Genius is the word that epitomizes Oscar Wilde's literacy creation and his only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde tells a fascinating tale of debauchery, vanity, materialism, love and death set in the 19th century. It is a must have for anyone who loves literature and who wants to learn some interesting and profound ideas that are still relevant 150 years later.

Wilde's famously extraordinary humour is evident throughout the novel, an uncommon style for a tragic story; however Wilde would not be Wilde with out his sense of humour .He links his wit into the major themes of the story, in which he seemingly takes great pleasure in highlighting, hence the associated humour. Aestheticism, hedonism, double life, indulgence, obsession and corruption, in my opinion are the themes that Wilde illustrated so vividly through his words. It is generally thought that Wilde's works strongly reflected his own ideals and views on the world. The Picture of Dorian Gray is no exception.

The sense that he characterised the main characters with parts of himself is powerful throughout the whole novel. Lord Henry Wotton, who is the resident idealist and individualist, shares Wilde's views on the world believing only in hedonism. Using his extreme wit, charm and intelligence, Wotton draws in a young and naive Dorian Gray, whose mutual fascination with each other leads to Gray's corruption. Dorian's later shallowness and materialism are pivotal points in the novel, as well as being characteristics of Wilde himself. Then there is Basil Hallward, the artist who painted the picture of Dorian Gray, who is madly in love with Gray, thus sharing Wilde's homose­xuality.

It is a bizarre occurrence that one person's life can change so much because of one painting, aided by the influence of an extreme hedonist, however this is the plot of The Picture of Dorian Gray. Is the story believable? We all know paintings do not physically change. Or can one person's obsession with ones self have that much of an effect causing such a tragic outcome? Whatever the answers are, this is undoubtedly one of the best pieces of 19th century literature following the popular gothic horror style writings which Oscar Wilde was born to write.