Question

Read the excerpt from The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and answer the question that follows.

As the door closed, Dorian put the key in his pocket and looked round the room. His eye fell on a large, purple satin c
seventeenth-century Venetian work that his grandfather had found in a convent near Bologna. Yes, that would serve
for the dead. Now it was to hide something that had a corruption of its own, worse than the corruption of death itself-
What the worm was to the corpse, his sins would be to the painted image on the canvas. They would mar its be
shameful. And yet the thing would still live on. It would be always alive.
He shuddered, and for a moment he regretted that he had not told Basil the true reason why he had wished to hide the
Henry's influence, and the still more poisonous influences that came from his own temperament.
How does the use of figurative language develop or enhance the speaker's tone?

Answer 1

Figurative language in literature enhances the tone by conveying emotions and depth, as seen in Oscar Wilde's descriptions which create a somber tone.

Step-by-step explanation:

The use of figurative language in literary works helps to enhance the tone by giving depth and conveying emotions in a way that literal language cannot. For instance, in The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the comparison of Dorian's sins to a corruptive force worse than death itself paints a vivid picture of internal decay and moral degradation. The image of sins marring the painted image on the canvas as worms do to a corpse develops a somber and reflective tone. Similarly, descriptions of settings in other texts use sensory details and metaphors to communicate feelings of disillusionment, antipathy, and detachment, creating an atmospheric tone that engages the reader.

Answer 2

Answer: --A: The metaphor illustrates the speaker's shame over his wrongdoing.

Step-by-step explanation:

A is the correct answer because in this metaphor the worms of a corpse (which are lingering burdens) is being directly compared to a painting and the speaker's burdens attached to their own art.
(also i took the quiz, and A was the correct answer)