Beneath its purple pall, the face painted on the canvas could grow bestial, sodden, and unclean. What did it matter? No one could see it. He himself would not see it. Why should he watch the hideous corruption of his soul? He kept his youth – that was enough. And, besides, might not his nature grow finer, after all? There was no reason that the future should be so full of shame. Some love might come across his life, and purify him, and shield him from those sins that seemed to be already stirring in spirit and in flesh – those curious unpictured sins whose very mystery lent them their subtlety and their charm.
– Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 10. Concealed by its purple cover in the locked attic, Dorian knows that his portrait will continue to corrupt and show the erosion of his soul. Why should he watch it, he asks himself? He keeps the full bloom of his youth and that is enough for him. He holds out hope that some day love might enter his life to purge and protect him from the future sins stirring up inside him. But at this point redemption seems a forelorn hope for Dorian, who confesses his that he is attracted by the "charm" of this life of sin.