Information about the historical aspects of the nineteenth century and the period of publication of The Picture of Dorian Gray allows us to perceive the influence behind the writing. Along with background information about Oscar Wilde and the hedonistic movement, readers are able to contemplate the work on a deeper, more ingenious level and understand the purpose of the novel as a whole. The Picture of Dorian Gray can be examined and understood to approve the merit of life in accordance with hedonistic values, this is partly due to the publication of the novels during the aesthetic movement of Victorian England along with the consolidation of the trite virtues of Oscar Wilde . We can understand Oscar Wilde's interpretation of the Aesthetic Movement in summary as the ideal person whose actions create the maximum amount of pleasure and joy in their life and nothing more (1Duggan). The Picture of Dorian Gray begins in the house of the famous artist Basil Howard, together with an admirer, Lord Henry; these two men discuss the beauty of the newly painted painting of a party guest, Dorian Gray and from this event begins the catastrophic downfall of the three main characters. Emotionally sensitive Basil, already consumed by idolatry of Dorian Gray, now has a new form of competition in the form of Lord Henry's influence and cynicism over young Dorian. Although Dorian is warned by Basil proclaiming Henry's illicit authority, Dorian cannot help but be intrigued by the selfish hedonistic lifestyle. During a walk in the garden, Lord Henry urges Dorian Gray to live without regret and to spend his precious seconds "always seeking new sensations" rather than engaging in "common" or "vulgar" pursuits (1 Wilde p. 24). In this interior... in the center of the sheet... area, the heart. Bloodied, the knife will have forever caused the death of an innocent man along with the death of a lost soul. Dorian's servants faint at the crime scene and can hardly recognize the old man lying before them. Dorian's inner self is exposed as the body takes on a new appearance. To the left are the precious rings on his worn and fragile fingers. Overall, the influences of the Victorian and hedonistic era were revealed through the novel with dramatic examples and made the tone mysterious. Dorian is a mix of personalities who caused grace, charm and destruction with his actions under the external influence of one man. Parallel to Wilde, "a man who had so many different personalities that he could only be true to himself when he was inconsistent" (1Gomel), Dorian could be caught in the same endless trance.