BOOK REVIEW OUTLINE WRITING

INSTRUCTION: Fill in the blanks with your points using complete sentences.

TITLE The Sphinx Without a Secret

AUTHOR Oscar Wilde

PUBLISHER CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork

GENRE Mystery

INTRODUCTION (SUMMARY OF THE STORY)

Give a brief plot summary without giving away any key details.

YOUR ANSWER:

"The Sphinx Without a Secret" is a story about the narrator meeting an old college
acquaintance named Lord Murchison and hearing his story about a woman named Lady
Alroy. It all begins when Murchison shows a photograph of a beautiful woman, and he
asks, ‘does she look trustworthy?’

Lady Alroy is a mysterious woman who, in Murchison's eyes, looks to be hiding

something. Murchison falls in love with Alroy, particularly because of her mystery. Even
though Murchison tries to spend a lot of time with her, Alroy claims that Murchison never
asked her and frequently misses her meetings with him.

She is always rushing, has a weird atmosphere surrounding her, and soon Murchison
believes she is seeing someone, which is untrue. Murchison travels to Norway after a
disagreement occurs when Murchison attempts to propose to Alroy. Alroy dies after his
trip, and it is determined that she had no secret.
BODY (ANALYSIS)
-Choose any quotes from any chapter/scenario and summarise the quote in your own
words. Include your own interpretation (at least one quote).
-List out at least 3 moral values that you can learn from this story.

A quote that piqued our interest is “'My dear Gerald,' I said, 'women are meant to be
loved, not to be understood.'” From my point of view, the fact that a man is speaking
about women and generalizing them as one is itself a warning. A man can do unspeakable
things simply in the name of love. The 'love' expressed in this quote also feels like it's
being thrown upon women, whether they want it or not. Every woman is unique; some
know exactly what they want, while others do not. This statement most likely refers to
women who don't know what they want because they were never taught how to want,
but that does not mean that women who don't know what they want should not be
understood. It is important to understand women and where they are coming from when
they want something, and not assume things otherwise. It is also important that men
seek to understand a woman before they decide to love them, it is only wise to do so.
Women are indeed meant to be understood, just the same as any man. We think every
woman knows what they want, they have just perfected the art of making it appear as if
they don’t. We believe everyone is worthy of being loved, but that shouldn’t come first if
you do not understand what you are loving.

Another quote that catches our eye is “'I cannot love where I cannot trust,' he replied.”
This is a very simple quote, but it sounds complicated with the use of negative words. If
we eliminate the negativity in the said quote, then we get “I can love where I can trust”.
Love is subjective, it means a whole lot more than trust. You can love people without
trusting them. Because love is the fulfillment of the subconscious mind. But you cannot
trust someone without loving them. To me, trust is like concrete, and love is like steel.
You can build a house with steel bars, but it will eventually rust and crumble like bones
without a body. Thus, trust here acts like a concrete that solidifies the love you have for
someone either platonic or romantic as without trust, love breaks down. You can fall in
love at first sight, but there can never, be a meaningful relationship without any trust. So,
where there is no trust, there can never be a good relationship. Yes, you can love
someone without trusting them. True love isn’t necessarily about that, but it is a part of
leading a healthy friendship or relationship. As much as you admire someone, if you never
know where you stand with them, then committing to something serious is just unhealthy
in our opinion.

The first moral value that we could learn from this story is loyalty. Loyalty is a valued trait
in our lives,whether in personal relationship or friendships. We can from this book that
Lord Murchison is loyal because he still tries to persue Lady Alroy despite rejecting Lord
Murchison plenty of time.

The next moral value is secrets, and the unknown can often lead to disillusion and
disappointment when the reality is revealed.This situation occurs when people happen to
feel disappointed by something that you want but it does not turn out the way you
want.Unfortunately, this is the hard truth or rather it can be called reality.In our opinion,
Lord Murchison is quite delusional and at last he got disappointment because things that
he wanted did not turn out the way he planned. Other than that, disillusion is when Lord
Murchison lost faith in Lady Alroy due to believing that she was seeing someone.

The third and last moral value is people can be blinded by love.When people are deeply in
love with someone, they may overlook or ignore the flaws, imperfections or even red flags
in their partner or in the relationship.Lord Murchison is blinded by love because he fell in
love at Lady Alroy at first sight.Due to her beauty, he ignored all her flaws and secretive
personality. We can see that love can be so powerful and all-consuming that individuals
may make choices or decisions that they wouldn't in a more objective state of mind.

The story in "The Sphinx Without a Secret" is a captivating exploration of human

fascination with mystery and the consequences of misconceptions in relationships. It
highlights how our perceptions of others can be clouded by our own desires and
preconceptions, leading to unexpected outcomes. Lord Murchison's infatuation with Lady
Alroy's supposed secrets and the ultimate revelation that there were none make it a
thought-provoking tale about the complexities of human nature and relationships.

The story also serves as a cautionary tale, reminding us of the dangers of drawing hasty
conclusions about others, especially when fueled by infatuation and the desire to uncover
hidden truths. Wilde's narrative skillfully explores the fragile nature of human perceptions
and the repercussions of misinterpreting the enigmatic aspects of those we are drawn to.
CONCLUSION
Your Opinion
● This is the most important part of the review.
● If you were the author, would you change the ending of the story? Provide
justification for your answer.
● Would you encourage others to read this book? Why or why not?

If we were the author,we would change the ending of the story as the ending seems
abrupt and the story line is not very interesting for readers. The plot of the story is also
basic which is a weird love story that the meeting of both ends with doubt and
misunderstandings. Besides that, it is also a dull and boring story since Lord Murchison
was just doing useless effort where he still "chase" to find out Lady Alroy secret but in the
end, she had no secret after all. Lady Alroy was using secrecy just to attract people but in
the at last it drives Lord Murchison away.

Based on a thorough discussion between the teammates, we have concluded that we

would not encourage others to read this book.This is because the book has a handful of
words that tend to confuse readers. The book is lengthy, but it contains no interesting
plots. We were also unsatisfied with the climax of the book due to abrupt ending. The
characters were also hard to relate to.Reading this book would would be a waste of time
because there is a plethora of other books with better plots, interesting characters with
great climax.

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