The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is a gothic novel about Dorian Gray, a strikingly handsome young man whose portrait, painted by the artist Basil Hallward, supernaturally ages and bears the marks of his moral corruption while he remains eternally youthful. Influenced by the hedonistic Lord Henry Wotton, Dorian descends into a life of vice, indulgence, and crime—including the heartbreak of actress Sibyl Vane, whom he cruelly abandons, leading to her suicide—yet his outward beauty hides the portrait’s grotesque transformation. Ultimately, consumed by guilt and hypocrisy, Dorian attempts to destroy the painting, only to meet his own horrifying end, underscoring themes of vanity, hedonism, and the inescapable consequences of sin.