Basil eventually confronted Dorian about the dark rumors surrounding his lifestyle. In a fit of rage, Dorian showed Basil the hideous portrait and then murdered him. Driven by guilt and the weight of his "monstrous" soul, Dorian eventually tried to "be good," but the portrait only showed more hypocrisy in his features.

: While Dorian’s face remained flawlessly young, the portrait in his attic became a grotesque monster, reflecting every sin and act of malice. The Climax

In a final moment of despair, Dorian grabbed a knife and stabbed the canvas to destroy the evidence of his sins. A crash and a scream were heard by his servants. When they broke into the room, they found:

For a deeper look into this classic tale of vanity and moral decay, you can listen to the full narration of Oscar Wilde's masterpiece:

The body of a withered, old man lying on the floor with a knife in his heart, recognizable only by the rings on his fingers.

A beautiful portrait of their master as they had always known him.

Dorian Gray was a young man of extraordinary beauty in Victorian London. His friend, the artist Basil Hallward, painted a portrait of Dorian that captured his youthful perfection. During the sitting, Dorian met the cynical Lord Henry Wotton, who preached a philosophy of hedonism—that youth and beauty were the only things worth living for.