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) Gladys from misfortune by leaving her. After sending Gladys a letter breaking their engagement Gray confronts his portrait and sees a subtle improvement. Attributing the change to his determination not to harm Gladys he resolves to change his life. However, he also resolves to destroy the portrait. He stabs the portrait in the heart, seeking to end the spell, but cries out as if he too has also been stabbed. His friends, realizing what has happened, burst into the school room to discover Dorian Gray dead next to the portrait, his body "withered, wrinkled, and loathsome of visage", now reflecting