The Picture of Dorian Gray Questions

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray is an example of which literary genre?
A. Modernism
B. Romanticism
C. Post-Modernism
D. Gothic
E. Surrealism

2. The portrait of Dorian Gray represents what literary element?
A. Similie
B. Apostrophe
C. Doppelganger
D. Anachronism
E. Epitaph

3. Preface
The artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art's aim. The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things.
The highest as the lowest form of criticism is a mode of autobiography. Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault.

Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.

The nineteenth century dislike of realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass.

The nineteenth century dislike of romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass. The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium. No artist desires to prove anything. Even things that are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style. No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything. Thought and language are to the artist instruments of an art. Vice and virtue are to the artist materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor's craft is the type. All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril. Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

OSCAR WILDE

What is the author trying to communicate in this preface?
A. That art is above the moral standards of society
B. That art is democratic
C. That society places unfair standards on literature
D. That artists need to respect the society they are in
E. That art is a form of criticisms on society
F. That the author knows how to write something

4. Why did the author become compelled to write this preface?
A. He was accused of writing shallow stories that emphasize flash over substance
B. He was accused of inducing massive orgies whenever someone read his novel
C. He felt his novel wasn't critical of society enough
D. He was accused of heresay and corrupting the youth
E. Critics felt he couldn't write

5. Lord Henry can best be described as a ______?
A. Hedonist
B. Witch-doctor
C. A witch!
D. Protagonist
E. Narrator

5. The theme of The Picture of Dorian Gray can best be described as_______?
A. Never kill the king
B. Treat others the way you want to be treated
C. An attack on aestheticism
D. Art is the greatest form of entertainment
E. Beauty is all that matters