Demimonde whom Captain Rawdon Crawley lusts after in his younger days. Becky Sharp is perceived as a demimondaine before she is presented at court, and then becomes one when she travels through Europe after her husband abandons her. Possibly the most famous portrayal of the demimonde, albeit from before the word was coined, is in Verdi's opera "La traviata" (1853). The opera, in turn, was inspired by Alexandre Dumas the younger's "La Dame aux Camélias;" Marguerite Gautier, the heroine of the book and subsequent play, was based on Marie Duplessis, 1840s Paris courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent men,
Verdi Square Sawyer and built in 1926–28. The 72nd Street New York City Subway station () lies under the square. The Verdi Square entrance to the station in the square is one of only three remaining head houses on the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line. In the center of Verdi Square stands a monument to the opera composer Giuseppe Verdi, erected in 1906. A statue of him by Pasquale Civiletti (1858–1952) stands at the top of it and statues of four of his most famous characters (Falstaff on the west side of the statue, Leonora of "La forza del destino" on the south