In The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde, many different themes are shown. But the theme that I consider most important is beauty and appearance. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to Basil, a painter, he paints a portrait of Dorian Gray. The painting ends up possessing the mythical power to keep Dorian young and perfect and to transform the person in the painting into a boorish old man. Dorian keeps the painting locked away where no one will find it, so that he can forever keep the secret of why it looks so perfect. Dorian throughout the book dedicates himself to everything related to the arts. In a society that places beauty before everything else, so youth and physical attractiveness become valuable assets, Dorian gives too much importance to youth and beauty because this would lead to his death. And that really ruins the chance for him to have a real relationship with someone in his lifetime. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First, after a conversation with Lord Henry, Dorian is convinced that youth is the only thing worth having. Dorian goes to talk to Basil after having a long discussion with Lord Henry about his views on the subject of youth. Then he comes to face the fact that as an old man he will grow old and then thinks about how the portrait will remain young. After realizing this, he becomes angry at Basil forever creating the painting in the first place. Then Dorian shouts to him: “Now I know that when you lose your good looks, whatever they are, you lose everything. Your photo taught me that. Lord Henry is absolutely right. Youth is the only thing worth having. When I find myself getting old, I will kill myself.” Dorian is obviously quickly won over by Lord Henry's arguments, and finally realizes that one day he will grow old and become old. But this doesn't seem to be a new idea to Dorian, not knowing that he had been thinking this way all along but Lord Henry just made him realize it. Dorian has always behaved and acted differently with different people, with the beautiful people he listens to and admires and the ugly people he treats as if they didn't even exist and this conversation with Lord Henry proved this theory to be correct. It relates to the phrase “don't judge a book by its cover.” Secondly, how Dorian is driven by beauty and blocks out everything else and this is the main reason for his engagement to Sibyl. He only focuses on his beauty and doesn't care about his other attributes and this stops him from realizing who he really is. Lord Henry tells Basil about Dorian's engagement to Sibyl. They talk about how the only thing Dorian told them about her was about her beauty and nothing more. Lord Henry tells Basil that “Dorian says she is beautiful, and he is not often wrong about such things. Your portrayal of him is quick and his appreciation for other people's personal appearance." As Lord Henry tells Basil about Dorian's engagement to Sibyl, he explains what he knows about Sibyl from Dorian. His appearance made the first appearance with Dorian strong, a key piece of information that Lord Henry feels it is necessary to convey to Basil. Although Dorian obviously must have known about his good looks long before Basil's portrait, he did not place much value on his appearance until he first saw the portrait. As a result, he now focuses only on the appearance of something which blinds him from everything about him. This is really why he got engaged to her in the first place, not because she was a good actress or had a great personality, but because she was beautiful. Even after her death, Dorian shows no remorse for her and calls her selfish..