Yet it was watching him, with its beautiful marred face and its cruel smile. Its bright hair gleamed in the early sunlight. Its blue eyes met his own. A sense of infinite pity, not for himself, but for the painted image of himself, came over him. It had altered already, and would alter more. Its gold would wither into grey. Its red and white roses would die. For every sin that he committed, a stain would fleck and wreck its fairness. But he would not sin. The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more – would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward’s garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things. He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to love her again. Yes, it was his duty to do so. She must have suffered more than he had. Poor child! He had been selfish and cruel to her. The fascination that she had exercised over him would return. They would be happy together. His life with her would be beautiful and pure.

– Oscar Wilde

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian looks at his portrait, its beautiful face altered and marred with a look of cruelty. This passage represents Dorian’s loss of innocence and beginning of the moral deterioration of his soul. Sibyl has killed herself because of his brutal rejection of her, though he is not yet aware of her demise. This is another turning point in the story, as Dorian is filled with remorse about his cruelty and selfishness to her. He vows to be pure, reject sin, marry Sibyl and love her again. But this change in Dorian’s character turns out to be superficial. The influence of Lord Henry’s theories, which Dorian promises to resist in reaction to the ugliness of the portrait, will prove too much.