Love is the greatest gift one can ever give or receive. Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish between true love and infatuation. In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde portrays the love life of Dorian Gray. Dorian's indomitable desire to know everything about life led him to search for love. This desire has caused confusion between love and infatuation. With a beating heart and a confused mind, Dorian visits a theater and is carried away by Sibyl Vane's personality and performance. Just by watching her act, Dorian claimed that he was in love with her. Can this be considered true love?, absolutely not. The bond between two souls is love, but Dorian fell in love with her art and beauty not with her soul, so it's just an infatuation. Dorian preferred to call her “an actress” rather than reveal her name to Lord Henry (Wilde , 34). This is the first clue that Wilde gives us about Dorian's superficial love. Dorian never tries to identify the real Sibyl, as he is deeply rooted in his art. When Lord Henry invited him to dine with him, but Dorian refused his request and said, "Tonight she is Imogen...tomorrow night she will be Juliet." (Wilde 40). This made Henry question him: "when is Sibyl?". Not yet clear about Henry's intentions, Dorian proudly replied: "never" (Wilde 40). Therefore, it is evident that he is in love with the actress Sibyl, not the real Sibyl Vane. It's so sad that he always sees her as an actress, but within minutes Henry understood that Dorian wasn't really in love and tried to divulge his views to Dorian, but it was no use. Henry's efforts may have failed with Dorian, but it is eye-opening for readers. When someone is in love they would talk about him and not about his profession...... middle of paper......, the love has vanished. According to William Shakespeare, one of the best play writers in history, states “…Love is not love that alters when it finds an alteration, or bends with removal to remove.” But with Dorian it wasn't true love, it was just an attraction that destroyed Sibyl and Dorian's lives. Dorian wanted above all to shape love for his pleasure, but he ended up destroying it. True love can never be altered nor can it be shaped as we desire. Dorian's love towards was simply a passion towards his art; he was in love with his art, not his heart. Bibliography Ciccarelli, Saundra & White, Noland. Psychology. New Jersy: Prentice Hall, 2008. San Juan, Jr., Epifano. “Oscar Wilde”. Literary criticism of the twentieth century. Ed. Laurie Di Mauro. vol. 41. Detroit: Gale Research, 1991. Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1991.