Module Two Writing Assignment: The Grotesque Old Woman

Module two writing assignment: The Grotesque Old Woman Everyone has their own perception of beauty. The attractive attributes in something or someone is based on an opinion. In other countries and cultures their definition of beauty might be different than others. What my culture considers beautiful can be repulsive to other cultures. I define beauty in a few different ways. I believe a person can be physically attractive or internally attractive or both. There are features on a person’s body such as, white teeth, freckles, moles, or clear skin making that person unique. On the other hand, a person can be considered beautiful because their personality is delightful. Massy’s, “A Grotesques Old Woman” is the perfect example of the proverb “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

As I studied the portrait, I realized it was a woman because in the sixteenth century there were no plastic surgeons providing men with breast implants. The ugly woman in the portrait appears deformed; her ears are large; her skull is unusually shaped; her hair line is missing; she has no eyebrows; her neck weighs heavy (double chin) like she had been pregnant before; her nose and mouth are far apart. She is wearing a vail or she is a religious catholic woman. My perception of the portrait has changed a notch, in fact, when you analyze her eyes she seems like a compassionate person. Perhaps in the sixteenth century in Massy’s culture “A Grotesques Old Woman” is considered beautiful because she is different than other woman portrayed in other