Nowadays, people are more concerned with the background and fundamental reasons of crime than the crime itself. The importance indwells not in the crime itself but the motive of it. In this point of view, instigating crime is far viler than just directly committing it. ¡°Don¡¯t spoil him,¡± In the novel ¡°The Picture of Dorian Gray¡±, Basil begs Lord Henry just before introducing him to Dorian. ¡°Don¡¯t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad¡±(16). Oscar Wilde, the author of the novel, depicts real villain in here; Influence is what Lord Henry does best and enjoys most; inevitably, his poisonlike seduction converts innocuous Dorian Gray into a rogue in the end.
Once an ideal archetypal youth, Dorian Gray indulges in debauchery and eventually ruins his life completely after he met Lord Henry. Lord Henry is indeed a very charming character with his ¡°wrong, fascinating, poisonlike, delightful theories¡±(12). Based on his cardinal preference for youth and beauty, he determines to approach and seduce Dorian Gray right after having seen the portrait of Dorian Gray. Completely enticed by Lord Henry¡¯s charming talks and brilliant intellect, Dorian starts to perceive the world in the whole new way; now for him, beauty and youth is primary values. In front of Dorian who feels extreme guilty upon Sybil Vane¡¯s death, Lord Henry never reprimands Dorian of his debauchery. He rather provides Dorian a way to flee from his responsibility; ¡°Did anyone see you going round to her room?¡±(84), ¡°Dorian, you mustn¡¯t let this things get on your nerves¡±(85). Even more, Lord Henry gives Dorian ¡°yellow book¡±(105), pleasure-seeking French novel, which later becomes a standard of life for him and ultimately leads his downfall. Dorian says, ¡°What is done is done. What is past is past¡±(93). Mainly provoked by Lord Henry, Dorian lives a dark and sordid life in contrast to his unwithering beauty and youth.
Lord Henry¡¯s viciousness shines more considering that despite all his vile perspectives and inspiration of crime, he never becomes a ¡®real¡¯ sinner. Although Lord Henry is a self-proclaimed hedonist, he never practices his philosophy, but just influence. It is true that He participates in polite London society and attends parties and the theater, but he actually does not indulge in sordid behavior; in contrast to Dorian¡¯s pleasure-seeking life, he lives a stable life with a cordial wife. Later on, not only influencing him, Lord Henry drives Dorian into the death. When Dorian all but confesses to Basil¡¯s murder, Lord Henry flippantly dismisses him; this is the first time Lord Henry reprimand of Dorian. ¡°Crime belongs exclusively to the low orders¡±(179). This indifferent remark drives Dorian into the state of confusion. Dorian then realizes the difference between him and Lord Henry, and be in agony of vicious crimes he has done. Lord Henry¡¯s philosophy of hedonism, which actually he himself doesn¡¯t really care about the notion, eventually, ruins a innocent man¡¯s life; Dorian eventually kills himself. This is even more vicious considering his indifference towards the effects of his own acts.
Lord Henry¡¯s carelessness and indifference, together with his seemingly sweet seductive hedonistic philosophy, ultimately made once uncontaminated and innocent young man a extreme philistine. Considering the drastic and tragic end of Dorian Gray¡¯s life, there is no excuse for Lord Henry Wotton; a real villain is not Dorian Gray but Henry Wotton. As suggested, influence is such a fearful thing. As Lord Henry did, everyone has possibilities either consciously or unconsciously, to become a villain; that¡¯s not a hard thing. Therefore, what crucially needed is altruistic and caring attitude towards others.
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