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 (1945 film) and heartless life. Years later, Dorian Gray is forty but looks twenty-two, unchanged from when Hallward painted the portrait. London society is awestruck at his unchanging appearance. Over eighteen years of pointless debauchery, the portrait has remained locked away, with Gray holding the only key. Gray has become paranoid no others see the portrait and he repeatedly fires servants who are too inquisitive. Over the years, the portrait of the young, handsome, Dorian Gray has warped into a hideous, demon-like creature reflecting Dorian's sins. Basil Hallward, the painter, eventually sees his painting. Shocked at its disfigurement, scarred "as if some