The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Picture of Dorian Gray is an 1891 philosophical novel by writer and playwright Oscar Wilde. First published as a serial story in the July 1890 issue of Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, the editors feared the story was indecent, and without Wilde's knowledge, deleted five hundred words before publication. Despite that censorship, The Picture of Dorian Gray offended the moral sensibilities of British book reviewers, some of whom said that Oscar Wilde merited prosecution for violating the laws guarding the public morality. In response, Wilde aggressively defended his novel and art in correspondence with the British press.
== Plot Synopsis ==
Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed and infatuated by Dorian's beauty; he believes that Dorian’s beauty is responsible for the new mode in his art as a painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life.
Understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied and amoral experiences; all the while his portrait ages and records every soul-corrupting sin.
== Tossup Questions ==
# In this novel, a Shakespearean actress from the slums of London calls her lover "Prince Charming." That character, Sibyl Vane, commits suicide after being rejected by the protagonist, whose appearance fools her brother, while Lord Henry Wotton's influence corrupts the title character into wishing to remain young as Basil Hallward's likeness of him ages. For 10 points, name this novel in which the title character destroys the titular portrait, the only novel of Oscar Wilde.
#