The Picture of Dorian Gray: Chapter 3 Preview

Forbearance for truth

Follow

5 min read

·

1 hour ago

Listen

Share

In this third chapter we are introduced to the concept of parentage, and like my other notes, I will attempt to situate it in the context of the Victorian era and the themes explored in this book. The Victorian era was a time of many breakthroughs, not just socially but scientifically. One such discovery was the idea of genetics and pedigree. Gregor Mendel, a farmer and monasteries monk, developed the concept of pedigrees.This is a visual representation of the familial relationships that lead to inherited traits (alleles). Mendel’s overall contribution to the scientific community was the understanding that genes could be dominant or recessive, that they were largely independent of each other (i.e one specific strait was often not dependent on another), that characteristics were largely not on a gradient (e.g. the grey gene colour not being a mix between black and white genes and instead its own, separate colour) and so on.

As stated previously, many progressive causes and discoveries were followed up by significant social backlash in the later years of the Victorian era. In this case I would describe it as more abuse and manipulation than backlash. These concepts were abused, in a way, because they…