Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty.

Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society.

Only his portrait bears the traces of his decadence. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was a succes de scandale.

Early readers were shocked by its hints at unspeakable sins, and the book was later used as evidence against Wilde at the Old Bailey in 1895.