From the Platonic view, the essence of beauty focuses on the prosperities and grievances encompassing us in our physical and abstract expressions, by which things like art, music, culture, and people touch us in our everyday lives. They are the embodiment of human virtues, feelings and desires expressed inexplicitly on these more tangible mediums. To go further, Plato explains that the things we like or the things we think to be beautiful hold subtle truths about own lives that we are currently missing. Strength, harmony, balance and peace are some of the many example of things that that humans aspire to obtain but don’t successfully acquire, thus our own desires are projected onto things we see, hear, feel and taste. But is the beauty indifferent …show more content…
However in the arts, where ugliness is an essential component. It holds a deeper truth and imposes a beauty by perhaps a message that this is how it should never be and as Jeans Rostand says “beauty in art is often nothing but ugliness subdued”.
I can extrapolate onto Plato’s own philosophy to say that beauty, being an abstract in nature can also be constructed by rather very real and concrete things we can objectively point out and recognize. William Shakespeare emphasizes in his play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind.”(Shakespeare). The same could be said for beauty in the sense that an ideology, a cultural zeitgeist or even a person’s disposition can alter your own interpretation. Say you meet a person you find very beautiful, only to find out he/she is a racist, a bigot or unsupportive of equal rights movements. However attractive one may originally find them, the horribly misplaced sense of judgement, one may subjectively proclaim, will emanate a much larger sense of ugliness. This shows that the subjective truth that screams to us also holds an objective one that can be shaped not only through ideals and repercussions in our lives but also through human virtues and so on. Furthermore there are other
Beauty is often measured on the appearance and the aesthetic value of art. Often this is the case. Beauty can be on the outside and many artworks do this extremely well. However, what about the beauty on the inside or the beauty in the story behind it? Beauty in our modern world looks beyond the inside and sees only the outside beauty. People idolize "beautiful" people because that is what society is doing. Not only in people, but also
For centuries mankind has unsuccessfully attempted to define beauty. Greek philosophers, including Plato, tried to define beauty as if it were as simple as any other law in nature. However this cannot be so because the idea of what is beautiful has varied throughout cultures and the ages. In the 1800s women who were pale and rather plump were considered objects of desire; but in today’s society, desirable women are slender and tan, among other things. The fact is that today, beauty is as unobtainable as it is indefinable. All of today’s supermodels, as seen in millions of advertisements, have been modified, airbrushed, and photoshopped. Women desiring this beauty have turned to various
The beliefs which made the United States of America the prodigious country it is today, began during it’s early colonization-a time in the life of this great nation which is everlastingly remembered with pride. America 's foundation rested upon the ideals of diversity, innovation, and the ability to exhibit strength in the face of adversity; there are few who have embodied this vision of America more completely than Pocahontas and Benjamin Franklin. Tragic and historical events developed during the lives of Pocahontas and Benjamin Franklin; although their individual situations required very different reactions, both persevered, therefore granting those who came after them the ability to reflect on America’s beginnings with admiration and pride.
What really determines something to be beautiful. In Lucy Grealy’s narrative, “Mirrors”, she describes her journey of finding her own idea of beauty. As a child she had cancer in her face so she had surgery to remove but it caused her face to be deformed. Consequently, she was bullied because of the way she looked, which caused her self esteem to lower immensely. As a result, she had undergone many surgeries and even went as far as to travel to another country to try and fix her face. Therefore, as she gets older she not only alters herself physically but mentally. She finally realizes that how people see us should not influence how we view ourselves not only physically but mentally as well. So she decides to never look at a mirror because she feels she does not have to to know what she looks like anymore. She finally accepted the way she looks and started focussing on her personal well being and recognizes that's what is actually important. Society has a critical impact on the way we see ourselves because of the way social media shows us that we should look a certain way, people telling us we should look a certain way, your negative thoughts about how you look, and how society determines your value based on looks.
* Plato believed there was an ultimate universal element to beauty that could be understood formulaically.
To understand Plato’s argument, he gives us an interesting theory, his theory of forms. If we take the example of a beautiful person, not only does Plato say that there is the form of beauty and there is the beautiful person, but he also seems to say that there is the beauty present in that person which is distinct both from the person and from the form. (Lecture from 11/27). This beauty can come and go, and must, either withdraw or disappear at the approach of ugliness.
Theseus’s monologue in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, about the insanity of lovers shows this clearly when it describes how the lover in question perceives his love as having ‘Helen’s beauty’, even without being objectively unattractive. This reference was clear and would definitely be understood by Shakespeare’s intended audience. Even in modern art and literature Helen of Troy from the Trojan horse myths is seen as the epitome of beauty.
Mandy Conway Mrs. Guynes English 12 16 March 2000 A Critical Analysis of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" William Shakespeare, born in 1594, is one of the greatest writers in literature. He dies in 1616 after completing many sonnets and plays. One of which is "A Midsummer Night's Dream." They say that this play is the most purely romantic of Shakespeare's comedies. The themes of the play are dreams and reality, love and magic. This extraordinary play is a play-with-in-a-play, which master writers only write successfully. Shakespeare proves here to be a master writer. Critics find it a task to explain the intricateness of the play, audiences find it very pleasing to read and watch. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a
In the argument of affinity, Socrates asked “what kind of thing is likely to be scattered? On behalf of what kind of thing should one fear this, and for what kind of things should one not fear it?” (Plato, 78b, pp. 116). Socrates asked this question because he wants to prove that the soul is not a composite, that it remains unchanged, thus cannot be destroyed. Socrates gave an example of beauty, such as the beauty of people or clothing. Socrates asked Cebes if the beauty of an individual can be compared to the beauty of another person. Cebes agreed that beauty of an individual can be compared, thus their beauty can change. Socrates explained that this type of beauty if visible, and because there is visible beauty, Socrates argued that there
Thesis: Many may find that the essence of beauty is primarily focused on what you look like, rather than what is deep within. It is an evil first instinct we all possess. Ugliness; however, is more than just what a person looks like. A person could be visually appealing, yet have evil intentions deep within. Likewise, a person could be deemed as ugly purely based on what they look like, but within they could have the most beautiful heart.
Beauty sets standards for society through appearance, especially in younger generations due to use of social media and picture editing. “Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder” is a saying that has been around for ages (Plato, n.p.). It is an accurate phrase because of contrasting views within particular individuals. Beauty is present in the good deeds of community members as well as the unity exhibited through dreadful events. It is a flower bud breaking through the dirt into the fresh, spring air. To clarify how beauty is viewed, it is often times the exposure of evil accounting for the new appreciation of something beautiful. After recognizing the privileges we acquire, the existence of beauty is revealed and expressed more easily. In current society, appreciating beauty is substantial to
Beauty and aesthetics can be defined as “Nothing more nor less, than sensitivity to the sublime and the beautiful and an aversion to the ordinary and ugly”, this means that beauty can be absolutely anything which is beautiful as long as it is not ugly or ordinary, this may seem harsh, much like the poems by William Shakespeare and Jonathan Swift. In both poems; ‘Sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare and ‘A beautiful young nymph going to bed’ by Jonathan Swift, aesthetic beauty is explored in a brutal and honest light. Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 130’ tells the story of a man describing his mistress
know the feeling one can have when one hears a beautiful song that brings joy to ones heart, stand in a field of flowers that excites ones eyes, or admire a face that is visually pleasing. The controversial issue that surrounds beauty is that some believe that true beauty is defined by someone’s outer appearance, while others believe it is something that is experiences through a person’s character. Beauty is defined as the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the sense or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit. The secret of beauty has been a quest of humans for centuries. It has been determined that women and some men spend up to one third of their income on products and procedures that enhance their looks. People spend way too much time looking in the mirror, scrutinizing, worrying, fretting, and wishing people could change something about themselves. People dream of looking like the girl at work because she has great hair, or the girl people meet at a party because she is skinny, with the perfect nose. This happens because people are constantly on social media. A pretty face is not a complete definition of beauty, nor is the quality of one being kind and compassionate. To contain beauty, someone or something does not have to be physically beautiful. Beauty is everywhere. Take a simple flower.
Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us
If there was no such thing as sympathy, empathy, or love in our world, it would be a hard place to live. If there was no hard law or reason in our world, it would be a crazy place to live. Neither of these worlds would be anybody’s first choice as a home - it's just common sense take away either of these two fundamental aspects of life, and everything is immediately chaos. In fact, it is only in a world such as ours, where legal and human emotion work together, that we are happy. In William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare recognizes this truth and uses the two settings to represent the city of Athens as law, order, civility, and judgment, while the woods represent chaos, incivility, dreams, and love.