Oscar Wilde is a man of mystery and intrigue. He is an idealist, perhaps. Or could he be a cynic? On the surface, he may be, but through his book The Picture of Dorian Gray one can see that he is a moralist not of God per se, but of man's own beliefs. Without the fundamental values that a person holds, he or she cannot experience life to its fullest potential. Oscar Wilde explains to us that one's sin is actually a way to avoid it. The human body must know that the sin he commits is a vile, degradable act. Without this knowledge, he or she festers in his own depravity. Oscar Wilde convinces his readers that to embrace one's enemy, in this case the enemy is sin, is to know how to counter it.

With the effort to be moral, one must be selfish, and that...