# Introduction n "Oscar Wilde as a Temporal Designer: A Case Study of The Picture of Dorian Gray", Behin and Khiabani investigated the temporal structure of Wilde's only novel. The results indicated a sophisticated underlying temporal design in the narrativity of the work. Conducting a similar procedure, the present study aims at investigating the spatial structure of this novel. In the recent narrative analysis, spatiality has gained a very significant status for narratologists due to the awareness of its grave role in a narrative structure. This study aims at applying the most influential theories on spatiality, proposed by Mark Johnson, and Hilary Dannenberg on this novel. The paper attempts to identify the implications of spatial narrativity on this work. Discovering the novel from such spatial perspective heavily reveals the existence of a spatial structure in the narrative that constructs its abstract level, and indicates numerous spatial components that do not come into sight on the surface level. Mark Johnson's The Body in the Mind is basically an attempt to prove what has been regarded as the separation of 'mind' and 'body', and 'imagination' and 'reasoning' as completely different concepts is no more than allusion. As an oppositionist to such a separation resulting from an "objectivist viewpoint", Johnson maintains that human body is not simply a machine to transfer perceptions to the mind for analysis, but rather it is an existent in a complicated interaction with other bodies. This attaches a much higher position to 'body' as an existent 'space'. Mark Johnson and later Mark Turner indicated that human experience "is structured metaphorically in terms of the bodily experience of space" (Dannenberg 65). Johnson writes human mind in its very abstraction needs a kind of imaginary, or what he calls "metaphorical map" for its analysis and reasoning; this implies a mental need for 'a metaphorical space' achieved through the spatial experience man gains through his body. According to Johnson, human inevitably experiences innumerable spatial maps in the physical life, experiencing paths from "your bed to the bathroom, from the stove to the kitchen, from your house to the grocery?" (113). In addition, there also exist so many other paths, which do not belong to this physical world, but merely inhabit in our imagination, "such as the path from Earth to the nearest star outside our solar system" (113). Or, one may talk about a metaphorical path, for example, a path indicating a traverse from a point A in time to a point B in time, in which "a linear spatialization of time" (114) helps the mind grasp the abstract nature of temporality by associating it with the concreteness of space. Creating a mental image of such abstract notions like 'time', Johnson believes, indicates the role embodiment plays in man's mental conception, and the inevitable interrelation of 'body' as a space and 'mind' which necessitates imaginary or metaphorical spatialization of notions in order for making them comprehensible and assessable for mind. Regarding the new approaches, the study of space in literary works can be categorized into two major branches: # The representation of space in narrative texts This refers to the employment of space, representing itself in the narrative as setting that dynamically changes itself in order to correspond to the events taking place within it. # The spatialization of abstract notions Space stands as a concrete entity whose comprehension stands much feasible for human mind than abstract notions like death, life, love, and time. According to Johnson and Turner, human mind gets aid from concrete notions, such as space, for its analysis of these abstract ideas. Death might be spatialized by undertaking the body, life by physical activities, and love by flowers. Among other important spatializations, stands the case of time and temporality. Time as an abstract concept stands highly allusive for human mind to comprehend, especially in case of reading in which the reader needs to experience it not through direct perception but within the channel of a fictional experience that is indirect. In such indirect fictional experiences, the apprehension of time, its passage and significance turns out to be complicated and unfathomable. In such cases, "human mind often resorts to the more concrete parameters of space to grasp it" (Dannenberg 65). For instance, in visual narratives, the green trees may represent the passage of time from one season to another by gradually getting pale and bare in which they, as existent bodies, function as concrete spaces for the conceptualization of time and its passage. Space and spatialization, referred to as metaphorical maps or "image schemata", have been classified by Johnson, and were later adopted and completed by Hillary Dannenberg in her book # Coincidence and Counterfactuality. She believes what Johnson provides is a basis for "a cognitive exploration of fictional space" (75). She identifies six image schemata taken from Johnson's "orientational feats" (Johnson 30) "performed by the human body in the normal real-world spatial environment [that] are of particular relevance for the exploration of the simulation of space" (Dannenberg 75) in narrative texts. These schemata are introduced by her as containmentboundedness (in-out), paths (from-to) and links, centerperiphery (inner-outer), verticality (up-down), horizontality, and portal or window. Teresa Bridgeman in her chapter entitled "Time and Space", in a selective method, refers to Mark Johnson and Hillary Dannenberg's 'three dimensionality of narrative space' namely path, container, and portal, as the most important and central spatial concepts in which 'path' and 'container' are taken from Johnson, and 'portal' is a concept additionally proposed by Dannenberg. In the present paper, I will also exclusively work on these three spatial image schemata, since they construct the most essential (and common) part of the spatial plotting of narratives. I will also employ fork metaphor and its grave application in the narrative. These four selected spatial notions might be defined as: Path: already briefly discussed above, paths might be physical (i.e. from London to Dublin), nonphysical or imaginary (i.e. from a lover's heart to the beloved's heart), or temporal (i.e. from today to tomorrow). Every path always contains three similar parts: "1. a source, or starting point; 2. A goal, or endpoint; 3. A sequence of contiguous locations connecting the source with the goal." (Johnson 113). Container: "[T]his schema is used to evoke surfaces as walls containing or enveloping further areas of space and their contents" (Dannenberg,75). Houses, cities, countries, and specifically "movements in and out of rooms, clothes, [and] vehicles" (Johnson 21) all are containers that refer to bounded spaces which separate one from other containers. Each container inevitably implies certain features and characteristics imposing certain circumstances on the character who is bounded within it. Consequently, each container not only writes specific qualifications on a character, but also it hinders the enforcement of different traits offered by other containers. It should be reminded that containers, as paths can, might refer to a physical boundary or a nonphysical one. A cell a prisoner inhabits in refers to a physical container, while a person who fights for the sake of a personal belief is bounded in his faith as a nonphysical container imposing its specific conditions and demands on the believer. Human body is also considered as a 'container' from which one hears, listens, and evaluates the out world. portal maybe a doorway through which characters can enter or exit a room, or it may be a window through which characters can observe or be observed by others in adjacent spaces. In novels of the fantastic, portals between different worlds, such as mirrors, take on particular significance as privileged sites of power (55-6). Fork Metaphor: Fork metaphors are employed in either diverging roads of physicality or non-physicality. Characters who stand in doubt on the crossings of paths leading to different geographical places, two different countries, cities, or even houses are in fact experiencing a fork metaphor forcing them to opt one of the paths leaving the other behind; some other fork metaphors may propose non-physical or abstract diverging paths. According to Dannenberg, an abstract fork metaphor is "sometimes used to describe two different stages of a decision-making process"(71). Employing this spatial technique in narratives creates suspense for the readers, and more importantly testifies the characters' mentality and nature by letting them decide on which path they are apt to take, when free will is there. Besides the new perspectives of space, the importance of place and space from its traditional definition still stands undeniable. Looking at narratives from such classical angle can still be a revealing instrument in the analysis of narrative texts. Amy Watkin in How to Write about Oscar Wilde writes in every chapter of this novel, one enters or exits one room, and these frequent movements, rooms and their probable significance are a good case of study for researchers who are interested in this narrative text (129-30). For this reason, I would start the spatial analysis of the novel by traditional considerations of space as part of the setting. The novel opens with a delicate space/place description of the studio, in which the characters are introduced to the reader. Setting the initial chapters of the novel in summer, as the most favorite season for Londoners regarding its more sunshine and less rain, must have had a strong effect on the Londoners just starting to read the novel. "The rich odour of roses", "the heavy scent of the lilac", the more "delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn", "the gleam of the honey-sweet and honey-coloured blossoms of a laburnum", whose "tremulous branches seemed hardly able to bear the burden of a beauty so flamelike as theirs", and "the fantastic shadows of birds in flight" (CW 169) take the reader's imagination to the fascinating virginal beauty of nature where every single creature stands for transcendence. The fantastic natural vision enforces the reader to expect an incredible upcoming. The fantasy, the luxurious curtains, and Persian saddle bags, hand in hand create a fabulous and elevated space for the readers. Still busy with the visualizations of this spatial greatness, readers are introduced to the characters staged one by one in a manner as significant as the surrounding already presented to them. In all chapters, these spatial elements function differently, but all aim at one common destination: conveying issues that are not pointed at directly by the narrator. For instance, we hardly come across descriptions or elaborations on characters' social class or financial strength; but surprisingly, we all find them socially high and financially remarkable. This certainty results from a spatial visualization that gives us the sense of high rank Lord Henry Wotton, Basil Hallward, and Dorian have. In contrast, Sibyl Vane appears a poor and lower class character from the very beginning of her presence, since she is firstly presented in an isolated, dark, and "absurd little theatre" (CW 211). The reader's interpretation simply generates from spatializations that provide a basis for the characters presented in them. Space descriptions continue their same role in the rest of the novel prior to every incident presented to the reader. When Dorian meets Sibyl, firstly a gloomy space is represented; when he meets Basil at the night of the murder, a foggy description of London is given first; when Dorian trying to get rid of the portrait stabs himself, a calm night is described prior to it. Another significant issue in the analysis of space in this novel is the remarkable number of rooms in which characters frequently meet and dine. The word 'room' has approximately been repeated a hundred times, and has frequently been compounded to make places like 'morning room', 'dining room', 'school room', 'dressing room', 'music room', 'play room' and 'drawing room'. This wide range of specialized rooms partially indicates the aristocratic nature of the characters who inhabit in them. The diversity, as discussed above, adds to the height of social class, and consequently implies a high estimation of the three major characters of the novel. But surprisingly, as the narrative goes by, and as the readers gradually make a nearly high estimation of these characters, they may notice one odd matter; the rooms are frequently malfunctioning. For example, in chapter XII when Dorian is to meet Lord Henry Wotton for dinner, Lord Henry is waiting for him in a "morning room", while it is about nine o'clock at night (CW 265). In chapter VIII, Dorian gets up in the morning and passes to the library for breakfast (CW 248). The usual room for Dorian to rest is library; his meetings and eating usually take place there. No hint is given of Dorian reading a book in that room except for the yellow book with its various copies wrapped in different colors. As already noted, readers never find Lord Henry Wotton or Dorian reading in their libraries, for an instance, and these rooms remain in their malfunctioning manner rooms for other purposes. Recognizing this in the upcoming chapters of the novel gives an impression different from the initial appreciation of these characters not only for their specified rooms, but also for the existence of libraries in their houses that create an elevated and educated image of the characters who have already graduated from Oxford. All these spaces and the spatial descriptions which are always there in the novel before any incident is to come up shows that spatial setting is an inseparable element in the construction of the novel. According to current notions of space, one of its employments in a narrative relates to making abstract notions understandable and comprehensive for the reader; this is what theorists refer to as 'concretization', 'spatialization', or ' spatial visualizations'. The Picture of Dorian Gray has largely benefited from this 'spatial property' in its plotting. The novel revolves around a centrality of a wish coming true, in which after unveiling Basil's portrait, Dorian wishes that the portrait would bear the burden of time while he himself remained as young as the portrait everlastingly. Surprisingly, his wish comes true, and the portrait not only writes the passage of time on itself, but also it bears the burden of sinful and dreadful deeds of him. His wish coming true, the readers are confronted with an eternally young man for whom time stands motionless, but the point is that its passage stands contradictorily inclusive to all characters, the readers, and Dorian's conscience (soul). In this regard, the portrait acts as a space employed for the indication of temporality that acts in a double-fold manner: dynamicity in its fixity, or fixity in dynamicity. Both Dorian and the portrait stand as two spaces (regarding their physical spaces) and their unnatural temporal capacities of fixity and dynamicity, respectively stand as sources of spatialization of time and its twofolded capacity. Such spatialization creates the opportunity to help the reader grasp the unnatural incident of an abstract transference of the passage of time from man (as being condemned to it) to an object (with an unchangeable nature) through concretization of its abstract nature by the spatialization of time in both Dorian and the portrait as symbols of temporal fixity and temporal dynamicity, respectively. So, the portrait turns out to be a spatialization of time, which reminds the readers of its passing nature, despite its motionlessness for Dorian. Moreover, the portrait stands as the spatialization of "conscience" that plays a great role as a confronting source against Dorian and his cruel and guilty ambitions. Roswitha Mueller refers to this portrait as "visualizing the moral turpitude of Dorian in the form of an ever increasing ugliness" (176). Dorian enjoys an eternal youth, the fascinating theories of Lord Henry Wotton, the excitement of copying the hero of the yellow book and even Londoners' appreciation despite his disfavored acts and manners. Dorian's life simply suffers from one important thing: his conscience; So conscience stands as a crucial antagonist in the novel. It is the only force against Dorian that never leaves him alone and gets aware of his deeds even prior to him. For instance, after his argument with Sibyl, which resulted in her bitter suicide, the portrait starts its hideous changes before Dorian hears of this incident. The portrait repeatedly warns him, and gradually turns into a deeply serious threat for him; after any cruel act of him, the only thing Dorian thinks about is the probable changes in the portrait. This means what threats Dorian, or in other words the only thing Dorian finds threatening is an abstract entity, whose function, importance, and revealing nature cannot be estimated in its abstraction. The spatialization of Dorian's conscience in the portrait provides a concrete, understandable, and evaluative entity for the reader. Here, the application of spatialization of abstracts helps both the author and the reader to convey and comprehend, respectively, such an abstract notion by having it spatialized in the portrait as a concrete space. Shifting to path as another spatial category, the characters of the novel stand as the most convenient samples of spatialization. Basil and Lord Henry stand as two metaphorical paths, which invite Dorian towards the destinations each one has in store for him. Meeting Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wotton provides Dorian with two dissimilar paths which gradually prove to be contradictory and symbolizing the roads to salvation and corruption, respectively. When Dorian meets Basil and gets closer to him, the readers perceive a pure young man whose innocence highlights his personality. During Dorian's short period of intimacy with Basil, Dorian is no more than an immature getting-to-know beautiful boy. Later, this closeness and intimacy turns from Basil to Lord Henry, and alongside this change of path from Basil to Lord Henry, Dorian starts experiencing newer affairs and practicing new theories proposed by him. Stepping on Henry's path unlocks a new gate to a new world of sensation, pleasure, and hedonism 1 Fork metaphor also stands completely influential in the plotting of the narrative, through which many of the events of the novel have the capacity for analysis. When Dorian meets Basil and consequently Lord Henry who is an Oxford friend of Basil, the roots of a fork situation starts cultivation and grows more complicated when we learn that Dorian is no more than an immature imitating pupil standing in dilemma between two tutors: Basil at one side and Lord Henry at the other. The first visit of Lord Henry and Dorian stands as the origin of the fork situation. In the studio, while Lord Henry wishes to stay and chat with newly-met Dorian, Basil insistently wishes him go and not to dictate his "bad influence" on Dorian. In that situation, Dorian stands trapped between Basil's recommendations on Lord Henry's poisonous talks, and the charming lectures of a man who has no doubt been interested in him at first sight as the point of fork metaphor for Dorian. Dorian, fascinated in Lord Henry and regularly warned by Basil Hallward, repeatedly experiences the great divide of Basil's fashion and that of Lord Henry who moving further posit much more differences of ideologies and manners. Although in practice Dorian proves a graver taste in following Lord Henry rather than Basil, he can never come up with a final decision of abandoning one of them for the sake of the other. In the . This path not only opens new layers of life for Dorian, but also unveils additional aspects of his personality to the reader. The interesting point is that Dorian can never make up his mind between these two paths. Basil always invites him to a moral life; Lord Henry to a life style he himself has never lived but has always theorized about. Applying fork metaphor provides a more comprehensive method to elaborate on these two paths broadly regarding the fluctuations Dorian shows between Lord Henry and Basil who are spatially regarded as paths in the present study. course of the novel, Dorian repeatedly finds himself on the division of the two paths of Basil and Lord Henry, which later veritably stand as the path of the heaven and the hell, respectively. Following his argument with Sibyl after her 'bad act', Dorian returns home and identifies the first changes in the portrait. Contemplating on the issue, once more he stands in a fork situation: Lord Henry who knows women and believes he should not trouble himself for Sibyl who "was nothing to him now" (CW 245); on the other hand, immediately realizing the change in the portrait, he decides to get rid of Lord Henry's poisonous theories and return to Basil in whom he believes as the path to goodness and salvation. He realizes that "he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more (CW 246).While it seems he makes up his mind for choosing between the two paths of "temptation" and "goodness", the moment he meets Lord He nry once more invites him to the path of pleasure and experience. He simply forgets Sibyl's suicide as a wonderful play, and to the reader's shock steps on the path Lord Henry invites to by his fascinating lecture. Basil's murder, as a loving, caring, and moralseeker character, is also a case of study in this regard. From the very beginning of the novel, Basil proves a true nature with a father-like caring attitude towards Dorian. Frequently he tries to keep him away from Henry's poisonous theories, and when he hears of the rumors in London about Dorian and that his friendship "is so fatal to young men" (CW 293). Growing with anger and as a reply to all these questions, Dorian unveils the secret of the painting to Basil, and to the reader's surprise, stabs him with a knife. After Basil's murder in chapter XIV, Gillespie (2007) writes, "Dorian articulates arrange of responses [?] with different-and, in some cases, conflicting-ethical precepts [?]. His initial reaction to the recollections of the murder shows a mixture of anger, self-pity, and revulsion over the circumstances" (389). Gillespie continues Dorian shows no regrets, and later remembering what Basil has done to him which resulted in his murder brings passion back to him. The two divergent feelings of "self-pity" and "passion" which Dorian feels after the murder, once more, indicate two divergent paths of ethics and anti-ethics, as the fork metaphor having its depth and breadth all over the novel. As another example, in chapter XIX, Dorian tells Lord Henry that he is not going to continue his pleasureseeking acts anymore, and that he has started his "good actions" the day before. Lord Henry, surprised at this statement asks him where he was yesterday, and Dorian replies "In the country, Harry. I was staying at a little inn by myself." (CW 346). By asking this question, Lord Henry tries to convey to Dorian that his goodness in the country was simply because of the location (container) he was in, and that Dorian should not mistakenly attribute it to himself and becoming good. Then, Lord Henry theorizes on the two places of "town" and "country", as two containers which engage in two completely different basis of demands. He believes, what "the town" demands is being civilized, no matter by which one of its two ways: being "cultured" or "corrupted", while, the country does not have such demands, so countryside people remain pure and unsinning since their container does not demand being civilized or its necessities, as the town does. By this theorization, Lord Henry attempts to dissuade Dorian from the goodness he tries to achieve. But Dorian insists on the goodness which has started the day before, and looking from a spatial point of view, this means that he has experienced a change of path from 'Henrian sensation' to 'Basilian goodness'. He decides to examine the portrait with the presupposition that his attempts for being good must have brought positive changes in the portrait. Dreaming about the possible positive altering of the portrait, he decides to be good in order to have the portrait return to its initial form. To his shock, "he could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite." (CW 355). He recognizes that his goodness might not be more than a new experience of playing the role of a good man that is simply in line with his shocking thirst in playing variety of roles; realizing this, he urges to return to the path of Henry Wotton forever. All these examples stand among so many other pieces of evidence which indicate the fluctuations Dorian repeatedly experiences between following either Basil or Lord Henry. As the last example shows, even in the last moments of his life when he decides to be good and bring the portrait to its previous state, he suddenly changes his mind and remembering that all his deeds including the murders would never be unfolded to the public decides to get rid of the portrait as the only evidence. This sudden return from the path of goodness to Henry's poisonous path at the moment of this fork metaphor ends in his death. In the course of the story, Dorian receives three presents from his friends: the portrait, the yellow book and the mirror that are also explainable within spatialiaty. After his argument with Sibyl, Dorian realized the magic nature of the portrait that acts as his conscience. This implies that the portrait works as a portal, which takes Dorian away from the veiled world to a metaphysical one where he can see the consequences of his deeds. Through his portrait, Dorian is magically given a chance to travel to the metaphysicality of his existence, his choices, his deeds, and their consequences transfigured and presented to him through the portrait as a portal. The second portal to Dorian's life is a mirror given to him by Lord Henry Wotton that is normally used as a reflector of one's appearance, particularly the face. Beauty stands among the central concerns of Lord Henry. He must be the only character in the novel who invites Dorian to get the most out of his youth and beauty, which turns out to be Dorian's single purpose for the rest of his life. In fact, in his process of becoming, Dorian benefits from every bit of joy by means of his youth, beauty, and seemingly eternal energy. Keeping these in mind, this mirror signifies the blessings bestowed upon Dorian, and each time he looks at it, he is taken to a world that is completely in contrast with the world Basil's portrait opens to. The mirror acts in the role of a window which opens to a world of hedonistic beauties, beautiful experiences of the most joyful senses which are available to him by the very hand of the beauty and youth that are reminded to him each time he looks at the mirror. Metaphorically, this means that Dorian has the opportunity of having two portals opening the window to the consequences of his deeds in both physical and metaphysical sense. Referring to the portrait and the mirror, Christopher Craft believes that they provide Dorian with two reflections in which "can Dorian's enjoyment counterpose images of his enduring beauty against those of his emerging ugliness. Only thus can Dorian perpetuate the fascination that comes to anchor his body and disperse his character" (109). The portrait proves how dreadful his deeds are in their metaphysically embodied sense; the mirror proves him that no guilt can alter the innocence and youth lying on his face. As the third key portal, Lord Henry Wotton, also sends Dorian a yellow book, which absorbs Dorian as, "the strangest book he had ever read" (CW 274). Reading this novel, Dorian gets immediately absorbed in it. "Things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him" (CW 274). Through the book, Dorian gets familiar with a world of senses, exquisite and fantasized. For years, Dorian remains under the control of the book, and never tries to free himself from it. Purchasing different copies of the first edition, wrapping them in different colors allowing him the chance of variety, he finds the hero a Dorian Gray, and, "indeed, the whole book seemed to him to contain the story of his own life, written before he had lived it" (CW 274). The yellow book not only works as a portal teaching Dorian the possibilities he had never thought of, but also it makes him eager in his path to new sensations by reminding him the eternal youth he has been bestowed upon. The eternal youth Dorian feels assured of through the yellow book's portality gives him a greater joy in watching his consequences of his deeds configured to him in both the mirror and the portrait as two portals revealing his outer beauty and inner flagrance. In chapter XI, we read that often after long absences in search of feeding his mysterious pleasure-seeking nature, he crept upstairs to examine the changes on the portrait, and he heightened his joy by turning repeatedly to the mirror and the portrait, which were unbelievably distinct from one another. All of these adventures, joys, and ways to get fresh senses are to great extent presented to Dorian through the yellow book as a portal, which opens to the world of the life of a fictional hero who has an inviting adventurous life. Dorian as the innocent and immature youth of the beginning of the novel gradually grows into an immoral creature whose principle is merely to experience the inexperienced. He extremely changes in the course of the novel, and this change is initially triggered by Lord Henry. In an earlier section, Lord Henry was analyzed as a path, whose dangerous road always remains inviting for Dorian. It has also been discussed in both sections on path and fork metaphor that Dorian can never come to a resolution regarding his fluctuations between what is moral and what is immoral. This means that any time Dorian gets distance from Lord Henry, he gets one step closer to morality. For example, in Sibyl's death, knowing the fault he has in her suicide, Dorian decides to get free from Henry and never approach him again. Nevertheless, as soon as they meet, Dorian returns to the same immorality proposed by his fascinating lectures. Now, it can possibly be so that spatially Lord Henry is a container; any time Dorian is put in this container his philosophy changes. As soon as he visits Lord Henry, he believes that he has had no role in Sibyl's death whose suicide was the reminder of a fine tragedy in which he had participated but fortunately was not hurt by. Unlike Lord Henry, Basil cannot be considered as a container; although both Basil and Henry were, figuratively speaking, paths for Dorian, Basil loses his influence on him to a great extent. He remains a path for him, but he cannot be considered as a container in which Dorian becomes someone else. He simply remains a path, a second choice for Dorian that is almost never chosen, due to the highlighted presence of Lord Henry Wotton not only as a path but also as a container in which Dorian becomes a weaponless practitioner. This indicates an unequal power portioned between these two sources of good and evil that explains why Lord Henry obtains an authoritative position for Dorian. He, as a container, completely encircles Dorian's mentality, attitudes, and desires. Surrounded by this container no space is left for Basil as a path to salvation. Besides Lord Henry, there is also another important container which never takes its influence away from Dorian. In chapter XIX, visiting Lord Henry, Dorian mentions, "No, Harry, I have done too many dreadful things in my life. I am not going to do any more. I began my good actions yesterday.""Where were you yesterday?""In the country, Harry. I was staying at a little inn by myself.""My dear boy," said Lord Henry, smiling, "anybody can be good in the country. There are no temptations there. That is the reason why people who live out of town are so absolutely uncivilized (CW 346). The extract shows how significant the role of space can be on man's manners and even on his goodness or evilness. The two spaces of "town" and "the country" standing for "corruption" and "goodness" respectively, not only refer to the presence of 'space' in the narrative, but also indicate the significance of each space, in which each one determines a particular personality for man. Both town and the country stand as two distinct containers that impose their particular characteristics and exclusive properties on man. The absorbance in aristocratic life, as well as Lord Henry's theories, and living in London all stand as crucial factors in Dorian's corruption. So the more Dorian engages in these containers the more he feels attached to the demands of each container. Looking at the issue from this perspective indicates that Dorian almost remains the same immature character of the initial chapters of the novel. The difference is that the containers he is imprisoned in, especially the civilizing demands of London and Lord Henry Wotton, as "a dandy, with a contempt for the drab conventional costumes of the nineteenth century"(Nethercot 836), dictate their own necessities to this blindly imitating character, and lead him to the final reverse. The new-born desire for luxury is no doubt a yes-reply for what town imposes on its insiders as a powerful container. For this reason, "Dorian too apes all the graceful, though to him only halfserious, fopperies of the dandy-neckties, canes, jewels, flowers, and all the rest" (Nethercot 836). A third important container to be discussed is the room in which Dorian locks the portrait in. Before revealing its extraordinary feature, the portrait was on the wall in the library, later it was transferred to the large room at the top of the house as the most distant container in the house. This room and its having contained the portrait stand metaphorically very significant. The readers are told that this large room was arranged for Dorian as a playroom, and was later used as a study as he grew. It is also noted that Dorian had not stepped in the room for five years since he was a teenager. Being a teenager reminds us of the innocence and purity, which was still there before Dorian had met Lord Henry. What is considerable is that the portrait, as an embodiment of Dorian's conscience, is transferred to a room which reminds us of conscientious days, or at least childhood purity. Therefore, in Dorian's house the only room proper for placing Dorian's conscience is only the study. Here one spatial issue is also assessable. With a change taking place in the portrait, Dorian (as container) realizes that his conscience has departed from his body and has become concretized in the portrait. So his conscience becomes equal to his portrait. This dislocated entity embodies itself in another container that resembles the former innocent Dorian. In other words, the conscience being departed from its container (Dorian) transfers to another container (portrait) which is still in line with it. The room proves its significance in the final moments of the novel, when Dorian's death takes place in it. Dorian, disappointed with any probable positive changes in the portrait, tries to get rid of the only evidence of his corruption by stabbing it. The moment he stabs the portrait, the reader realizes that he has actually stabbed himself. In fact, Dorian's conscience transfers to the portrait in the initial chapters of the novel, but exactly the moment he tries to stab it in the last chapter, it returns to his own body as its original container; consequently stabbing the portrait entails stabbing his own body ends in his death. After documenting the spatial construction of the novel, my focus will be on the significance of these constructions and their employment in the novel. The analysis identified two main functions for such spatial narrativity, 1. Concretization, and 2. Primacy effect. The first function of spatiotemporal employments in the novel refers to the concretization of abstract notions. The novel revolves around key abstract concepts namely beauty, conscience, and time. Evidently, these notions can be identified among the vague, abstract, and subjective notions whose nature turns them into difficultto-grasp entities. Referring to Dannenberg, one of the most reliable strategies in order for the clarification of abstract notions is to concretize them through notions that are feasible to comprehend. The same strategy has been applied in the narrativity of this novel for the comprehensibility of these key abstract notions. Wilde has successfully attained this concretization through a kind of spatialization, in which the readers receive these concepts wrapped up in concrete spatial containers. When the narrative opens, beauty represents itself both in Dorian and the portrait; soon, the portrait starts fading away and beauty displays itself only in Dorian as a symbol of beauty for long years. Metaphorically speaking, the abstract concept of beauty turns into a body which is both seeable and examinable. The concretization takes place such dexterously that the reader no more distinguishes between Dorian and beauty; both stand correspondent. Another key term of the novel which is also a completely abstract notion is conscience which has repeatedly been mentioned in the narrative, especially by Dorian Gray himself. He soon realizes that his portrait can act like his conscience and guide him wherever he is misled. When he first realizes the changes in the portrait, he calls it his own conscience that exactly indicates the embodiment of his conscience. In fact, through the spatialization of conscience as an abstract notion in the portrait, the readers are given the chance of an easy access to an inaccessible notion. This not only provides them with a concrete understanding of the notion, but also allows them to investigate the effects of evil deeds on one's soul by looking at it as a representative or the container of a completely unseen and untouched notion of conscience or soul. In fact as two opposing sources, beauty and conscience stand face to face in this novel; the struggle is of such high importance that stands among the key themes of the novel. Based on the discussion above on concretization, we ascertain that these two struggling sources manifest in the visible opposition of Dorian Gray who carries the symbol of beauty and the portrait that carries the notion of conscience. This means that the readers have an easy access to both vague opposing sources in a very physical and visible way each time they perceive Dorian and the portrait. Primacy effect refers to the psychological aspect of human by which the one keeps faith in what he already knows although it is shattered and proved wrong later. As already discussed, in the first chapter of the novel, the readers construct elevated, educated, and appreciable assumptions about the main characters. However, it does not take long that they find out the poisonous theories of Lord Henry, the unspeakable love of Basil Hallward, and the misdeeds of Dorian Gray. The considerable point is that despite such deficiencies readers find out soon about these characters, they still keep faith and do not retreat from their early assumptions. It is not long after the beginning of the novel that they are alerted by Basil's unspeakable love (Whitaker, 2006), but roughly speaking this does not interfere with their evaluation of Basil at all. Lord Henry Wotton soon reveals his poisonous assumptions, and dreadful theories, but he remains as elevated as the initial pages of the novel. Dorian Gray, as the most central character, initially appears to be an innocent pure young boy; he later engages in the most dreadful deeds possible, from breaking a loving heart causing a suicide, to murdering Basil, a harmless creature whose murder was "one of the most demonic of Dorian's acts" (Oates, 421). It is strange that knowing these all, the readers still believe in Dorian, or let's say, trust him approximately from the beginning to the end of the novel. Such strange trusts in a character who engages in almost any dreadful practice can be clarified by primacy effect. The narrator of the novel intended to created a completely adorable depiction of these main characters; to do so, the characters were richly presented in elevated locations, aristocrat costumes, and educated manners. This is exactly what the readers construct in their imaginary world; although later these assumptions are completely questioned by the very deeds and manners of the characters, they still stick to their own early definitions which prevent them from reconstructing a truer portrayal of these characters who definitely suffer from deficiencies and immoralities. According to primacy effect, readers scarcely get free of their initial evaluation even after they are told or shown something in contradiction with that. Through spatiotemporal contextualization, the readers are persuaded that Dorian Gray is an innocent pure boy; this has so strongly been conveyed to them that even after hearing of this apparently innocent boy's amoral deeds, they do not or cannot change their view to an abhorrent creature. This results from the initial high evaluations they have had rooted in the spatiotemporal organizations of the scenes in which the beauty and appreciation of the spaces and the time have mentally been attributed to Dorian Gray, too. The present study aimed to analyze the spatial structure of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Getting help from both traditional and current notions of space, it reconsidered selected key incidents and elements from the novel. A traditional concept of space demonstrated an absolute presence of spatial settings for all the incidents in the novel, and it proved the presence of an organized atmosphere prior to presentation of characters and events. The long descriptions given on the spaces characters inhabit, meet, talk, or experience things in are all intended to provide the readers with authentic visualizations of these places. Moving further to the current studies of space, and getting aid of Mark Johnson and Hillary Dannenberg's theorizations of space, the study identified a profound spatial structure in the narrative that indicates the author's awareness of figurative spatialization that moves and carries the story to its resolution. Metaphoric Spaces and Wildean Narrativity * Oscar Wilde as a Temporal Designer: A case study of The Picture of Dorian Gray Behin MahdiyehTBahram Khiabani IJALEL 4 2 2015 * A Cambridge Companion to Narrative TeresaBridgeman 2007 Cambridge University Press David Herman, ed. Cambridge Time and Space * Come See about Me: Enchantment of the Double in The Picture of Dorian Gray ChristopherCraft Representations. 91. Summer 2005. 21 Jan. 2013 JSTOR. Web * Coincidence and Counterfactuality: Plotting Time and Space in Narrative Fiction HilaryDannenberg 2008. Feb. 2012 University of Nebraska Press Nebraska * The Body in the Mind MarkJohnson 1987 University of Chicago Press Chicago Print * The Mirror and the Vamp RoswithaMueller New German Critique 34 1985 Winter