The Picture of Dorian Gray Activity: Scavenger Hunt: Researching Dorian Gray's Historical Context

One of the reasons The Picture of Dorian Gray can be difficult for us to read is because it assumes we know a lot about the social and historical background of the novel. To really get this book, we have to understand the history of England in the late 1800s. But history can sometimes be a little boring to read. To make it more interesting, you'll get to lead the rest of your class on a scavenger hunt for historical factoids that can help us understand the novel a little bit more. 

Step 1: In class, work with a group to research the historical contexts of the novel. You'll be assigned a website to read, then you'll devise some questions based on the information you find on the website, and come up with a master key that has the answers to those questions. Here's what you'll need to do:

Each student in your group must contribute one question to the group scavenger hunt. 
The question must ask the scavenger hunter to answer these three parts:Find the historical fact the question asks for. 
Why is the historical fact relevant to the novel? 
Find a textual example from the novel that proves the relevance of the fact.
Questions should be written down on the worksheet provided in class. Answers should also be written down on a separate worksheet. (Your group will be given two copies of the worksheet: one for the questions; one for the answer key.)

Step 2: After creating your scavenger hunt, you and your group will rotate to another group's station, read that group's website, and then answer that group's questions.

Step 3: You'll keep rotating through each station until you've returned back to your station. 

Step 4: At the end, prepare to discuss or write about what you've learned.

BBC History on Victorian England

Reading Wilde

Victorian Web:  Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde--Standing Ovations