Symbolism is a colossal part of The Picture of Dorian Gray. The symbols are often hard to distinguish. A lot of times you can tell what'll happen next by the symbols alone. The some of the time when the characters are in fast talking conversations behind them or in the background are something "saying" what'll happen to them.
             One hard to see example is the blocks on the floor of Dorian schoolroom there are three stacks of blocks of two blocks on two of them and one with only one block. One stack reading BH and the second having the letters SV and the third having a D, these represent the people he has killed. Dorian stabbed BH (Basil Hallward) after showing him his picture of Dorian that now looked like a decayed corpse. Along with SV (Sibyl Vane) who while he didn't literally kill her he was the cause of her death after testing her with Lord Henry's experiment she was so upset she killed herself because she felt without him she doesn't want to live. Finally The D for Dorian, himself after committing all these sins he felt so bad he wanted to kill the painting. So he took the knife he killed Basil with and stabbed the painting. Little did he know this killed him to. What the painting looked like transferred of the paper and on to him causing death to himself. But before he died he felt a little better because he knew this was for the best, for himself and everyone around him.
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             Another case of symbolism is the seven over Dorian's house. The seven represents the seven deadly sins. Dorian has committed all of them with in his life. Since most of the sins were committed in his house it makes sense to put the seven over "the house of sins". Dorian has betrayed, killed, and much more in that house it deserves and has earned the seven.
             Also there is the song Sibyl sings "Little Yellow Bird". The bird signifies freedom alon...