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) says the dead man is a stranger, apparently a sailor. Demanding to see the body, Dorian is relieved to discover that the dead man is James Vane, although he says he has never seen the man before. "Scene 6" Several weeks later, in Dorian's sitting room, Dorian tells Lord Henry, who is also aged, that he has vowed to reform and offers as proof a story of his having spared a young country girl from sexual exploitation. Lord Henry scoffs and says that Dorian has only made himself feel good whilst possibly breaking the girl's heart. Dorian replies that he