"Not `Forgive us our sins,' but `Smite us for our iniquities' should be the prayer of a man to a most just God." (Wilde, 250) The message of The Picture of Dorian Gray is found in this statement. The attempts of man to live with himself and his enormous guilt are the overwhelming factor that changes Dorian Gray's conscience. Dorian Gray, the main character of The Picture of Dorian Gray, experiences many drastic changes in his life. The start of his changes, one could argue, is when Lord Henry Wotton first influences the young and boyish Dorian. However, it is clear that Dorian's life is most altered when he makes the prayer, or rather, curse, upon the picture which his friend Basil Hallward had painted for him. The curse was a simple exclamation that Dorian rashly and boldly made: "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and...