By 1890, Wilde seemed to have reached the [?] that the evil in himself could not be [?]. So in his next work, he [?] the theme, not within the safe [?] of a fairytale, but in a dark, [?] novel with a tragic ending: The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891). As its title [?], the novel has a central character whose nature is [?]: his childlike [?] is gradually [?]. He becomes increasingly evil as the novel progresses, finding [?] in evil, though he sometimes [?] for his lost innocence. Finally, he becomes so evil that he cannot bear it. On discovering that he cannot [?] that which is lost, he becomes desperate and [?] kills himself.