Appearances Can Kill in the Picture of Dorian Gray Have you ever heard the saying, “If appearances could kill”? Well, they can. Oscar Wilde reveals how appearance can be fascinating, deceptive and even deadly. In The Picture of Dorian Gray there are three main characters. Dorian Gray, who is a calm young man, very attractive and adored for his good looks, Basil Hallward who is a painter who idolizes Dorian and Lord Henry Wotton, an older man, who becomes a good friend of Dorian. While Basil is painting a portrait of Dorian Gray, Dorian expresses a wish that only the painting would grow old and he would remain the same. As he later notes, his wish is granted and the image begins to age. Not only is the portrait getting older, but the face is also becoming more subtle. This was because Dorian had fallen deeply in love with an actress, Sibyl Vane, and one night he had taken Basil and Lord Henry to see her act. That night Sibyl Vane behaved so badly that people began to leave. Dorian was humiliated so intensely that he returned to the stage and told her that he had fallen out of love with her. She said the reason for her bad acting was because she wasn't interested in acting anymore, just for him. Dorian still couldn't bear the humiliation and told her he would never see her again. After he left, Sibyl ended her life by drinking a cleaning fluid that was in his dressing room. Wilde first shows the importance of appearance when Basil first sets eyes on Dorian Gray. “I knew I was face to face with someone whose personality alone was so fascinating that… it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art” (7). This was before Basil had even spoken to Dorian, and he had already judged what kind of personality he had,... in the center of the paper... the image itself. . . . It would destroy him. . . . He looked around and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. . . He grabbed the object and pierced the image with it. . . . There was a scream and a crash. . . . When they entered they found, hanging on the wall, a splendid portrait of their master as they had last seen him. . . . Lying on the floor was a dead man. . . with a knife in my heart. He was wizened and wrinkled. . . it was only after examining the rings that they recognized who he was" (253-254). Wilde uses great characters, setting, and plot to explain the significance of the appearance. Everyone's life could be changed just because of the way someone appears, or even their appearance can not only be fascinating and deceptive, but also deadly. Works Cited: Wilde, Oscar The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1992.