wealth and power. It is therefore stand to reason that Dorian and Sybil would have never worked out because societys expectations of them were far too wide, Dorian was meant to marry an heiress or a young dbut whose father was a lord while Sybil was meant to marry someone who will provide for her but not someone who is above her station. Even if Dorian hadnt taken back his love and Sybil hadnt killed herself, society would have never allowed them to wed just because they had the discernment that the two classes were meant to stay separate. This inevitable doom of the romance between upper-class and lower-class is also shown in the relationship in Dorian's parents and Sybils parents. Dorian's mother Lady Margaret Devereux an heiress married a penniless fellow a subaltern in a foot regiment, he was so beneath them in the eyes of the upper-class that his name wasnt worth remembering so their romance like Dorian and Sybils was short lived too, with Dorian's father ending up dying. Similarly Sybils mothers romance too was doomed to fail, as the gentleman she was besotted with left her penniless and

carrying a child. It seems that it was therefore unavoidable that Dorian and Sybils relationship should fail with great tragedy. Looking closely at their parents doomed romance, it is always the lower class that ends up in a bad situation it is for that reason it is no surprise that it is Sybil and not Dorian who was most affected by the end of their relationship. It is not only because of the difference in class that Sybils death was inevitable but also because of how Dorian talks about her, you could tell that for Dorian Sybil is just a passing fancy, a new experience and that their romance wasnt going to last long at all. When Dorian describes Sybil flower-like face... eyes that were violet wells of passion...she was the loveliest thing I had ever seen, he only describes h er beauty and acting, it is therefore clear that Dorian's so called love was only superficial, he only loved Sybil because she was beautiful, already he had been influenced by Lord Henry to believe that beauty is the only thing worth living for. Henrys power over Dorian has already began to show, for not only did Dorian love Sybil because of her beauty but also because she was an actress therefore he could experience being with different women because by being with Sybil, he could experience loving all the characters she plays, one evening she is Rosalind, and the next evening she is Imogen Sybil herself is quiet a weak character, she is portrayed as very fragile and depended on other people around her. It was therefore inevitable that faced with Dorian's harsh words, she would kill herself. Oscar Wilde had based Dorian's and Sybils characters around the myth Narcissus, Dorian being Narcissus and Sybil Echo. Like Narcissus Dorian too was obsessed with his own beauty and poor Sybil, like Echo was always a reminder4 and echo for Dorian of her love and his guilt. And like in Narcissus their ending is tragic though in Narcissus it is him and not Echo that dies but in The Picture of Dorian Gray, they both die. In conclusion it is ironic that Dorian first met Sybil when she was playing Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and like the play their romance was ill-fated too. Sybil Vanes death is therefore inevitable as their love burned too bright and faded too quickly, Wilde foreshadows her inevitable death from showing the ill match of upper-class and lower-class with Dorian and Sybils parents and also through the characters themselves, Sybil is overpowered and burned up by the power of Dorian and his impulsive love.