THE SOUL IS A TERRIBLE REALITY. IT CAN BE BOUGHT AND SOLD AND BARTERED AWAY. Meet Dorian Gray, the beautiful young man with an impossibly charming face and spirit. As he sits for Basil Hallwarda deeply moral artist and a friend of the impish Lord Henrywho becomes obsessed with his beauty and wants to paint him, Dorian is enchanted by the perfection of his portrait. But, influenced by the well-phrased epigrams of the hedonist Lord Henry on the transience of youth and beauty, Dorian becomes jealous of it and wishes that the portrait bear the scars of his passing youth and age, while he would remain young forever. And Alas, his wish comes true! Enticed into dissolution and degradation while his portrait is aging in the attic, Dorian engages in scandals and sinful pleasures. We see him go from good to evil. But is he any happier? The only novel written by Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray is an arresting moral commentary and a classic example of Gothic fiction.
