The Supposed Connection between Ugliness and Evil

Beauty is a phenotypic, gene-driven state, but is also socially constructed within society. Beautiful people are often given preferential treatment and are viewed as superior and charming. On the other hand, ugly people are viewed differently, they are often treated as outcasts, and viewed as socially inept and morally malicious. The reproduction of dominant ideologies, such as these, reinforce cultural norms, which are expectations and cues within society, and the power of ruling classes. This ideological power is used as a means of social control, through cultural hegemony – the overbearing dominance of an ideology causing conformity and an almighty consensus. These hegemonic powers normalize and strengthen social inequality among the various socially constructed normative traits within our society, specifically beauty in terms of Frankenstein. A combination of the social construction of beauty and the self-fulfilling prophecy, society often associates expected social roles with learned behaviors, and often correlate the two to each other. This idea is clearly depicted throughout Frankenstein, when society automatically interrelates an ugly appearance with an immoral character. In Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, the socially constructed category of beauty is reinforced and directly affects morality. Specifically, this can be seen through the self-fulfilling prophecy and in Victor Frankenstein's creature, and how his external aesthetic of being ugly and grotesque forces society to correlate his appearance with being evil and monstrous, ultimately changing his morality from benevolent to corrupted.

Physical appearance is often the first characteristic seen in others that induces judgment, since it is prevalently, outwardly displa...

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...ted through the reinforcement of dominant ideologies and social hierarchies. If these ideals are fought against, society could prevent the inequality and rejection that arises from the overbearing power of these societal structures.

Works Cited

Gigante, Denise. "Facing the Ugly: The Case of Frankenstein." Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2007. 125-143. Print.

Heymans, Peter. Animality in British Romanticism: The Aesthetics of Species. New York: Routledge, 2012. 118-136. Print.

Seabury, Marcia Bundy. "The Monsters We Create: Woman on the Edge of Time and Frankenstein." CRITIQUE: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 42.2 (2001): 131+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 10 November 2013.

Shelley, Mary W., and Maurice Hindle. Frankenstein. London New York: Penguin Books, 2003. Print.