In his only novel, Oscar Wilde takes up the old motif of the doppelgänger and gives it a unique twist: the young, wealthy Dorian Gray possesses a portrait that ages instead of him. While he indulges shamelessly in all kinds of pleasures and excesses, ultimately becoming a murderer, he retains his youth and beauty, while his portrait increasingly takes on features of decay and cruelty. Like Wilde's plays, the novel is characterized by witty dialogues; some of the characters' epigrams have become famous. After the release of the first edition, the novel, which is now considered a classic of modern literature, was deemed immoral and even scandalous. Wilde responded to the critics in his preface to the book version: "There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are either well written or poorly written. That is all.".