Everyone has dealt with peer pressure sometime within his/her life. Just recently a friend, Julie, gave into smoking weed although it went completely against her morals. Her friend was so persistent and pushy in trying to persuade her to try it, that Julie could not fight it anymore and gave in. Julie explained later that she knew it was wrong and told how her conscience was screaming for her not to smoke, but the pressure and influence from her friend was just too strong. Many people have been in similar situations where they find that peer pressure is so overwhelming that they ignore the little voice in their head, their conscience. In Oscar Wilde's novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, he describes the power of peer pressure, through two themes: influence and conscience. Through the characters of Dorian Gray and Lord Henry, Wilde proves that influence can overpower a person's conscience.Basil Hallward, a painter, knows the corruptive influence that Lord Henry can impose upon his model, Dorian Gray. Basil does not want Lord Henry to even meet Dorian because he is afraid that Dorian will be influenced and ruined. Basil begs Henry by saying, "Don't spoil him. Don't try to influence him. Your influence would be bad. The world is wide, and has many marvelous people in it. Don't take away from me the one person who gives to my art whatever charm it possesses: my life as an artist depends on him" (Wilde 10). Right from the beginning Wilde begins to show what type of person Lord Henry is. Lord Henry's influences pose a threat to Dorian. Basil is well aware of this. Through Basil Hallward, Wilde implies that Dorian can easily be corrupted. However, Dorian tries to assure Basil that he is not being influenced. He states that Lord Henry "has certainly not been paying me compliments. Perhaps that is the reason that I don't believe anything he has told me" (Wilde 15). The only reason Dorian does not believe Lord Henry is becau...
