Find the Sibyl in us All

            At times people can portray themselves as a different kind of person then they truly are inside. They give off an image that they think people will appreciate and approve of rather than just being who they really are. In the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, the character of Sibyl Vane points out this discrepancy in Dorian. Throughout his life, Dorian is easily influenced by Lord Henry and does everything he says because he wants others to approve of him in his society. Sibyl is the kind of person Dorian could be with if he wasn’t so concerned about the approval of others. When Lord Henry said, “If you had married this girl, you would have been wretched…I say nothing about the social mistake, which would have been abject, which, of course, I would not have allowed, but I assure you that in any case the whole thing would have been an absolute failure,” Dorian immediately lost his guilt over Sibyl’s suicide. If he wasn’t so absorbed with what others thought of him, then he may have married Sibyl anyway. In his true nature, he fell in love with a simple girl. If only he just stuck to that nature…

            In the world today people are just as easily influenced by others as Dorian was. Some people put on an image that they think others will find “cool”, or “popular” even if it isn’t how they want to act or be seen. It is sad that people can’t act themselves without being judged for being different or not “cool” enough. But in who’s standards are these? Why do people seek to please others? More emphasis should be placed on being who you are and not caring what others think. People need to embrace their own thoughts and feelings without worrying about how others people view them. People need to find the "Sibyl's" in their life and stick to them.