They believe they are living in an age of continual crisis and are searching for ways to put meaning back to their lives. ... "( Lord Henry taunts Dorian and continues to remind him of all the sin that is building up and that even though his body is not aging, his soul is deteriorating fast. ... She is the entire innocence, beauty, and purity that are in him. ... He feels empty without his innocence and he filled this emptiness by answering to his corrupted transformation. ... He later realizes how empty he feels without his innocence and dignity and finally regrets his actions, although ...

• Word Count: 1755
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

He loves Dorian's beauty and innocence, probably because there are not many people like that anymore. ... His mere presence seemed to recall to them the memory of the innocence that they had tarnished.' ... Harry is also struck by Dorian; he loves his innocence as Basil does, but he also loves how Dorian looks up to him and listens to his theories. ... However, others do not have the advantage Dorian has "the never aging body." ...

• Word Count: 1890
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

In The Picture of Dorian Gray Beauty is connected with Innocence. ... Lord Henry's and Basil's devotion to Dorian's beauty is actually a kind of admiration for his unspoiled goodness and childlike innocence that both of them have already lost. ...

• Word Count: 2278
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School

Through the influence of Lord Henry warning Dorian about the advancement of age, they cause Dorian to curses himself by saying, "If the picture could change, and I could be always what I am now! ... " Throughout the novel we see his innocence and purity wither away to become more corrupted and selfish, we see this transformation after the death of his lover Sibyl Vane. ...

• Word Count: 1387
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Even Sibyl's death is seen from a hedonistic perspective, a fact that shocked Basil Hallward who had formed a great affection towards Dorian's beauty and former innocence: 'A man who is a master of himself can end a sorrow as easily as he can invent a pleasure. ... Dorian ,on the other hand, after expressing his wish to remain young while his portrait ages, does not want to show the picture to the world since it also expresses his hidden soul, which is becoming uglier with each hedonistic and amoral deed of him. ... He compared himself with Basil, the artist who immorally and b...

• Word Count: 1864
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography