Dorian Gray had been poisoned by a book. There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 11. Lord Henry has succeeded in corrupting the once innocent Dorian through the pages of the yellow book that he gifted him. The book has become Dorian’s bible and he reads his favorite passages detailing acts of violence, seductions and poisonings, over and over again. To Dorian the beautiful is now best experienced through evil.