Dorian Gray Allegory

Duggan's interpretation of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" as an allegory for hedonism is accurate when considered in the frame of the characters. While it is true that Dorian spends much of the story talking about how wonderful his life of luxury is, all that the reader perceives are the harmful effects of the life of the aesthete, due to the fate of his character as well as those with whom he interacted. The only character in the novel who is truly able to live a hedonistic lifestyle with some level of impunity is none other than Lord Henry; however, when placing this fact in the greater context of the story, Henry's character only fuels the perception of this novella as a moral critique on sybaritism and its proponents.
Initially, Lord Henry's character would suggest that an aesthete's life is one of careless luxury and happiness, as those are the objects of his/her existence. However, by the end of the story, one realizes that Lord Henry's lifestyle beliefs have corrupted his moral character and encouraged him to corrupt those of other people. Lord Henry is the true antagonist in this story. He is a puppetmaster, freely manipulating Dorian and whomever else he happens to meet and molding
them into his beliefs. At the source of this evil is his belief that life, having no inherent purpose, should be lived for pleasure. Consequently, one can safely assume that his character was representative of the corrupting power of self-gratification, and was part of a larger theme with the same intention.
Dorian's character is also prime evidence that the novel is an allegory for aestheticism.
He begins the novel an innocent young man–a boy by all standards except age. His egotism, moral depravity, and utterly corrupted character only emerge following several tirades and book, all of which are offered by Lord Henry. Henry insists upon terrifying Dorian about his existence as a mortal being subject to decay and death, leading to the boy's subsequent arrogance when such fears are no longer of concern. Henry also assures Dorian that life is utterly pointless so one may as well spend it drowning in luxury, and upon reading a book where the main character meets a tragic end, Dorian decides that he rather likes this outlook and proceeds to delve deep into the world of shameless
hedony.
Both of characters are tragic: Henry is such because of his evil nature, and Dorian even more so because of his innocent nature that was subsequently corrupted by the former. Moral corruption is what lends the most credence to Duggan's interpretation. Had it not been for Lord Henry's meddling, Dorian Gray would have aged and died, not unlike the rest of us mortals, and most likely without murdering or otherwise destroying lives. It was Dorian's exposure to debauchery that ruined him and consequently provides the most support to the argument that this novella was an open critique of aestheticism.