What does Beauty mean? ... What is tragic in Dorian's case is that he is initiated too early. ... "And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?... In the very last moments before the tragedy the tempter, Lord Henry, asks the following from Dorian: "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul- which is stylistically a quotation from his enemy. ... In presenting himself as a dazzling spectacle, Wilde was deliberately challenging some of the more puritanical elements of late-Victorian society."" ...

• Word Count: 2278
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School