Tpodg - Blog Posts
Pspspspspsspsps Gothic literature fandom pspspspsspss
What if I told y’all he’s my special little meow meow and I love him so much. The poster this is based on is under the cut
if you read and enjoyed dr jekyll & mr hyde (or the glass scientists), frankenstein, dorian gray, etc—odds are you’ll enjoy a much lesser-known but just as good gothic novel called the private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner.
you can look up a much better summary than i can provide, but it’s an amazing early exploration of religious extremism and the indoctrination of young people, the nature of free will, mental psychoses, and human identity. not to mention the author’s commentary on scotland’s national identity.
it utilizes the gothic doppelgänger trope and explores dual identities in a way that is completely different from jekyll & hyde or dorian gray. our irredeemable main character is a wet dying baby bird found in a mouldy cardboard box at the side of the road with delusions of grandeur and religious trauma. he makes victor frankenstein look downright self-aware in comparison. oh yeah and the devil is there too btw
i’m literally just begging someone to read it it actually changed my brain chemistry
(me gil-martining people into reading this book)
I’m never going to introduce my twinky boyfriend to my depresing best friend, because look how that went for Basil???
I think it's beautiful how cute we get when we are lonely. Calling up our bestfriend to talk about just anything before they ask if anything's wrong. Telling them it is, you are intimidated by the changing ways of life because you were finally getting used to the quiet life. Remembering school and your after school ice-cream dates, driving up to that quiet place behind school property where you can see the most beautiful sunset in the city. Writing I miss you and wish you were here to each other. Telling each other, you'll meet soon. Hugging your pillow and falling asleep to the playlist they made you on one of your birthdays. My heart is too fragile for reminiscence. I don't know how to contain all these so I sleep.
okay but what if i tell you i really like watching you read under the sun or in the rain or all curled up in warm duvet in dark winters by the fire or on a train ride back home? what if i tell you i enjoy watching your eyebrows do their little dance when the author throws another plot twist at your face or the way you bite your lips because you really can't wait to know everything about that one character who really is the hero but isn't given enough credit? what if i tell you i see you when you try to hide behind your smile? what if i tell you it's a privilege to love you?
I can't bear the thought of my soul being hideous
--Oscar Wilde, The picture of Dorian Gray
the picture of dory in grey or whatever idk
i was writing to my friend who read tsh recently (i made her) and she brings up an interesting comparison to the picture of dorian gray, and the more i think abt it the more insane i get. bc yeah the corruption arcs between richard and dorian are so similar and the aesthetic worship is there and also their main corrupters are BOTH named henry for fucks sake. i cant believe i never noticed b4, i need to lie down.
rip Dorian Gray u would've loved staring at urself in the little square on facetime
rip basil hallward u would've loved casual by chappel roan
the Picture of Dorian Gray modern au where Basil makes tiktok edits of Dorian
even though there is no explicit sexual abuse in the picture of dorian gray, the themes of manipulation and violation and insertion / imposition of another upon one's sense of self and body in the picture of dorian gray echo the themes of such abuse leading from his childhood (his grandfather who called him vile and hated him as an inherently disgusting, evil creature produced by a marriage he disapproved of) to early adulthood (two older men imposing their own will upon dorian, reducing him to just a figure of his beauty which, when it fades, will make him meaningless) to the corruption of dorian's own view of his body in the portrait. the men in his life insert themselves deeply into his relationship to himself and his body and leave him tainted, believing but also hating their views of him, trying to change his perceived fate of withering away into his 'true nature' of an ugly, vile being, but ultimately he is doomed to become that even if it was not inherently in his nature at all. he's a boy afraid to become something and that fear is reinforced by authority figures throughout his life, leading the fear to take him directly down the path to corruption anyway
Very conscious that across the board Basil is emotionally disconnected and wrapped up in his own head and actively avoids reassessing his ingrained opinions and that this is key to his downfall etc… but I’m really realising the degree to which Basil does not process anything Dorian says?
Exhibit A:
Dorian Gray turned and looked at him. “I believe you would, Basil. You like your art better than your friends. I am no more to you than a green bronze figure. Hardly as much, I dare say.”
The painter stared in amazement. It was so unlike Dorian to speak like that. What had happened? He seemed quite angry. His face was flushed and his cheeks burning.
“Yes,” he continued, “I am less to you than your ivory Hermes or your silver Faun. You will like them always. How long will you like me? Till I have my first wrinkle, I suppose. […]”
Minutes later:
The painter bit his lip and walked over, cup in hand, to the picture. “I shall stay with the real Dorian,” he said, sadly.
“Is it the real Dorian?” cried the original of the portrait, strolling across to him. “Am I really like that?”
“Yes; you are just like that.”
“How wonderful, Basil!”
“At least you are like it in appearance. But it will never alter,” sighed Hallward. “That is something.”
Exhibit B:
“[…] I am changed, but you must always be my friend. Of course, I am very fond of Harry. But I know that you are better than he is. You are not stronger–you are too much afraid of life–but you are better. And how happy we used to be together! Don’t leave me, Basil, and don’t quarrel with me. I am what I am. There is nothing more to be said.“
Minutes later:
“[…] But you mustn’t talk about worship. It is foolish. You and I are friends, Basil, and we must always remain so.“
“You have got Harry,” said the painter sadly.
Addition: I have realised on pasting these back-to-back how much the problem for Dorian with Basil’s self-diminishing shows up here… Because Basil has already designated himself this role of passiveness, unimportance, and lack of value to Dorian’s life relative to his own feelings, he either refuses to or isn’t capable of processing anything contradictory. This then internally absolves him of any responsibility for affecting Dorian’s emotional state, as he doesn’t acknowledge he has the capacity to do so to any significant degree - not to have his words taken on as genuinely hurtful, and simultaneously not to have his presence be genuinely wanted.
I hate Lord Henry Wotton (dozens of pictures of Lord Henry Wotton fly out of my pocket) This isn't what it looks like. These aren't mine I swear (more pictures fly out)
Quick Barry for my fellow brethren of like 5 people
"Agatha said your father was also an artist." "Apparently so."
Bonus Gif:
i feel like a criminal in the picture of dorian gray fandom. no, i don’t like dorian. yes, i prefer basil x henry. oops.