Was it really true that one could never change? He felt a wild longing for the unstained purity of his boyhood – his rose-white boyhood, as Lord Henry had once called it. He knew that he had tarnished himself, filled his mind with corruption and given horror to his fancy; that he had been an evil influence to others, and had experienced a terrible joy in being so; and that of the lives that had crossed his own, it had been the fairest and the most full of promise that he had brought to shame. But was it all irretrievable? Was there no hope for him?
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 20. Dorian contemplates his life and how he has lived it. He thinks back nostalgically on the days of innocence of his boyhood and longs to be that pure soul unstained by sin again. But he has come to terms with the fact that his mind became corrupted and he was an evil influence to others and brought to shame those who crossed his path. At this point Dorian is having a crisis of conscience, if full of regret and wonders if there is still hope of redemption.