Thin-lipped Wisdom spoke at her from the worn chair, hinted at prudence, quoted from that book of cowardice whose author apes the name of common sense. She did not listen. She was free in her prison of passion. Her prince, Prince Charming, was with her. She had called on Memory to remake him. She had sent her soul to search for him, and it had brought him back. His kiss burned again upon her mouth. Her eyelids were warm with his breath.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 5. Mrs. Vane has learned that her daughter Sibyl has fallen lock, stock and barrel for Dorian Gray. With her "thin-lipped wisdom" she advises Sibyl that she mustn’t think of anything but her acting. But Sibyl does not listen. Wilde describes Sibyl’s "prison of passion" in which she believes that she is free to be alongside her "Prince Charming." Sibyl as a damsel in distress swooning with the happiness of love and needing a Prince hero to rescue her (from her acting life) is one of the classic elements of Gothic fiction. The prison metaphor is also foreshadowing that the love affair will bring her disaster.