Christa Giles

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Lord Henry exclaims, ˝I love acting. It is so much more real
than life.˝ 126
The emphasis on acting and role-playing stems from
this interest in psychology and the concept of the self, the
philosophical adherence to a conscious artificiality, a hatred
of the commonplace, and a desire to replace life with art. In
A rebours Des Esseintes takes a ventriloquist as a lover in
order to have her enact the role of the Sphinx and Chimera.
Baudelaire, in a semi-ironic self portrait in ˝La Fanfarlo˝
(1847), has his protagonist (Samuel Cramer) take as a lover
a dancer who comes to him dressed as Columbine (only
one of her many roles) and, it is underlined, highly rouged.
Dorian Gray falls in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, and
Durtal in Là-bas questions himself as to whether Madame
Chantelouve, his mistress, is ˝after all . . . acting a part – like
myself.˝ 127 It is this penchant for analysis and observation
which is evinced by the dandy Dorian Gray as he reveals to
the painter Basil Hallward the loathsome parody of the
original the painting has become:
The young man was leaning against the
mantelshelf, watching him with that strange
expression that one sees on the faces of those
who are absorbed in a play when some great
artist is acting. There was neither real sorrow
in it nor real joy. There was simply the
passion of the spectator… 128