Entranced by the perfection of his recently painted portrait, the youthful Dorian Gray expresses a wish that the figure on the canvas could age and change in his place. When his wish comes true, the portrait becomes his hideous secret as he follows a downward trajectory of decadence and cruelty that leaves its traces only in the portrait's degraded image.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde's unforgettable portrayal of a Faustian bargain and its consequences, is narrated with his characteristic incisive wit and diamond-sharp prose.