The one charm of marriage is that it makes a life of deception absolutely necessary for both parties.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 1. Lord Henry is a character with a very cynical view on marriage. To him it involves playing a role where you merely act the part of being married in public for appearances sake, and then carry on as you wish in private. For him that means indulging his hedonism. Providing us with an insight into this loveless marital arrangement, he goes on to say: "I never know where my wife is, and my wife never knows what I am doing. When we meet – we do meet occasionally, when we dine out together, or go down to the Duke’s – we tell each other the most absurd stories with the most serious faces. My wife is very good at it – much better, in fact, than I am. She never gets confused over her dates, and I always do. But when she does find me out, she makes no row at all. I sometimes wish she would; but she merely laughs at me." Lord Henry certainly doesn’t love his wife, but he certainly loves himself!