“Strong Friendships can often lead even the most confident people to destruction.” This is a very true quote and is proven in this story. Friendship is what teaches us how to trust people. Yet, sometimes those friends can lead us to do things we have never imagined. In the novel, “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Oscar Wilde clearly shows us that peer pressure can lead even the most purest people to destruction. He shows us this through the friendships between Basil and Dorian, Lord Henry and Dorian, and Basil and Lord Henry.
The relationship between Basil and Dorian presents an interesting picture of friendship and how they function. Basil first meets Dorian at a party. He couldn’t take his eyes off this beautiful young man. Basil felt instant attraction and sparks that he couldn’t keep to himself. “I asked Lady Brandon to introduce me to him,”(Wilde). To him Dorian seemes like a god-like creature. He gazes at him the entire time of the party and Dorian was unable to keep his eyes off Basil as well. To me it seems as if they were almost in love at first sight. Their emotions for each other progressed as they continued their very loving friendship. Basil is very much in love with his friend that he paints a portrait of Dorian: it, comes out so well that Basil is too afraid to show it to anyone, because it contains all of the feelings he has for Dorian. However, just as quickly as their friendship starts it also dies. Dorian kills Basil out of hatred and blames him, that the portrait he paints changes him yet, it was really Dorian that changes. How their friendship dies is honestly quite sad and proves that some friendships don’t last as a result that people change.
Lord Henry who is a charming talker meets Dorian when Basil introduces them. That was a big mistake for Basil . Both are intrigued by each other and become very close friends instantly. Lord Henry is a very seductable talker and makes it seem as if he knows everything ;which ,leads Dorian to fall...