"Behind every exquisite thing, that existed there was something tragic". The young protagonist Dorian Gray is obsessed with youth and beauty. After a famous painter has realised him on canvas, Dorian wishes that his portrait would age for him. Only too late does he realise that although his wish is coming true, his soul is becoming uglier and uglier. Dorian's pursuit of beauty and pleasure leads to his moral decline, which highlights the consequences of human behaviour and the importance of ethical integrity. Other themes of the book are ▫️Egoism. ▫️Narcissism. ▫️Misogyny (sometimes I sat there with my mouth open and was shocked at how much the elite of the time despised women). ▫️This book dealt with the eternal struggle between conscience and temptation. ▫️The story contains some references to the homosexuality of some of the protagonists, which was of course paraphrased as it was forbidden at the time. After publication, the work was heavily criticised and even became one of the pieces of trial evidence or speculation about the sexual orientation of the author, Oscar Wilde. The moral of the story is: be careful what you wish for, it can be misinterpreted. 5/5 ⭐