The story of Actaeon and Artemis is unique. Artemis was born and had asked Zeus, her father, to allow her to keep virginity forever. This somehow was translated to the point where it was thought that Artemis hated men overall. Actaeon was a phenomenal hunter who, while hunting through the woods one day, saw Artemis bathing. Being a man, he had stopped and “stared at her ravishing beauty.” Because of her hate of men, Artemis punished Actaeon by forbidding him to speak. If he were to speak, Actaeon would be turned into a stag. Upon hearing a call from his hunting party, he shouted out to them and was immediately turned into a stag as promised. Being trained to do so, Actaeon’s hounds immediately tore him to shreds like they would have done to any other stag.
The correlation between Dorian’s relationship and this story is found after Sibyl’s terrible performance. Dorian had immediately went straight to Sibyl and stated how upset he was. Instead of seeing Sibyl’s beauty like Actaeon saw Artemis’ beauty, Dorian saw no beauty, and like Actaeon, would never want to see Sibyl again.

In a nutshell, this story is about a failed love. Echo, a talkative nymph, had seen Narcissus as he was chasing “frightened deer into his nets.” After “burning with a closer flame,” Echo finally reveals her presence to Narcissus and describes her love for him. However, Narcissus rejects Echo. Afterwards, Echo wastes away and now Narcissus finds love in himself. Instead of falling in love with someone else, he wastes away with love for only himself.
The correlation between Dorian’s relationship and this story is again found with the outcome of the relationship at the end of chapter 7. Even though Sibyl apologized many times and wished that Dorian would not leave her, much like Echo called out to Narcissus, Dorian completely ignored her, just like Narcissus. We find out later on that, like Echo wasted away, Sibyl had killed herself. The only difference is that Dorian feels absolutely terrible about what has just happened while Narcissus could care less about what happened to Echo.

The story of Adonis and Venus is simple. Venus loved Adonis and tried to “rouse him to sexual desire” one day. However, Adonis just ignored Venus’ love and stated that he was going to go boar hunting the next morning. Although Venus did her best to not make him go, or at least hunt smaller prey, Adonis ignored her. The next morning, Venus hears the hunt and runs towards the area from which she heard them. As she approaches the hunt, she “comes upon the body of Adonis, fatally gored by the boar’s tusks.” After seeing her love killed, she places a curse upon love stating that it will always end badly and those who love like she did will know the most sorrow.
The correlation between Dorian’s relationship and this story is the fatality in both stories. Just like the death in Adonis and Venus, Sibyl dies a terrible death. It wasn’t until after Dorian had thought about what he had said to her that he realized how unjust he was to her and how much he ignored her love, much like how Adonis ignored Venus’ love. Unfortunately, Dorian was too late and curses himself for not being more loving and more supportive. Although the characters are switched, in the sense that Sibyl and Adonis had died, the same concept holds true.