Beauty (6)

[Mrs. C]

Respond to the following quotation:

"Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good; a shining gloss that fadeth suddenly; a flower that dies when it begins to bud; a doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour. - "

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) British poet and playwright.

[Savannah B]

Shakespeare is referring to the physical aspect of beauty. He is restating one of the most widespread clichés; “Beauty is only skin deep.” Shakespeare makes a good point, that physical beauty is only a temporal thing. He says; “…a flower that dies when it begins to bud”, meaning at the point when people seem to ripen, to gain wisdom and come to the epiphanies which define their character and outlook on life, their physical beauty starts to decline. Shakespeare then goes on to say; “…a doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower, lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour.” He means to say that beauty is a lens which people look though and are often wrongly guided; “a doubtful good”, meaning surface value. These references also point to the theme that beauty is fragile and can be useless. This excerpt sums up the theme of physical beauty in real life; physical beauty has no effect on the inner qualities of a person, it is chance, temporal, and superficial.

[Ian H]

I see a lot of validity in Shakespeare's point. Beauty is not concrete and therefore it can change on a whim and in an instant. As discussed in some of the other postings, someone may become more beautiful when you know them, in the same way a bad personality can make beauty fade much faster. Shakespeare also says beauty is "a flower that dies when it begins to bud". As it applies to physical beauty, there is only a minute window when beauty is considered in its prime and full flower. When you are young beauty is looking more mature and sophisticated, but after you pass that split magical apex it reverses. Beauty then becomes looking more youthful and vibrant. Ideal outer beauty is something that will forever seem just out of reach to many, you may grab it for an intant, but then it slips away and you are back in pursuit.

[Pryscila V.]

I agree with my classmates that Shakespeare is saying that beauty is only a temporary characteristic. However, I don't fully agree that outer beauty only lasts for a very small amount of time. Nowadays, we have plastic surgery which can alter the body and can make it appear even more "beautiful" than it originally was. Although plastic surgery didn't exist in Shakespeare's time, there were still other masks that people could put on to appear beautiful, such as the venetian masks that were worn to masquerade balls. Consequently, when people removed their masks, their true outer appearance was revealed. Beauty is temporary, but its timespan is not as miniscule as mentioned before.
Also, what Shakespeare writes about beuty being "dead within an hour" is also true today. For example, the fashion industry is a fickle one, one which can one minute say that purple is the "fad" color, then a day later will state that pink is the new purple. There is no real definition of beauty because every single person's idea of beauty is different and can change in an instant, even just by hearing about another person's ideal.That is why Shakspeare states that beauty is "a gloss," it can easily fade away not just from a person who has it, but a person's perception of what it is can fade away too. That is why one must rely not only on appearance alone, but also on the emotions and inner qualities of others, because it is a "vain and doubtful good."

[Mark I]

This quote is a truthful, but sad one. By comparing beauty to a flower whose life is rapidly fleeting, Shakespeare brings to light the fact that hangs over each one of us. The fact that our period of physical beauty is a short one indeed. By the time outward beauty is at its apex it has already began its decent. This leads many to go to great measures to prevent the inevitable; to freeze their life in its tracks and reverse the natural effects that aging has on each and every one of us. "Like a flower that dies when it begins to bud" we must accept that our time of youth and beauty is far from everlasting, and it must be enjoyed for the short time that we are privileged to experience it.