So last week, as we were discussing Richard III in my group, we got on the topic of his deformities. Apparently, Richard was a very unattractive man. At least, that's what Shakespeare portrays him as.
This reminded me of another character who was famous for being unattractive, The Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom murdered, kidnapped, blackmailed, stalked...he wasn't the best example for the kids, let's just say that. It got me to wondering. Are evil characters merely portrayed as ugly? So that their outward appearance is a manifestation of their inner character? Or do they feel pushed to behave in such a way because of the way others react to their appearance? In the Phantom of the Opera, towards the end of the movie the Phantom blames his actions on the fact that the world has treated him badly because of his deformity.
I was researching this topic when I found an interesting article on the study of crime here. According to the article, the idea of a connection between crime and certain physical characteristics has been a topic of interest for many men. "The physiognomist Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741–1801) was one of the first to suggest a link between facial figures and crime [1]. Victor Hugo referred to his work in Les Misérables, about what he would have said about Thénardier's face. Franz Joseph Gall then developed in 1810 his work on craniology, in which he alleged that crime was one of the behaviors organically controlled by a specific area of the brain. The philosopher Jacob Fries (1773–1843) also suggested a link between crime and physical appearance when he published a criminal anthropology handbook in 1820." The article continues stating that the idea that certain characteristics evidence evil is quite dangerous. The article mentions the fact that this very thing occured in WWII with the Nazi regime.
It is a very interesting theory. What compels some men and women to such atrocious acts that we'd shudder to even think of them? Could it possibly be a mental imbalance/deformity? And if so, is there any possibility that this could be manifested physically in any way?
Or think of school shootings. Most of the perpetrators are those who felt looked down upon and spurned by their fellow students. This extreme ostracism essentially pushed them to their breaking point, pushed them to murder. Could the psychological effects of this push ordinary people to heinous acts?
It's an interesting concept.
We are told to never judge a book by it's cover. I still agree with this concept! Beauty is a subjective thing. Different people have different views on what is attractive and what is not. I mean, I don't think Justin Bieber is attractive at all, but there are hordes of girls who would tackle me for saying so (my sister being on of them...), The conclusion that I come to is that the Golden Rule is truly golden, and for a reason! We need to treat people in a manner we'd want to be treated. Be a friend to everyone, cause we never know what a person is going through at any point in time. Who knows, if someone ventured to give Richard or the Phantom a hug once in a while, maybe they would've turned out to be completely productive members of society. ;)
