The extract is taken by the eleventh chapter of The Picture of Dorian Gray, written by Oscar Wilde. The extract is about how Dorian Gray’s lifestyle is influenced by Lord Henry Wotton’s theories on beauty and youth.

The extract begins with the description of Dorian’s house: it is beautiful and people, who enter in the house, are enlived by music, the best of the arts. The typical guests of Dorian are selected young people, who came from Oxford. Dorian represents for them the model, somebody from whom to worship beauty is the final aim.  Besides, he becomes notorious among London's aristocratic circles as a trend-setter, wearing the latest fashions and looked to as a judge of tastefulness. As a result, young men emulate him, and young women are drawn to him. Those whom he befriends, however, are often ruined, and Dorian is eventually disdained as much as he is admired. Lord Henry seems to be the only close friend who sticks by Dorian over the years. Gossip begins following Dorian wherever he goes, and he becomes infamous, even despicable, in some social circles. He does, however, remain as attractive and fashionable as ever, and continues to be admired for his exquisite taste. No matter how poorly people speak of him, his youthful beauty and the boyish innocence of his face never fail to win him new friends.

For Dorian, life and art are interchangeable. Like Lord Henry, he considers pleasure and aesthetic value more important than anything else. To him, any new and pleasurable experience is worth having, even if that experience is hurtful to others. The chapter closes with the statement that "There were moments when he looked on evil simply as a mode through which he could realize his conception of the beautiful." In these moments, Dorian is the most degraded, and his soul suffers the most disfiguration.

Dorian Gray has a dandystic idea of life: Dandyism is the study of personal elegance and refinement, the search for perfection in all things, clothes, motions, wit and tastes, and a form of rebellion. According to the philosophy of dandyism, the artist has to shock not only through his works but also through his dress, manners and eccentric views.