Traditional Gothic fiction reached the height of its popularity during the Victorian era, exploded in the 1790s and continued its reign until 1800. This style of Confrontational fiction often blurs the lines between the realistic and the artificial, forcing readers to challenge their beliefs and rise above the norm. However, the aspect of Gothic fiction that most appealed to Victorian audiences was the way in which human fears and social tensions were reflected in deliberately fictionalized literary works. Themes such as human greed for immortality and eternal beauty that underlie key Gothic texts such as Oscar Wilde's only novel The Picture of Dorian Gray have incited modern adaptations and the appropriation of these texts into modern culture. This text shows cultural and literary disciplines rooted in superficial concepts that have since become commonplace in today's superficial society. Contemporary texts such as the 2004 film The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (based on the comic of the same name) directed by Stephen Norrington, not only visualize the character of Dorian Gray but also easily assimilate other traditional Victorian Gothic characters including Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde , Mina Harker from Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera in today's society. Similarly, the internationally acclaimed novel and film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone written by JK Rowling incorporates not only the original Gothic theme of immortality and fear of death, but also many central motifs and characters that parallel the text Wilde's original. Modern societies wish to live forever as a reflection of Dorian Gray's lust for immortality. The hypnotization of the Victorian public by Gothic fiction can be attributed to the "fears connected... at the heart of the paper... the novel's manifestations are numerous and varied in context and validity, yet the central theme of the human desire for immortality and of the fear of growing old is the basis of everything. The central themes and characters of these classic texts have been easily adapted to popular culture with contemporary values ​​and attitudes. lit/doriangray/themes.html©2006 SparkNotes LLC(2) Concise Oxford Dictionary. 2007 Edition.(3) Images of Fear: How Horror Stories Helped Shape Modern Culture (1818-1918). Too much Page 3.(4) The paradox of Oscar Wilde. Collaborators: George Woodcock - author. Place of publication: New York. Year of publication: 1950. Cambridge Guide to Gothic Fiction by Jerrold E. Hogle (ed.) (6) Gothic the New Critical Idiom, Fred Botting; DS Brewer, 2001.