Essay: Gender identities of literary characters: The Picture of Dorian Gray / The Tell-Tale Heart

Authors and directors use the portrayal of a character’s gender as a device to manipulate the way the audience interprets the character’s actions and motives. The gender identities of literary characters usually conform with distinct archetypes that flow through time and into various cultures. Oscar Wilde’s novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1890), portrays the male characters of Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward and Henry Wotton, and the female character, Sibyl Vane. Tony Maylem explores Dorian Gray as a female in the 1983 film, ‘The Sins of Dorian Gray’. The short story, ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ (1843), by Edgar Allan Poe, takes advantage of a combination of first and second-person perspectives to allow a gender-neutral narrator, enabling a reading from the perspectives of both a male and female narrator. The gender identity of each character heavily alters how an audience interprets their sins, considers their relationships and assesses their innocence and guilt. A character’s gender has a massive impact on the audience’s interpretation of them.
The gender of the protagonist has a massive impact on the way the audience interprets their sins. The sins perpetrated by Dorian Gray are viewed differently based on the portrayal of the character’s gender. During his downfall, he outwardly displays himself to continue to conform to the Victorian male stereotype, being noble and stately. However, his downfall is described as “some strange quickening of inner life. The leprosies of sin were slowly eating the thing away.” Wilde uses the metaphor, “leprosies of sin”, to associate his sinfulness to a disease, eating away at him. This demonstrates that the sins he committed are an uncontrollable dominance of his animalistic, hedonistic impulses over his sense of morality. Wilde uses this to show that Dorian is not in control, using it as justification for his actions. Basil suggests to Dorian, “Pray, Dorian, pray… Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us our sins.” Dorian responds, “Those words mean nothing to me now.” The allusion to the Lord’s Prayer is a metonym of Dorian’s faith. This, therefore, shows Dorian has renounced his faith and has accepted his life of sin. In this interaction, the use of truncated and fractured clauses indicate that Basil is in a frenzied state of mind, allowing the reader to sympathise with him and understand he genuinely cares about Dorian. Basil acts as a foil to Dorian. Dorian is described as speaking “slowly” which shows that he is withdrawn and emotionally unaffected. This makes the reader feel as though Dorian is undeserving of sympathy. Looking at this scene with a female Dorian, as in Maylem’s film, the reader sees the same interaction occur between Henry and Dorian. Dorian uses her femininity to illicit sympathy, after revealing to Henry that she killed his wife, Sofia. This is evinced through her kneeling on the ground, putting herself in a submissive position, with high angles framing her while she is begging for help. Henry is put in an elevated position, framed by low angles to show the power he holds over Dorian. This allows the audience to feel a sense of pity and understanding, rather than hatred, towards a female Dorian. The gender of Dorian Gray has a massive impact on how the audience views the sins perpetrated.
The gender-neutral narrator in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ creates a dichotomy between the readings from the perspective of differently-gendered narrators. The narrator “cuts off the head and the arms and the legs” of the old man, then “deposited all between the scantlings […] so cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye – not even his – could have detected anything wrong”. From a male perspective, the narrator is presenting his sins in a boastful manner. The use of polysyndeton, the repetition of “and”, is used by Poe to show the mental state of the character. It presents the murderer to the reader as methodical, cold and calculated, and lacking an emotional connection to the old man, adhering to a male gender archetype. Taking the protagonist as female, however, the quote is read as a justification to herself that she isn’t crazy. This is shown through the use of repetition and alliteration in “so cleverly, so cunningly.” This is emphasising to the reader the justification that she is giving herself and acts as a persuasive inner-monologue arguing that she is not crazy due to the precautions she took. This idea itself falls into the female-gender stereotype of the careful consideration of actions and placing a high importance on others’ perception of them. Looking at ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ through the lens of different genders greatly influences the audience’s interpretation of their sins. A character’s gender has a massive impact on the way the audience interpret their sins.
The gender of each character has a massive impact on the way the reader considers their relationships. In ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, Wilde explores a relationship between Dorian Gray and Sibyl Vane. The dynamics of this relationship are heavily influenced by the genders of the characters. With a male Dorian, both Dorian and Sibyl conform to stereotypical gender roles. Dorian holds the power while Sibyl is submissive. Wilde demonstrates that, as a woman, Sibyl’s whole life revolves around men. She becomes nothing but an extension of Dorian and dependent on his adoration. James Vane warns Sibyl, “He wants to enslave you.” Sibyl replies saying, “I shudder at the thought of being free.” The use of dialogue reveals Sibyl’s inner thoughts showing how, as a woman, she was expected to marry and be in the possession of a man. When Dorian takes away his love for her, she is left with nothing, and ultimately takes her own life. Dorian says to her, “Without your art, you are nothing. I would have made you famous, splendid, magnificent […] You would have belonged to me. What are you now? A third-rate actress with a pretty face.” This reaction to Sibyl’s diminished acting shows that she is valued only for what she can provide for men. The use of hypophora by Dorian displays to the reader that, while destroying someone’s life, he remains in control and can speak confidently. It also shows that he doesn’t value her enough to wait for an answer. The power possessed by Dorian in this relationship is shown as a result of his gender, juxtaposed against the submissiveness of Sibyl Vane. Analysing the relationship with reversed genders, the power struggle in the relationship is depicted differently. During the interaction between Dorian and Stuart Vane at Dorian’s front door, she says to him, “I thought you were strong. You never make anything happen, you just never will.” She is saying that she didn’t leave him because he has lost his talent, but because he displayed cowardice. During this interaction, Dorian remains inside of her apartment, with the door acting as a physical barrier between them. This barrier acts as a symbol for Dorian’s affection. This demonstrates to the audience that Stuart no longer fits Dorian’s perception of an ideal man, strong and courageous, so she pushes him aside and blocks him out of her life. The interpretations of Dorian’s relationships are heavily dependent on the genders of the characters.
The relationship presented in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is interpreted differently depending on the gender of the narrator. The main relationship presented to the reader is between the narrator and the old man. The narrator describes the old man saying, “Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire.” Reading this from a male interpretation, it leads the reader to believe the old man is his father or a paternal figure. Poe uses short, detached sentences to show the emotional detachment of the narrator from the old man. However, Poe also creates a paradox to show that he felt inclined to love the man. “Passion there was none. I loved the old man” is used to indicate that he only loved the man because there was societal pressure to do so. Whereas, when looking at the relationship from a female standpoint, the reader interprets the relationship with the old man differently. The female is shown as a carer or wife to the older man. The narrator says, “He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult.” The use of anaphora creates an elliptical sentence structure that makes the reader feel uncomfortable. This demonstrates to the reader that the narrator is being deceitful. The use of first-person narration allows for the use of an unreliable narrator. This establishes that the old man had done harm to the narrator, and implies that the old man is domestically violent. Looking at the relationships explored in ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ from different gender perspectives, the reader’s interpretation is heavily influenced. The interpretation of a character’s gender has a massive impact on the way the audience sees their relationships.
In each text, the portrayal of innocence and redemption is heavily dependent on the gender of the protagonist. In ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, the reader initially sees Dorian as an innocent “young man of extraordinary beauty”. Basil describes him saying, “He has stood as Adonis.” The mythical allusion to the Greek god of beauty and desire, Adonis, is used to embed within the reader, even before they meet Dorian, that he is innocent. He possesses a god-like appearance and can do no wrong. However, he rapidly declines into the thralls of hedonism and sin, but remains to outwardly project himself as innocent. He is described saying, “Like the gods of the Greeks, he would be strong, and fleet, and joy¬ous.” Wilde is continuing the mythical allusions to Greek gods to show that his outward perception must remain as an “Adonis” to others maintaining his façade of innocence. He claims to have redeemed himself to Lord Henry when he says, “I spared somebody […] Suddenly, I determined to leave her as flower-like as I had found her.” Henry responds saying, “And [leave her] to weep over a faithless Florizel.” This is a literary allusion to Florizel from Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Winter’s Tale’ (1606-11), who has become the embodiment of faithfulness. Therefore, “faithless Florizel”, becomes an oxymoron saying that his supposed redeeming action is really an act of vanity and hypocrisy. Dorian, however, still thinks, that as a male, not seducing a female is a righteous act. This makes the reader feel as though Dorian is not deserving on the redemption he seeks. The female Dorian also seeks redemption for her sins. She seeks redemption by caring after children in a Christian convent. This is used to show that she is trying to re-establish her faith. It creates a striking contrast from her life as a model to demonstrate that she is actively trying to change her ways. The costume design, an all-white smock, acts as a symbol for purity and redemption. Looking after children is a feminine stereotype that relates a female Dorian to a maternal and caring person, strikingly different from the male Dorian’s attempt at redemption. This shows to the reader that she has changed her lifestyle in order to redeem her past action, and allows them to forgive her, and view her as an innocent party. The gender of Dorian has a massive impact on the audience’s assessment of their guilt and innocence.