Wilde's only novel, published in 1891, reflects some of the major preoccupations that characterised his life and work. Beauty, morality and aestheticism weave a macabre dance as the novel's anti-hero finds his wish - that a portrait of him would age in his place - comes true. As Gray (influenced by a notorious, unnamed French novel) experiments with various forms of moral transgression, with sometimes fatal consequences, so the portrait assumes the marks of those deeds, until a dramatic denouement brings the strange relationship to a chilling end.