Although Oscar Wilde became known as an immoral man as a result of his behaviors and trials, his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, portrays strong morality. Many critics called him "recklessly immoral" (Boilard 3489), and he was labeled as being a deviant homosexual in the late 1800's, but in his writings the sinner never comes out on top. A perfect example of this phenomenon is the main character in his novel, a man by the name of Dorian Gray.
             Oscar Wilde engaged in a relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquess of Queensbury. Upon discovery of the lubricous relationship, Douglas' father became enraged and vowed to ruin Wilde's career, and he insisted that Wilde was a sodomite. Consequently, Wilde created a warrant for his arrest because he had "published a libel against him" (Belford 250).
             Throughout the trial the Marquess tried his hardest to find faults in Wilde's testimony. Wilde had accidentally admitted that he was thirty-nine, when in reality he was over forty. This created another method of slandering, his age. His lover, Douglas, had been only twenty when they had met and Wilde was thirty-six. The court presumed the author to be a "seducer of the young" (Belford 252) because of the gap in ages. Instead of the Marquess being on trial, it ended up that Wilde went on trial for his presumed homosexuality. He was tried and convicted of "gross indecency in private with members of his own sex" (Belford 256). This was the first of two trials, the second one ending him in jail for a period of two years.
             Oscar Wilde's primary work was the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. It opens with a painter, Basil Hallward, putting the final touches on his newest work of art. It features the sitter Dorian Gray, a young man who appears gentle and extremely appealing to the eyes. Basil's friend, Lord Henry Wotton comes in, and against Hallward&ap...