The Picture of Dorian Gray Lesson Plan

In today's reading, Henry comments that "I never quarrel with actions [but] with words." How does Wilde explore the power of words throughout the novel?

Upon first meeting Lord Henry in Chapter 2, and first hearing the man's intoxicatingly sensuous view of the world, Dorian thinks to himself: "Words! Mere words! How terrible they were!...One could not escape from them." It is Henry's conversational acumen that enables him to influence Dorian so profoundly, and it is a book (Henry's gift, which Dorian obsesses over in Chapter 11) that Dorian considers to be primarily responsible for his own corruption.

By placing such emphasis on the power of words, written or spoken,...