PODG #11

"Not 'Forgive us ours' but 'Smite us for our iniquities' should be the prayer of a man to a most just God"(Wilde 226).

Such a God would be useful to Dorian, who desires requires reinforcement to better himself. Oscar Wilde most likely favors negative reinforcement, or else he would not have included this line. Dorian was able to avoid punishment because his portrait bared his sins. Therefor, he only received the pleasures that life had to offer. It is for that reason that negative reinforcement is the only option. I doubt that someone who received rewards and punishments according to their actions would believe negative reinforcement to be the only way to better oneself. The only reason Dorian needs to rely on negative reinforcement in the first place is because all chances of positive reinforcement were removed when he gave his soul to the portrait. When everything is pleasurable, then nothing truly is.

"There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as to heaven"(228).

This belief is interesting, as it differs from beliefs represented in other texts. In The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, the main characters held the belief that sin only need be between man and God. Here we are introduced to the belief of Dorian's society. I wonder why they would believe that God wants them to bear their sins publicly. Who decided on this? Is it just the fact that it makes it more convenient for society to judge that everyone decided sins should be made visible to the world? Perhaps it was the sinners who decided on this while desiring penance. Whatever the case, at no point did Dorian confess his sin to either, making the whole statement a mute point.