A Defense Of Ugly Things By G. K. Chesterton

G.K. Chesterton argues that the specific standards of Grecian beauty restrict what people consider attractive. In A Defense of Ugly Things, Chesterton distinguishes between attraction and physical beauty in society. He explains that external attraction is more natural and universal than the Greek’s socially influenced beauty. He believes that, “The tyrants and deceivers of mankind in this matter have been the Greeks”. He shows that beauty misleads people saying that, “To insist that one type of face is ugly because it differs from that of the Venus of Milo is to look at it entirely in a misleading light.” Chesterton is right when he says that Greek standards set unrealistic limitations on beauty. Chesterton uses convincing examples to present
He believes that the Greek monsters compared to monsters in other cultures were trifling. He says that in, “some Scandinavian story a hero walks for miles along a mountain ridge, which eventually turns out to be the bride of the giant’s nose.” He credits this difference between the size of monsters in other cultures and the Greeks to their fear of humanity’s innate love of, “size, vitality, variety, energy, ugliness.” An effective analogy of the Greek’s attempt to limit diversity used is of Dutch gardeners and how, “they lopped away its living and sprawling features to give it a certain academic shape”. Other cultures accepted diversity, though. For example, “Scripture says that one star differeth from another in glory, and the same conception applies to noses.” Similarly, the, “Chinese dragons or Japanese gods will show how independent are Orientals of the conventional idea of
With their perfect gods like Apollo, the Greeks have corrupted beauty. This corruption excludes ugliness, which is bad because ugliness provides variety. The Grecian standard considers beauty innately good while considering ugliness innately bad. However, variety, or, as the Greeks would call it, ugliness, is natural, unlike the metaphorical elfland. Ultimately, the class discussion ended with a call to action. People should act different if it is natural for them to do so. People should not consider the variety in the human race as ugly. Rather, people should consider it natural and universal and be appreciative of humanity’s