The quivering, ardent sunlight showed him the lines of cruelty round the mouth as clearly as if he had been looking into a mirror after he had done some dreadful thing.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 7. Dorian is looking at the portrait Basil painted of him and how it is changing after he breaks Sibyl’s heart – there are lines of cruelty around the mouth. A very effective simile is used to compare the painting to a mirror of himself after he had committed a terrible wrong. The painting fulfils the role of the Gothic supernatural element in Wilde’s novel.