His soul, certainly, was sick to death. Was it true that the senses could cure it? Innocent blood had been spilt. What could atone for that? Ah! for that there was no atonement; but though forgiveness was impossible, forgetfulness was possible still, and he was determined to forget, to stamp the thing out, to crush it as one would crush the adder that had stung one.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 16. Dorian heads for an opium den so that he can "cure the soul by means of the senses." He has spilled the innocent blood of Basil. But his "sick to death" soul has abandoned all hope of being saved, and Dorian just wants to forget his crime. A vivid simile describes how he will crush this adder that has stung him through the oblivion of opium.