By being devalued by men, the woman in The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde emphasizes the societal norm and the expectations they demand. Through Sibyl's suicide, she manifested herself into the person she was described as being in Lord Henry's opinion, as she committed suicide because of the shame born from the love of Dorian. In a society where women have no independence, the expectation that they must rely on their husbands is confirmed by the fact that there is no distinction between Lady Henry's opinion and that of her husband. The woman's role begins to degrade as her only mentioned value, namely her beauty, begins to be dominated by the frequent mention of Dorian's own beauty, thus limiting her position within their respected societies. The female characters are weakened from the positions expected of them and so it is through this that we can see Wild's position, as he demonstrates that women were limited, therefore Wilde is suggesting that women were not only powerless, but ignored as individuals. within the society of the novel. In the text, Sibyl's character was contrasted to the other women as she became proof of how women were seen as mere objects meant to serve their men, as her life and eventual demise was due to her fear of not being loved by Dorian Gray. Sibyl affirmed the degradation of women as it is her character that compels both Dorian and Lord Henry to proclaim the chauvinistic views of the public. The day after Sibyl's death, Dorian exclaims: "She has returned to the field of art. There is something of a martyr about her. His death has all the pathetic uselessness of martyrdom, all its beauty wasted. (W...... middle of paper ...... in the text it is mentioned in the quote: "I know, now, that when you lose your beauty, whatever it may be, you lose everything ( … ) Youth is the only thing worth having” (Wilde 70) This is where we can see Henry’s theory of beauty as well as society’s perception of beauty. she is the most valuable aspect of a person according to Patricia Rigg in her article Aesthetics, the Maternal and "This End of Love", she mentions how beauty is commonly associated with the way a society treats it. perceives, as she states: “The word “aestheticism” is etymologically linked to the Greek word esthesis, meaning “perception”, and construction and perception are linked to culturally informed expectations. Therefore, beauty is ultimately. a culturally defined construct: one's personal ideology affects one's perception and evaluation of beauty (Rigg). 508)