Oscar Wilde adored public attention in any form, but even he was taken aback by the storm of indignation that The Picture of Dorian Gray aroused. Victorian readers found the novel immoral, decadent, horrifying. Released first in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, expanded for book publication in 1891, The Picture of Dorian Gray has come to be regarded as a flawed yet fascinating work, "ornamented with brilliant and precious descriptions like a beautiful vase in which some poisonous snake has been hidden," according to Andre Maurois. The "poison" (Wilde himself uses that imagery) is homosexuality, not so much hidden as thinly veiled within Wilde's lapidary prose.

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When Dorian Gray, a wealthy but naive and irresistible young man, has his portrait painted, he rashly wishes that he could remain as beautiful, youthful, and alluring as the handsome face in the portrait. Little does he know that his wish will come true. When encouraged by the decadent Lord Henry W.otton into a life of depravity and self-indulgence, Gray is stunned to discover that whilethe face in the painting is aging grotesquely, he is not! In fact, he remains as beautiful as ever. Nothing ages him.  But Gray's wanton lifestyle will eventually catch up with him, and the consequence of his reckless behavior will come to haunt him.