CHAPTER 16- THE OPIUM DEN- MOTIF

•SETTING: The streets near the quay

•An opium den

•CHARACTERS: Dorian, Adrian Singleton,

James Vane, two unnamed women
CHAPTER 16- CONTINUATION

•Dorian has an addictive personality & this

chapter confirms his opium addiction-
offers him a temporary escape from reality
and a means of forgetting the awfulness of
his crimes
CHAPTER 16- CONTINUATION

•GOTHIC ELEMENTS
•Street lamps look ghostly
•The moon like a yellow skull
•Clouds mishappen(twisted)
•Clouds hide light (dark forces) etc
CHAPTER 16- CONTINUATION
•Description of the slums of London
•Dorian visits this place for 3 days
•Sordid and degraded
•Has opium dens and brothels- sense of filth
and brokenness, sense of distorted and
nightmarish, addicts hallucinating and
prostitution
CHAPTER 16- CONTINUATION
Adrian Singleton’s role
> Dorian ruined this man’s life- people avoid
him and he has become an outcast addicted
to opium
Adrian symbolises the havoc that DG’s
decadent life has created on other people’s
lives- he cannot stand his sight
CHAPTER 16- CONTINUATION

James vane’s function in this chapter

>physical reminder to DG about the suicide,
murder as well as his fears that he cannot
escape from himself
> He s introduced to show DG’s final
breakdown