The picture of Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde, author of The Picture of Dorian Gray, makes Basil's life change drastically by having him paint a portrait of Dorian Gray and express too much of himself in it, which, in Wilde's mind, is a troublesome obstacle to circumvent. Wilde believes that the artist should not portray any of himself in his work, so when Basil does this, it is he who creates his own downfall, not Dorian. Wilde introduces Basil to Dorian …

…that he could never be able to achieve again in real life without the help of magic. With this, Dorian conceals his morbid soul with the painting and continues living as beautiful as he ever was, physically, but spiritually he is rotting inside. Wilde creates an animal out of the seemingly perfect man and has him destroy himself and his friends along with him. All of this happened because of the picture of Dorian Gray.