Oscar Wilde's famous story is essentially a morality play in gothic garb, the story of the corrupting influence all earthly beauty and pleasure. Dorian Gray is the perfect youth, filled with a noble desire to remake the world in the image of Beauty and Art. But his love of beauty extends to himself and, consumed by vanity, he dreads the coming of age and the inevitable falling away of his good looks. In a narcissistic passion, he offers his soul if only he can remain as beautiful as the portrait painted by his friend Basil Hallward - a proposal that is accepted, with hideous results.