The Picture of Dorian Gray edition of the novel; nonetheless, by June 1891, Wilde was defending "The Picture of Dorian Gray" against accusations that it was a bad book. In the essay "The Artist as Critic", Oscar Wilde said that: In the 19th century, the critical reception of the novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" (1890) was poor. The book critic of "The Irish Times" said, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" was "first published to some scandal." Such book reviews achieved for the novel a "certain notoriety for being 'mawkish and nauseous', 'unclean', 'effeminate' and 'contaminating'." Such moralistic scandal arose from the novel's homoeroticism, which
The Picture of Dorian Gray (opera) has changed, with a cruel expression around the mouth. He muses that the painting has become 'the visible emblem of my conscience'. He pledges to reform his life and marry Sibyl to make amends. However, Lord Henry arrives with the news that Sibyl Vane has committed suicide. He calms Dorian by assuring him that she was less real than Shakespeare's heroines that she portrayed. Dorian agrees to go to the opera with him that night. Looking again at the altered portrait, he resolves to let it represent the life he shall now lead, in search of 'pleasures secret and subtle,