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BEAUTY - Susan Sontag (1933-2004)

"Beauty" first published in Vogue magazine in 1975, Susan Sontag traces the history of a word which was once defined as "general excellence" but which has often been used to characterise "female appearance." Her purpose in this essay is to show how a woman's beauty has been degraded while being called beautiful and how that conceives their true identity as it seems to portray innocence and honesty while hiding the ugliness of the truth. The feminist author shows that over the centuries Westerners have significantly altered their idea of beauty; the Greeks thought of it as the quality of personal excellence, whereas now the Westerners think of it as a surface attractiveness that gives power to its possessor.

Sontag uses narrative structure to express the conventional attitude, which defines beauty as a concept applied today only to women and their outward appearance. The essayist introduces her essay to the audience by establishing a focal point around the fact that women viewed today are copied from the religious perspective of how women were viewed in history. 

During ancient times, Greeks and Christians practised their own methods of analysing and critiquing women and their beauty. The Greeks believed that the lack of ‘inner” beauty could be compensated with “outer” beauty. For them, beauty was a virtue a kind of excellence. To them, excellence included beauty, character, morality, and ability. They expected that inner beauty would be matched by the beauty of the other kind. They distinguished the two beauties in a way that suggested that both were interconnected to one another within an individual. For Greeks, beauty means overall excellence. Therefore, it was quite contradictory that Socrates was so brave, so honourable, and so intelligent yet so ugly. His outside appearance didn't reflect the knowledge and wisdom that were inside him. His disciples had observed the inside beauty in their teacher. 

Christianity, on the other hand, gave moral significance to beauty; in defining beauty, a person could have an attractive appearance, but lack virtue(goodness). So, Christians made a distinction between inner goodness and outer beauty. Beauty was considered to have no real value. It was not nearly as important as character.

In modern times, the concept of beauty changed and is used to refer to a female appearance. When people hear the word 'beauty', they think of "female appearance" and not her intelligence or quality. We say a beautiful woman and a handsome man in English (in French and Italian, the word 'beauty' is not reserved for women only. A man may also be called beautiful). Even society teaches women to judge each part of their bodies separately and if any part is found slightly imperfect, they are called imperfect. It will certainly make them more inferior and dependent on males. But for males, such imperfections are trivial (not important) things. 

One of the famous artists states beauty is a form of power. According to Susan, it is the only form of power to attract men that most women are encouraged to seek. It is not a power to do but a power to reject itself. As a result, women try to get it makes them inferior to what they actually are. That's why Susan objects to woman's striving to attain beauty as a source of power.

Even if a woman gets success in her intelligence, she will be doubted. If she takes care of her appearance and looks smart she will be criticised. If she doesn't look attractive, she will also be criticised and ignored. Whatever she does is considered wrong. Society has a prejudice against women. 

Women should not limit their attention to being beautiful outwardly but also emphasise inner beauty too- i.e. vision and wisdom, which is long-lasting and more fruitful. They should be competent, independent, and thoughtful in order to revive the ideal value of beauty and preserve their identity in society.

Works Cited:

"A Woman's Beauty: Put-Down Source?" Analysis. (2019, Dec 15). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/essay-2-example-essay

IvyPanda. (2020, December 22). "A Woman's Beauty" by Susan Sontag. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-womans-beauty-by-susan-sontag/

Sotang, S. (2021). Beauty. In S. Lohani, Visions A Thematic Anthology (pp. 267-272). Kathmandu: Vidyarthi Pustak Bhandar.

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