Beauty and estheticism

Some days ago, we talked about beauty and symbolism of the beauty during the Middle Age in English class. We have had an interesting conversation on the topic saying that at that time a woman was considered attractive if she was fair-skinned and overweight because it represented wealth.

After the class, I started thinking about the beauty in general.

To me, I think there is a difference between beauty and estheticism. Something will be elected beautiful at a certain time because it meets the specific esthetic codes of the time but it will be ugly later if the codes have changed. The case of Middle Age we are studying is a good example. At that time, beauty was characterized by a fair-skin and over-weight, while today you have to be tanned and slim to catch eyes on you.

I think we are not talking about beauty here. We are talking about estheticism codes and that these codes vary with time.

I think beauty is not only limited to the physical appearance but also can be related to the emotion. We can be moved by a music, a scenery, the cherishing mother’s look on his baby…

Beauty is the richness of a person whatever how he/she looks like. The appearance should not have an influence on our judgment. As in the Wife of Bath Tale, wisdom and intelligence reveal the true beauty of someone. I have met a lot of people that were disgraceful but were so rich by their reflections and their open-mindedness that you wanted to stay with them. This is the real beauty.

Unfortunately, in our society, appearance often dictates the chance and opportunities that will be offered to you in your life.

To me beauty is not necessarily link to something visible. The quote I posted at the top of this page reflects pretty well what I mean by that –“ On ne voit bien qu’avec le coeur; l’essentiel est invisible aux yeux’’ which can be translated by “ We can only see well with the heart; Essentials are invisible to eyes’’