He had always the look of one who had kept himself unspotted from the world. Men who talked grossly became silent when Dorian Gray entered the room. There was something in the purity of his face that rebuked them. His mere presence seemed to recall to them the memory of the innocence that they had tarnished. They wondered how one so charming and graceful as he was could have escaped the stain of an age that was at once sordid and sensual.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 11. As the years pass Dorian is the target of "strange rumours about his mode of life" and "the most evil things" being said against him. But his appearance of eternal youth protects him from the scandalous talk, because when people see him they cannot believe he would do anything dishonourable. People wonder how he could have escaped the sordidness and sensuality of his age – this is somewhat ironic because Dorian doesn’t escape it, it’s just that his corruption doesn’t show in his face, but in the portrait in his attic!