Love, Beauty, and Honor - Essay Example

Religion and Technology 4 November Love, Beauty and Honor It is necessary to take into consideration the fact that such notions as love, beauty and honor are the most important ones in human life. However, people differ during various time periods. That is why the above-mentioned terms are not the same as well. The brightest example of this thought is the relationship between male and female. If earlier serious relations were possible only in marriage, in the contemporary world men and women live with each other without official ceremonies. The image of ideal appearance also undergoes constant changes. Women who were treated as the most beautiful during baroque seem to be ugly today. Modern people do not behave the same way as they did many centuries ago. The changes in the understanding of beauty, love and honor should be analyzed in detail in order to see the development of the humanity. However, it is possible if one analyzes all the periods of art development: classical, renaissance, baroque, romanticism, realism, impressionism, post-impressionism, modern and contemporary. It is necessary to stress that the notions of love, beauty and honor are closely connected with Humanities. It is possible to research these terms and changes in them only with the help of these sciences. The latter give an opportunity to resort to the use of historical facts, literature, arts and teach us to think analytically. It is impossible to view the changes in the image of beauty, love and honor without going back to some historical facts and the works of famous artists. Otherwise, the research will be plain and unreasoned. Initially, there was no ideal image of human beauty because only gods were depicted as the best-looking creatures. Nobody could be prettier than them. The majority of artists and sculptures depicted ideal bodies of gods. They seldom used ordinary people for their works. All sculptures and pictures demonstrated ideal body because the artists applied young athletes for models. It is necessary to stress that the ideal female beauty in classical period was represented by the image of Aphrodite mentioned in Homeric writings. Practically all sculptures and paintings depicted naked people. It was quite normal for classical period. There were some changes in renaissance. It should be noted that renaissance perceptions of beauty are easily seen in Botticelli’s Venus and Mars that is placed in the National Gallery in London. Thus, an ideal beauty of renaissance should have symmetrical features of her body and face, perfect alabaster skin. One should have high forehead, pale skin, the sharply defined chin, strawberry blond hair, delicate and high eyebrows, full lips, narrow mouth and strong nose. Venus depicted by Botticelli is dressed; however, it is done so that it is easy to understand that she has ideal body. The renaissance and humanism rejected the point of view that only gods can be beautiful and viewed beauty as a consequence of harmony of proportions and rational order. Renaissance artists began to stress human sexuality. The emphasis was made on female breast. Baroque period opposed to renaissance. All the artists belonging to this period resorted to the use of clearly defined planes. There was a continuous overlapping of elements and figures. All depictions looked psychologically and physically real. More bright and dramatically colors were applied. Caravaggio is the most celebrated representative of this period. The most famous pictures are: The Rich Old Man from the Parable by Rembrandt, Cupboard by Georg Flegel, The Coronation of the Virgin by Diego Velazquez, etc. The pictures and sculptures of the artists of this period demonstrated fat bodies because they were in fashion. An ideal woman of baroque should have fat hips, blond hair and deep navel. The period of romanticism was predetermined by rococo. An ideal woman should have resemblance with china statuette. This meant having thin waist, small head, roundish hips and narrow shoulders. Women wore pompous dresses with corsets. An ideal female beauty in romanticism was associated with dreaminess and paleness. These features were considered to be the symbols of virginity. Moreover, they helped to render the lightness of romanticism. Fat images of previous periods were substituted by very slim ones. Women created crinoline that helped to pay attention to their thin figure and give the impression of impregnability. Francisco Goya is the representative of romanticism period. The most remarkable pictures of his are: The Clothed Maja, Charles IV and his Family, The Duchess of Alba, La Reina Maria Luisa con Mantilla and others. This artist paid much attention to the mouths of his models. Thus, one of the sources about this artist states that: “The mouth plays a role in Goya's art more prominent than in that of any other major artist. Mouths leer, grin, gape, gasp, moan, shriek, belch. A hanged man's mouth lies open and a woman reaches up to filch his teeth. Grown men stick fingers in their mouths like sucking infants. Mouths vomit, the sick gushing out of them, and a great furry beast sicks up a pile of human bodies. Mouths guzzle: they guzzle avidly, ferociously, living flesh as well as dead” (Jarvis 128). This information demonstrates one of the peculiarities of Goya’s style. As for realism and impressionism, they gave birth to the appearance of bustle. Women became rather graceful and tender. An ideal beauty should have resemblance with the eastern image. Women did not use depilation because natural hairs on their bodies were in fashion. Later, when various mass media became very popular, they began to impose the characteristics of a true beauty on people. Thus, everyone wanted to look like Merlin Monroe. Women tried various diets and did everything possible to make their breast bigger. Today, the situation seems to be the same. Female beauty is characterized by blonde hair, accurately made make-up, slim figure and long legs. All these things are taken from popular movies and books. As for the notion of love, it also underwent considerable changes during various periods. For example, it was described very emotionally and in many details. Beloved people could not live without each other. These things were frequently applied to write epics. Each one concerned the theme of love. Rather frequently love and betrayal are combined in one and the same writing. The representative of classical literature of this type was Mymnerm. He was sentimental and always in love with somebody. He shared joy of love with the help of his works. Mymnerm was inspired by Nanno. So, he became the first poet who devoted his works to a beloved person. This became a tradition in all other time periods. Writers created their masterpieces to impress their wives and lovers. Initially, love was something tender and extremely serious for human beings. Moreover, the majority of classical poems and epics demonstrated that true love exists during all life. It is possible to love only one person. Otherwise, it is not a true love. Unfortunately, this point of view changed during the next time periods. It became normal to date with several people and try relations with more than one individual in order to decide which of them the best one for family relations is. The notion of love was closely connected with the image of beauty. That is why it underwent changes together with the above-mentioned image. Firstly, a couple could marry only if their parents give them a permission to do that. It was impossible just to live together. It was not considered to be a normal relation between a man and a woman. However, this was changed in renaissance period. A couple already could have relations without getting married. Moreover, it was not necessary to have parental approval for these relations. So, marriage was not an obligatory ceremony any more. People did not have to be married in church as well. So, the relations between men and women needed less responsibility. This led to the appearance of civil marriages. The first country that officially gave people an opportunity to live in a civil marriage was the Netherlands. However, the civil marriage in that country was different form contemporary relations. In the Netherlands the marriages were registered, but called civil because it was allowed to get married without church permission. Couples registered their relations in city halls. A bit later even famous people preferred to live with their beloved in a civil marriage. For example, Pablo Picasso lived with his beloved women for ten years. It was one of the most debated relations between a man and a woman. However, the artist was too cruel to her. He even had a habit to put out a cigarette with the help of her cheek. After their parting, a poor woman could not prove that Picasso was her children’s father. This example did not stop people to live together. The development of cinematography also contributed to the changes in relations. The appearance of multiple erotic scenes on the screen made people to think that it is normal to have sexual relations with several people or betray a spouse. This demonstrated a new attitude towards relations. Today it is even possible to meet same-sex marriages and relations between people. If earlier it was a shame to be lesbian or gay, now it is a norm due to democracy. Being of other sexual orientation does not prevent people of having a perfect career or respect in the society he/she lives in. If earlier it was impossible to love each other without parental advice and blessing, now there is nothing strange in it. Romeo and Juliette by William Shakespeare is the best work demonstrating the dependence of young people upon their parents. Romeo and Juliette could not get married because their families (the Capulets and the Montagues) were in constant war. However, this did not stop their relations. They meet with each other and have love. Perhaps, Shakespeare wanted to demonstrate the impossibility of this way of loving each other and turned these relations into a tragedy – the death of both characters. Not only love and beauty change during various time periods. The same happens to honor as well. Men of all times used to prove their honor. In the majority of cases it was done in order to show love towards a certain woman. Sometimes it was necessary for a man to experience various adventures. The examples of this behavior are found in Greek mythology and other writings. For example, a Greek hero Odysseus has to return home to wife, but experiences a lot of adventures on his way. Only if he come through them successfully, his honor will be proved. Men were inspired on adventures by women in the majority of cases. To do something because of a female and to prove love was the demonstration male honor. The best example of this is the Troyan war depicted in Greek mythology. It occurred because of love and necessity to prove honor. In fact, it was waged against the city of troy by Achaeans. Helen was taken by Paris from her husband Menelaus. The latter could not forgive this offensive action and had to defend the honor of his and the state. That is why the war because of woman began. It is impossible to forget to discuss knights’ honor while analyzing this notion. During the Middle Ages a lot of knight tournaments were devoted to women. It was one of the best ways to demonstrate love and devotion. However, very often the knights did not take all these things seriously. They could fight because of some occasional relations just because of the desire to gain glory and recognition. In XV-XVI centuries it was popular to prove one’s honor by means of duels. This way to solve various misunderstandings occurred in many countries: England, France, Germany, Russia and others. It is known that about two hundred people were killed in France during duels in 1601-1609. The duels were frequently called the duels of honor. They were considered to be the best way to prove that a person was right. There is an interesting point of view that duels existed much earlier than in 15th century and even earlier than knights’ tournaments. Some historians are sure that the fight between Greek Hector and Achill is also an example of duel. It turns out that in ancient times there was a tradition called judicial duel. It was a legal tournament to solve various juridical issues. In the contemporary world there are no knight tournaments and duels; however, the notion of honor still exists. Today a man does not have to appoint a duel in order to prove his love or just to get rid of a rival. He may simply have a talk with a rival or give him beating. The latter is forbidden by the constitution. In case of any problems and misunderstanding people still have to prove their honor. They do this themselves or appeal to a local court if there are more serious matters. All above-mentioned facts about love, beauty and honor prove that these notions are not the same today. They changed during each time period together with people belonging to those periods. If earlier, women were inspired to change their appearance by famous artists or painters, they follow the pieces of advice given by television today. If earlier, it was impossible to marry a person without parental approval, it is a norm in the contemporary society. If only duels and tournaments were applied to demonstrate honor, it may be easily done without violence today because people have learnt more about diplomacy and compromise. Works Cited Jarvis, Robin. The Romantic Period: the Intellectual and Cultural Context. London: Pearson Education Limited, 2004. Print. Read More