It is probably one of the best-known and most influential works of world literature. The Picture of Dorian Gray is still required reading for schoolchildren around the globe, has been the subject of countless film and theater adaptations and, incidentally, is a frequently quoted metaphor: the young and extremely handsome Dorian, who is increasingly rotting and degenerating inside. His increasingly unloved point of reflection is a painting that ages in his place as Dorian makes a pact with evil t ...