Oscar Wilde became extremely known for his writings in his lifetime and the contreversy behind it. He married and had two sons and enjoyed that life for awhile. Wilde began to be attracted to men and met Lord Alfred Douglas. Douglas's father despised Wilde and threatened him every chance because he wanted to save his son from Wilde's influence. Oscar Wilde was then arrested for being a homosexual and sentenced to two years. In prison he wrote "Profundis", a letter condemning Alfred for abandoning him and "The Ballad of Reading Gaol". After he was released he spent his last years in France supported financially by his friends. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" appealed to me because Oscar Wilde is one of my favorite writers.
             The story takes place in London, England around the 1890's. Dorian Gray has promised his soul in order to live a life of prolonged youth and tries to figure out why he never ages but his portrait painted by basil becomes more disfiguring. Dorian notices the change after he ends his relationship with Sybil Vayne. Heart broken Sybil commits suicide. Later he kills Basil in a struggle and stashes his body. In a frantic state of mind Dorian stabs the picture thinking it would end all his problems, thus killing himself.
             The protagonist is Dorian Gray of who Basil Hallward paints the portrait of. Dorian became under the influence of Lord Henry Wotton., Gray "realized that he should live life to the fullest and begins to pursue his own pleasures even if they were immoral. He followed Lord Henry's philosophy of "new-Hedonism". Basil a friend of Lord Henry becomes obsessed with Dorian, claiming that his beauty was rare and made him discover a "new kind of art". Dorian also helps Basil' potential through the portrait making that his masterpiece. My favorite character from the book is Lord Henry. the "antagonist", because of his pleasure-seeking philosophy without regard for conventional morali
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