Is beauty skin deep?
Beauty is pleasure
Some say that beauty is skin deep. This is based on misconception about meaning of the term. Beauty is not relatable to human appearance only. An object of beauty may be human being- man or woman, animal- a beautiful dog, place, surroundings, work, feeling or anything we may think of. The concept of beauty is closely related to feeling of pleasure. Whatever gives pleasure contains beauty. Keats rightly wrote that a thing of beauty is pleasure forever.
Beauty is subjective
Beauty is not objective. What appears beauty to one may not be appealing to another. Hence, it is said that beauty lies in the eyes of beholder. Everyone does not relish beauty. You need Majnu’s eyes to appreciate beauty of Laila. All do not have aesthetic sense and ability to appreciate beauty. Plato considered beauty and ability to appreciate beauty as essential feature of ideal citizen.
Beauty is sense of proportion
A thing of beauty is not something that you may laugh at. Often ugliness makes you laugh. A bad work may appear as a cartoon or caricature at which you may laugh. While a thing of beauty or a beautiful work of art is proportionate in all parts, the cartoons include disproportionate parts. The cartoonist will draw legs or nose too small or too short, which will evoke laughter. But this will not appeal as beauty. In the movie, Satyam, Shivam, Sunderam, people laughed at their funny images in mirrors. But the hero has a robust love for beauty. On seeing mirror, he got very angry and disgusted. He saw funny images- very long or round face. This made others laugh but the hero starred by Shashi Kapoor was very annoyed. Beauty means balance and harmony with nature. Nature is beautiful. Any painting or work of art that resembles the natural object is beautiful work. Else this may be cartoon or caricature or even a sheer waste. Anything in right proportion is a thing of beauty. This view is supported by Pythagoras. According to the theory, there is strong connection between beauty and mathematics. Renaissance and the Humanism schools of thought also considered beauty as a product of rational order and harmony of proportions.
Perception of beauty depends on environment and habits
What we get habituated to see becomes a thing of beauty. Hence a perception of beauty differs from place to place. Fair or white is beautiful in India. But black is beautiful in Africa. In China, small feet of girls are considered beautiful. The sense of beauty is also conditioned by personal views and social environment.
Beauty is also of inner personality
Beauty does not depend on appearance only. This is often combination with inner beauty that includes intelligence, grace, and politeness. What gives joy is beautiful. It is beyond any shadow of doubt that a misbehaved, ignorant, harsh, impolite person cannot give pleasure to anyone. So despite good looks, he is not beautiful. As beauty is a subjective concept, the likes and dislikes of an individual also determine what beauty means to him. However, despite change in perception of beauty in ages, humans relatively young, smooth skinned, well built and proportionate bodies have been traditional perceived as beautiful.
Beauty of women
Researchers have approximated beautiful woman as one with waist to hip ratio of approximately 0.70. This is very much close to the concept of link between beauty and mathematics. Movie and media images have also influenced peoples’ perception of women’s beauty.
How perception of beauty affects society
Beauty concept is also a standard of comparison. The not so beautiful may suffer from some handicaps. The more beautiful women get employed easily. It is easier to get the beautiful girls married. In some cases, beauty may also be handicap. Many women do not like to employ pretty women as house maids for the fear that they may woo their husbands.
The researchers have revealed many affects of beauty. Teachers give higher grade to beautiful students. Doctors also care morte for beautiful patients. A study says that skin conditions have a profound effect on social opportunities. Beauty no doubt is a favorable factor in interviews. A study has shown that physical beauty also affects earnings.
Conclusion
we may conclude that beauty is what you feel. Beauty is a gift of nature. This is valuable asset. This should be preserved and improved upon. Everyone can be beautiful. Not only physical appearance but entire personality matters. An ugly looking person may have very beautiful voice, capacity to write beautifully, paint beautifully and perform beautifully. Decent and good behavior also adds to overall beauty.
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