eternal youth, infinite passion

The society portrayed in 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' place youth and beauty above all else, even the morals that the society are supposedly bound by. Even though Dorian is surrounded by rumours of sin and debauchery,  he is still accepted into upper class society as he looks innocent due to his youthful face. As Basil states, 'sin is a thing that writes itself across a man's face', the only difference with Dorian is that it is not his own face he is destroying, but the one in the painting. This idea allows Wilde to reveal the hypocritical nature of victorian society, as the society do not care what anyone does, so long as they appear to be upstanding members of society. All in all, 'every gentleman is interested in his good name'; the only thing that matters is reputation.

Youth and beauty are also portrayed as the most important part of society by Henry Wotton, highlighted when he says 'youth is the one thing worth having', and 'beauty is a form of genius'. Wotton uses his opinions on youth to influence Dorian into a life of hedonism, by almost scaring him with the prospect of a life without beauty and youth, a life without meaning, 'when your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and thn you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you'.

The stakes for beauty are shown to be extremely high, indeed Dorian must pay the price of his soul for eternal youth, however his demise suggests that too much importance was placed on his youth and beauty.