The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray, first published in 1890, is still one of the most riveting novels ever written. The genius plot has everything to capture and hold the imagination, from lust, debauchery and doomed romance though blackmail, murder, and the disastrous effect of a morally depraved French novel. That’s not even counting the visits to the opium den, the addiction, the stalking or the string of deaths – accidental or self-inflicted. The characters are likewise intriguing in their extreme expression of hedonism, vanity, callous indifference and a host of other sins.

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.