Jordan Jeorge

Block: A
2/24/14
English 10
What is Beauty?

As once said by Confucius "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." While
beauty may exist within nature and our fellow human beings, many of us can't look past one
another's physical characteristics, judging one another by our looks the first second we get the
chance in introducing ourselves. Taking place in the late 19th century, the play "The Elephant
Man", written by Bernard Pomerance, is a great example of how our society continues to judge
one another based upon our own looks; having been more than 100 years since the events that
have taken place in Joseph Merrick's life. A life lived with fear and shame, Joseph Merrick was
born with numerous growths, both ranging in size and in locations surrounding his body. Due to
the ignorance that had taken place in the society at the time, many members of the society
outcasted and shamed Merrick for even existing. Our society still yet continues to judge one
another by our looks, not being able to look past our fellow human beings physical
characteristics, but still yet having the ability to call our society advanced. While being the
supposedly advanced society we have become, we still yet today continue to judge and value a
person's physical characteristics rather than their behavioral characteristics, which makes up who
we are as an individual; but as we continue to become a more advanced society, at some point in
the future, when will we discontinue the judgement of someone's physical characteristics rather
than someones behavioral characteristics; truly accepting who they are as a human being. When
will we as an advanced society, change the way we define beauty?

Having been born in the late nineteenth century, a time in which our society was just
beginning to become advanced and knowledgeable in medicine and the anatomy of the human
body, with his many deformities that progressively had gotten more and more worse by the day,
Joseph Merrick faced humiliation and prejudice every day of his life; having had to cover his
identity from the public, in order to protect himself from the many violent and ignorant members
of his society. As once said by Anne Roiphe A woman whose smile is open and whose
expression is glad has a kind of beauty no matter what she wears. While you as an individual of
your society may have certain behavioral traits and characteristics that may be more normal than
many of the other members of your society, those traits and characteristics that make-up who you
are as an individual, will never be seen as who you truly are today by the many other members of
your society; due to the publics prejudices of ones physical characteristics. Which is known as
the halo effect, the act of imparting positive characteristics and traits to attractive people,
which evidently occurs within our so called advanced society today (Eureka). As many of Joseph
Merricks genomic factors, that made-up who he was as an individual along with the many other
environmental factors that contributed to Joseph Merricks personality, began to appear in his
many physical characteristics as a young child, believed to have been at the age of two or the age
of five, many members of Merricks society including his family, began to impart negative
characteristics to Merricks unattractive looks, thus then humiliating and outcasting him
throughout his whole entire life (Autobiographical slideshow pamphlet). As the many of us
unfortunate members of our advanced society endure to live in a world that has continued to
progressively value and judge ones personality or essence by ones physical traits and
characteristics, rather than ones behavioral traits and characteristics, we as the unfortunate
members of our society begin to encounter the many prejudices that occur within our society;
questioning ourselves and overall the members that make-up our society, about when, sometime
in the future, will we as an advanced society change the way we define beauty?

Throughout human history, the preference for beauty has emerged since the beginning of
man, the nature of which continueing to be highly concerning to mankind throughout our
development into the race we are today. As human development occurs, the preference for
beautiful faces emerges quite quickly (Historical View of Beauty), soon becoming a personal
prejudice that is highly based on instinct rather than reason. Many argue that such a preference
occurs early on in childhood, due to the commercial material that exemplifies the beauty is
good stereotype (Eureka), rather than that, such a preference occurs due to inherited behavioral
traits from our parents. During the age of reason, beauty as a philosophical subject, arose as an
interest; but soon later on in the twentieth century, many artists and philosophers debunked
beauty as an important value and philosophical subject; thus then reaching to an ending point in
the twentieth century movement in arts and philosophy of the anti-aesthetics (Historical View
of Beauty). As once said by the Dalai Lama, Love and compassion are necessities, not
luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive. In other words, the love and compassion for
beauty that overall occurs in nature and humanity, is something required and indispensable,
something that should not be ignored nor taken for granted. That being said, while beauty may
occur in nature as a physical characteristic, in humanity, beauty is something within the soul, that
defines us as spiritual beings; something skin deep.

Presenting a standard for comparison or for objects, proportion according to phi, the
golden ratio (Historical View of Beauty), beauty, when not achieved, can cause the
resentment of a person, place, or inanimate object irrelevant towards beauty. In a numerous
amount of studies, researchers have found that both teens and young adults, no matter the case or
profession/occupation, more attractive students, defendants, employees, etc, receive positive
characteristics from their counterpart teachers, judges, employers, etc, rather than their fellow
students, defendants, employees, etc, that have ordinary appearances (Eureka). Throughout
human history, members of numerous societies have been discriminated and or humiliated for
their looks, known as lookism (Historical View of Beauty); but the many known individuals in
human history, that were not known for their aesthetic un-attractiveness, making use of their not
so good looks as a central aspect of their personality, have had very large impacts on society;
including individuals, such as Abraham Lincoln and Socrates. As once said by St. Augustine,
Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God
dispenses it even to the wicked. Beauty being an indispensable characteristic of nature and
humanity, appears in all living organisms; ignored and taken for granted by the many who are
considered beautiful. While beauty may be considered more of a standard for comparison or for
proportion (Historical View of Beauty), beauty will always exist within the soul; truly making-
up who we are as a human being.

As once said by Hellen Keller, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be
seen or even touched -- they must be felt with the heart." That being said, beauty is something
"skin deep", that cannot be characterized by one's physical characteristics, but by one's
behavioral characteristics. Appearing in nature, beauty is the standard for comparison and the
proportion according to phi (Historical View of Beauty), but when appearing in humanity,
beauty is the set of personal and behavioral characteristics that makes-up who we are as an
individual different to the other members of our society. As we continue to miss interpret beauty
as one's physical characteristics, we as an advanced society, begin to outcast and discriminate the
many other members of our society, missing out on the chance to allow our society to continue to
become more and more of an advanced society everyday. We as the advanced society we claim
to be, need to consider changing our definition of what is and isn't beautiful within our society;
helping us change our definition of beauty.
Bibliography:
"Beauty- Historical View of Beauty." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Mar.
2014.
Dawson, Alene. "What Is Beauty and Who Has It?" CNN. Cable News Network, 29 June
2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
"English Text of [The Elephant Man]." English Text of [The Elephant Man]. N.p., n.d.
Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
Eureka, Sissy S. "How Important Is Beauty?" Teen Ink. Teen Ink, n.d. Web. 05 Mar.
2014.
"Joseph Merrick." - Wikiquote. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.