By interpreting Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray on the allegorical rather than the literal level, the portrait never physically changes, but rather it simply represents the progressive degeneration of Dorian's soul. Wilde creates several references and uses many symbols, so that the reader may be able to interpret it in this manner.
In the preface, Wilde set the premise for the rest of the novel by stating "All art is at once surface and symbol." Wilde wished to say that any art form may have two sides. The first side consists of the literal meaning. The second refers to the figurative level: the subjective perception that allows for interpretation into an underlying me
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