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Think Dorian was abusive too women?(Possible spoilers)

posted 10 years ago by chantells
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I'm curious: Think Dorian was abusive to women? My guess is, he was. He obviously had very poor impulse control, considering the way he grabbed the guy who simply touched the key around his neck, and the way he stabbed Basil to death. I DEFINITELY think he had struck women at some point.(I'm actually surprised he wasn't shown hitting women at some point.) Especially considering the fact most of the women were prostitutes, and I'm sure most men back then,(and sadly, a lot of men still,) don't regard them as human beings. For example the woman, with long dark hair he was dancing with at the party, I think was a prostitute.Just am not able to help but to think, that even though she laughed and smiled with him, odds are my guess is, he didn't treat her well at all. I noticed when he grabbed the guy for simply touching the key around his neck, she backed off, and didn't say anything. She also didn't mention it after the fact. Also, couldn't help but too wonder if she'd had the very same thing happen to her at some point, and knew better then to say anything about it.I also think she was the woman in the bar 25 years later, who recognized Dorian, and was all messed up. Another thing that makes me think it's a good possibility he didn't treat her well. Think he just saw women as pretty objects to play around with? I think we have seen it in TV's and movies at some point, where a man gets angry with a prostitute for whatever reason, and beats them to death! Maybe not on purpose, but obviously, they didn't have any respect for them, to beat them up so badly. Then they will also just toss them out of the car, room, whatever. Too be honest, I could see Dorian having beaten a prostitute too death at some point, when he was abroad. To me he DEFINITELY had the personality type of an abusive man. (Though I don't think he did, at the beginning or end of the movie.) Also, my guess is that his grandfather while repulsed by him, I'm sure taught him, prostitutes were just whores and weren't human beings to be respected at all. I often wonder how Emily would have felt if she had known all he had done and had treated women? I actually think Emily was a rarity for the time, and would not have put up with a man hitting and abusing her. Think Dorian, although not as naive at the end, once again was the person he was at the beginning of the movie? Just wiser? I noticed when he told Henry at the end he was what Henry made him, and had lived the life Henry preached, but had never dared practice, because he was surprised, Henry didn't say anything at all. Think that was because Henry knew it was true? Maybe it was just me, but it appeared that Henry enjoyed seeing Dorian get more, and more corrupt. I also think Henry was the one area where Dorian stayed naive at, until the end, because he always would say to Henry, "You taught me this, or you always told me that."

[–] Venus-25 9 years ago

It has to be abusive to have sex with a mother and a daughter on the same occasion. In this case more abusive to the daughter who would have heard everything from where she was hiding under the bed.

In general I think Dorian took what he could get and did what he could get away with.

Prostitutes -- who are still regarded as being barely human -- are regarded as disposable and activity with them presented no social risk in those days. It wasn't like seducing the daughter of a peer or a someone higher up the social ladder than oneself. However, that is devoid of emotion and the sex has no meaning beyond an orgasm.

Making love to a woman whom one is in love with is exponentially better, but this is the experience that Dorian denies himself without realizing he is missing something transcendental until he makes his cryptic confession to Emily in this film. He has divorced himself from any deep emotion, which is the thing that etches lines on the faces of normal people.

The Fabio Principle: Puffy shirts look best on men who look even better without them.

[–] chantells 9 years ago

Thanks for the response. I agree, what Dorian did with Celia Radley and Lady Radley was DEFINITELY abusive. I guess I met more traditional thoughts on abuse. I definitely he had struck women, and maybe even without meaning to, could have beaten prostitutes to death. I to believe he had divorced himself from any deep emotion as well.