Appearance, above all else is what matters at the days end. Oscar Wilde makes commentaries on this aspect of Victorian society in many of his works: sometimes subtly as in ‘The Disciple’, sometimes outrageously as he does in ‘Lady Windermere’s Fan.’ The ‘aesthetics of appearance’ can be applied to both, the physical beauty of a single person, and a kind of societal beauty – where society viewed ones conformity to it’s norms and how well one related to the community. In the case of ‘The Disciple,’ Narcissus and the pool can be considered metaphors for Wilde’s relation to society or at the very least be a statement on how society and it’s socialites relate to one another. Narcissus would sit on the banks of the pool of water and gaze into it, reveling at his own reflection and beauty. When asked by the Oreads of his beauty, the pool only questioned: was Narcissus beautiful? The pool questioned the legitimacy of his beauty because she had never truly gazed at him. She responds: “But I loved Narcissus because , as he lay on my banks and looked down at me, in the mirror of his eyes I saw ever my own beauty mirrored.” (246) Given the decadent culture of the late Victorian aesthetes, it can be easy to see how self involved any physically beautiful person may become. We see a perfect example of this in Oscar Wilde’s book, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray.’ It was all the adulation he received for his dashing and unnatural good looks that drove antagonist, Dorian to make the Faustian bargain that allowed him to keep his youth but which ultimately lead to his demise. In another’s eyes lay not the beauty of that person but only the assurance that through this person one may find what they wish to see. Actual individuality, it would seem was rarely ever seen throughout English society at the time, let alone applauded. ‘The Disciple’ tells a version of the Greek tale of Narcissus, but when demystified can easily be read to explain Wilde’s view of the society he was living in. In other people, they want reflect