Men are known to be self-centered, and some of them are even evilly influential to others surrounding them. Sometimes one would ruin another¡¦s life for one¡¦s own joy or advantage. In Oscar Wilde¡¦s only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the protagonist Dorian Gray ruined his beloved friend, Basil Hallward¡¦s soul. Dorian sided with evilness, betrayed his friendship with Basil, and at the end, killed him by his own hand.Basil had always treated Dorian as a very valuable friend, and even loved him immensely. Dorian fascinated Basil so much, that he found his beauty had become the inspiration of is art.However, the pure friendship could no longer hold stability, when Lord Henry decided to dominate Dorian¡¦s soul after he had come across with the portrait of the young gentleman. He rejected to exhibit the portrait in public because he ...view middle of the document...
After Basil had recognized Dorian¡¦s feeling, he thought the portrait would ruin their friendship, so he was going to destroy his finest work ever, before Dorian decided that he wanted to keep it. When Dorian met Sibyl Vane, and immediately got engaged to her, he told Basil about his desire to live only for her. Basil was disappointed and discouraged, and felt that Dorian had slipped away from him.After Dorian had realized that it was Sibyl¡¦s acting he was in love with, and Sibyl could no longer act, he broke the engagement. He found that the portrait changed after what had happened that night. A faint sneer appeared at the corner of the painted Dorian¡¦s mouth. Basil was horrified of Dorian¡¦s reaction to Sibyl¡¦s suicide, and he was also disappointed that Dorian rejected his first time request to exhibit the portrait. Basil warned Dorian that terrible rumors were being spread out about his sordid behaviors, in fact, Basil himself had begun to be suspicious of his friend. Dorian showed Basil his work, which was, by then, the true life of Dorian¡¦s real soul. Basil was shocked after looking at the portrait which was showing Dorian¡¦s old and sinful face. Basil tried to save his ¡§inspiration of art,¡¨ and at a certain degree, maybe of his life. Unfortunately, Dorian, after destroying Basil¡¦s soul, became more furious, and killed him.Dorian destroyed Basil¡¦s soul, who put so much love into him, who would do anything to protect him, who would hide him from bad influence. At the beginning of the story, Basil treated Dorian as the inspiration of all his art, but Dorian¡¦s wicked conduct disappointed him, and ruined their friendship. Basil would have never thought about the person whom he had once loved immensely, would be the one who, at the end, killed him.
