Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder - Essay Example

No one can deny that people’s standard for being beautiful is first the value of one’s facial and body form. If one is shown a photograph of Jocelyn Wildenstein’s multi-million dollar face, he would not definitely approve of her to hit even the last number in the 50 million most beautiful women list. That may be rude but sometimes we just have to face the truth of how people evaluate beauty. Of course, one would wonder why Mr. Wildenstein’s paid enormous amounts for his wife’s surgeries.

That face called by many as ugly might just be the prettiest in his eyes. In this case, the saying that goes, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” holds true. On a general note, people value the appearance of one’s face but sometimes, the value of a person’ overall appearance can change that. The Eye of the Beholder depicts how a woman came to realize what she values more in her personal view of beautiful. The storyteller who looked at herself as ugly sought for professional help to become beautiful.

However, when the artist thought she made a very good job, the main character realized that the value of beauty to her was being herself and having an identity. Perhaps the make-up artist beamed with pride with the change that she made in the physical appearance of her customer however, she was shocked with the reaction of the customer. She said, “I look terrible” (Suh, 189). . With this, the protagonist says she feels negated. Furthermore, she says, “I have been blotted out and another face drawn in my place” (198).

For the woman, she realized that being beautiful is not being like the other women. She valued her identity and that is what is beautiful in her eyes. “Hideous” was another word the main character used to describe herself when she looked at her new appearance. “I don’t even look human”, she continued, “Look at my eyes. You can’t even see me”. Maybe the protagonist was not really being unappreciative of the work of her make-up artist. She was acting so rudely because she felt she was turned into another human being.

Or perhaps she might have been talking about her inner appearance. In the first place, she was the one who went to the shop to ask for help and the help was given to her. However, she might have felt that she betrayed her self and this made her feel terrible. She did not recognize her self anymore. “Hideous” might have been a word she used to describe her looks but it might have also been her description of her self because of the betrayal she committed. Coming from the shop, the main character went to wash her face and when she looked once again at her reflection, she thought, “I wasn’t pretty.

But I was familiar and comforting. I was myself” (190). One could understand that another thing that the character values, is being one’s self. When she was observing herself in the shop, she said, “My face had a strange plastic sheen, like a mannequin’s.” She was disgusted at her reflection and she wondered if what she did was right. She questioned her appearance and considered it being fake. She was not her self therefore