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The Judging of Beauty

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The Judging of Beauty The dictionary defines beauty as a beautiful or pleasing thing or person, in particular a beautiful woman; an excellent specimen or example of something; (the beauties of) the pleasing or attractive features of something; the best feature or advantage of something. But it refers to only the outward appearance of things. So is the inherent beauty excluded from the judging of the beauty?
In the real world, we consider Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn as beauty. Both of them are celebrities with a nice-looking face, perfect body and great fashion taste. And they have the characteristics indicated in the dictionary to be such beauty. So people would classify them as particularly beautiful women. Clearly, there are huge differences between these two beauties.
Marilyn Monroe was a major sex symbol during the 1950s and 1960s. She was beautiful and sexy on television. In a contrast, Monroe’s personal life was a mess. We can clearly see from her personal life that she did not have any beauty inside of her. She not only had a naked shoot for a magazine; had three marriages; rely excessively on drugs and pills but also had affairs with both John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Various marriages, naked photo shoots and drug abuse might not say it all, but having affair with two men clearly can. It’s on a moral prospective. Her affairs
Zhang 2 with two men meant she did not put herself on a right position. Such a woman had no connotation because of her moral level problems. How can a woman with no connotation be considered a beauty then?
As for a more recent celebrity, Miley Cyrus, beauty is nowhere to be found. Cyrus’ dance performance on the Video Music Award shocked a lot of people. It was extremely inappropriate and unacceptable on a show that was going be broadcasted worldwide. It’s such a bad influence for teenagers. But we have to admit one thing, she conforms to the definition in the dictionary. She is pretty but she lacks beauty.
In a contrast, Audrey Hepburn explained beauty more clearly. Audrey Hepburn starred in many successful movies like Roman Holiday and Breakfast at Tiffany’s as an actress. She was considered classy and elegant while she was young. After her huge success in the film career, she chose to be a humanitarian. Hepburn was appointed Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF. She dedicated the rest of her life to help impoverished children in the poorest nations. All of the humanitarian work is still remembered and appreciated by people today. For her, beauty is not restricted on her face or taste of fashion. All the money and fame she had when she was young was not even comparable to the care and love she brought to the kids. Her inward beauty gave people a deeper impression that can last forever.
Beauty is not what people see from the outside, pure mind and soul make people more of a beauty. And this type of beauty does not fade as the time passes by. It gets stronger.
Sophia Zhang
Professor Mogford
English 015
10/9/13
Work Cited
Stevenson, Angus, and Christine Lindberg, eds. "Beauty." New Oxford American Dictionary. 5th ed. N.p.: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.

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