What is beauty? People have always attempted to find, create, and pursue it. A quick checkout at the grocery store will reveal a plethora of magazines devoted purely to what they call beauty and the proper pursuit of it. Most have an idea of what they might personally define as beauty, but not as a general, sweeping definition. That which one might label ugly another might call absolutely stunning. Some find beauty in cats, others in dogs, just as some favor early morning mountain ranges over a sun setting over the plains. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is the favorite adage quoted by many to explain for this discrepancy, but what does that quickly-spat out phrase even mean? In reality, while the adage is partially true, beauty is not relative or subject to our human whim - it is an ideal created and truly attained only by God, which as His children we are to reflect in love. With a brief analysis, the adage “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” perfectly explains and melds into our personal selves, our culture, and the world today. What do people mean when they state this adage? To understand it, we must take a closer look at the three crucial words in the sentence – beauty, eye, and beholder. First, what is beauty? According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, “beauty is the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit” (1). Pleasure is the key word in that definition, implying that the beauty in something is relative to one’s personal pleasure in it. The next word is “eye”, not meaning the literal eye, but referencing the perception, method and personal mindset through which the beauty is viewed. Finally, the use of “beholder” em... ... middle of paper ... ... use the old metaphor, we are all the blind men, feeling and describing different yet important parts of the elephant of beauty as God guides our hands. He is the ultimate truth and standard by which we determine truth. God is love (1 John 4:8) and therefore standard by which we determine what is and is not loving. God created beauty, a very good thing, and therefore God is beautiful. If even heathens find His works glorious and breath-taking, how much more beautiful He must be! Therefore, as children of the Creator of beauty, striving to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29), we are to exhibit His beauty – His love – in all areas of our life. Works Cited 1. "Beauty - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 4 Feb. 2010.
beauty before we can truly cherish other forms of beauty around us. “Two or three things
?Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? is one of the most commonly known proverbs. In the Twilight Zone?s short film, ?Eye of the Beholder? that same proverb is used as a metaphor to demonstrate how beauty and acceptance are illustrated in the real world. The film tells the story of a woman whose hideously deformed face has made her an outcast all of her life. Now she faces her nearly a dozen and final operation for a last chance to look normal with the help of unseen surgeons.
In today’s culture, depending on the person, beauty can be depicted as a positive influence or as a negative influence. Alyssa Giacobbe outlines beauty in her article, “Youth, Beauty, and An Obsession with Looks.” Giacobbe swings towards a more negative viewpoint.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or is it in the eye of society and its standards? Could this beholder be blindsided by society? These questions will raise millions of answers because no one seems to know the true answer, but then again is there really a wrong answer? Everyone seems to have different or similar opinions but do their judgement come from what they see or what they are told beauty should be.
What is Beauty? Is it the figure of the woman we see? Why do we think that someone is only beautiful if they have make-up and other false beauty enhancers to make themselves feel more impeccable to others. Dove the company behind all the natural shampoos and gels want to know what people of today think real impeccable beauty is.
On the covers of many of the best-selling magazines, there are gorgeous models or beautiful actresses promoting the next weight loss secret, the newest fashion trend or a new bronzer to give your face a glowing, airbrushed look. However, these covers can often cause controversy. In 2011, Hunger Games star, Jennifer Lawrence, was featured in the magazine, Flare. The only word to describe Lawrence was beautiful. Her hair, skin and body looked like perfection but the public found out it was all a lie. Jennifer Lawrence had been airbrushed. The magazine company had dyed her hair, given her plastic surgery, and helped her drop ten pounds all with the click of a button. In an interview about the cover, Lawrence went on to say, “That doesn't look like me at all. People don't look like that." Jennifer Lawrence has a point. The definition of beauty has changed from finding a partner to survive with to going through body altering pain to get close to the media’s standards of perfection.
By these verses of scripture, we see that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, and is not dictated by the changing winds of society; that beauty is most valued and sought after when it has been cherished and saved behind a wall; and that romantic love in the deepest sense of the word, is found not in endless resources such as Solomon but in appreciation of one
As stated by ‘The Duchess’, Margaret Wolfe Hungerford’s famous quote “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” As a result, beauty can describe as an inspiring view present in everything that can be seen. To begin, beauty can be viewed in a building as large and extravagant as the white house to the small hometown market or even in the sight of a single flower to a field filled with a million flowers. Also, beauty can be seen in the sunrise over the peaks of the mountains and also in the sunset glowing across a calm lake surrounded by the bright colors of the fall trees. Furthermore, people have physical beauty, which can be found in a person’s features, figure, or complexion. In the poem “Beauty & Dress” by Robert Herrick he explains the beauty he sees in his wife. Herrick states,
Beauty has differed through time, different cultures and perceptions of the world. It’s not easy to define beauty, you could say that there are “a thousand” definitions of beauty. And there are numerous degrees of each. “Beauty depends on the eye of the beholder”. This saying is correct because what one individual considers beautiful is not necessarily what another individual may consider beautiful. Someone “beautiful on the outside” can be “ugly inside”. The media and the society are constantly using the conception of “beauty” to show us what we should strive to be. They assert that we have to appear a certain way to be viewed as beautiful. This is wrong, so what is beauty, really, and what different ways of looking at beauty are there?
Variations of this question are timeless, and without ever defining beauty, we are constantly attempting to achieve it. Hundreds of years ago the essence of beauty was a philosophical question. Plato was one of the first to conjecture that beauty may be due to what he called the "golden proportions." Plato went on to describe that the "width of an ideal face would be two-thirds its length, while a nose would be no longer than the distance between the eyes." (3) Although all of Plato's ideas were not entirely defendable, it was the first recognition that symmetry might play a part in what humans deem attractive.
There are many misconceptions about beauty and its importance, in todays society. In a time when physical beauty can be of utter importance, we seem to be at a loss of it. What is beauty and where can it be found? Can we see it in the air we breathe, the brilliant oceans, in the striking sunsets, or even in one another? With the weight of beauty in today's society, the common use of expressions used to describe life's brilliance is expected. The many expressions used to discuss beauty such as "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" and "beauty runs only skin deep" all stimulate different opinions and create controversy, but the most notorious of all, being that "beauty doesn't last forever." Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty reinstates the many questions regarding beauty and it's value, regardless of the time in which it is present. As time goes on, all that is beautiful and magical in the world will eventually become extinct. In her web review of the novel, Amanda Holland-Minkley, a professor at Cornell University, argues that the guiding theme throughout the novel is "the presence of magic and beauty in the world, and the risk we run of allowing them to disappear." As Beauty lives through the 20th century, her new experiences cause her to view life from a different perspective. Her once peaceful and simple life in the 14th century at Westfaire was now changed into a life where famine, drugs, violence, disease, overpopulation, and pain were all too common. In this world, beauty and magic are non-existent, so much so that the standards of beauty have minimized to almost nothing. Beauty says, "The worst part of living here is that nothing is beautiful. Magic doesn't work" (101). The time in which Beauty is living through is completely voi...
In American culture today, society's view of beauty is controlled by Hollywood, where celebrities are constantly in the lime-light. The media watches Hollywood's every move, and is quick to ridicule “A-listers” whenever they dare to gain a few pounds or to let an uncontrollable pimple show. The media has created a grossly distorted mental image of what should be considered beautiful, and with almost every junior high and high school-age girl reading and viewing this message, the idea has been instilled in them as well. This view of beauty is causing many teenage girls to become obsessed with a highly problematic and unattainable goal of perfection.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, is a very famous quote by Margaret Wolfe Hungerford. Martin, Gary. ("Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder." Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beholder. The Phrase Finder, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2014) This quote means that many different people see beauty in their own way. Beauty can be found in many different forms such as personal appearance, nature, personality, art and architecture. Modern societal values and those of the ancient Greeks hold both similar and different ideals of beauty. Today we value beauty most often as hair, body shape, money, and face. Ancient Greeks valued beauty as a sum of parts formed into a coherent whole with symmetry, harmony,and proportion as the key elements. (Sartwell,Beach) We can see the ancient Greeks ideal of beauty given physical form through their statues, architecture, and paintings. Women are the major focus in terms of the physical display of the ideal beauty. In today’s modern world women just go out and get plastic surgery to correct perceived physical faults, dye their hair to the desired color, or artificially tan to get a darker skin color. However, back in ancient Greece women would stay inside to become paler to retain a lighter skin tone. They used sheep grease for foundation, and like today they would pluck out unwanted hairs to get their natural hair line. (Valentine, LaNae. "Beauty through the Ages | Recapturing Beauty) Each era has their own and different ways to define beauty. There are many different philosophies of beauty in each era because people try to interpret the real meaning of beauty. Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates are three very important figures from ancient Greece whose philosophies on beauty capture the views of that era on beauty. P...
The concept of beauty can be hard to define, as it is an ever-evolving notion. What people perceive as beauty has varied through time, across cultures (Fallon 1990) and can also vary based on individuals. To a culture, beauty can be its customs and traditions, and to an individual it can include physical appearance (outer beauty) or personality (inner beauty). However the word beauty can also defer according to gender, Ambrose Bierce (1958) once wrote, “To men, a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he wears? But a woman’s body is the woman.” Despite the societal changes achieved since Bierce’s time, this statement still holds true. Attractiveness is a prerequisite for femininity but not for masculinity (Freedman, 1986).
But I have come to the conclusion that it is more of a personal understanding rather than straight examples. Another common phrase associated with beauty is, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". This statement holds so much truth because not everyone sees the same beauty. The definition of beauty by dictionary.com is, "the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest)". (dictionary.com) Beauty appeals to an individual's senses, therefore, creating a personal preference. Due to the fact of this term being so vast, the state of beauty changes. Associated words include charm, allure, grace, style, and many others. Clearly, the definition and synonyms together mean that beauty is not strictly appearance, but how one