‘I will be young, and strong, and beautiful forever.’
And so the years passed.
But time did not touch the face of Dorian Gray. That wonderful beauty – the beauty that Basil
Hallward had painted – never left him. He enjoyed the life of a rich and
fashionable young man. He studied art and music, and filled his house with
beautiful things from every corner of the world. But his search for pleasure did
not stop there. He became hungry for evil pleasures. He became more and more in
love with the beauty of his face, more and more interested in the ugliness of
his soul.
After a while strange stories were heard about him – stories of a secret, more dangerous life.
But when people looked at the young and good-looking face, they could not
believe the evil stories. And they still came to the famous dinners at his
house, where the food and the music and the conversation were the best in
London.
But behind the locked door at the top of the house, the picture of Dorian Gray grew older every
year. The terrible face showed the dark secrets of his life. The heavy mouth,
the yellow skin, the cruel eyes – these told the real story. Again and again,
Dorian Gray went secretly to the room and looked first at the ugly and terrible
face in the picture, then at the beautiful young face that laughed back at him
from the mirror.
