The Face, Part 10

#4

And then there is Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. I have to mention it because its theme is the face/soul connection. You may remember that Dorian Gray had an uncommonly beautiful face, and he sold his soul to keep it that way.

No matter what he did, how corrupt or evil he became throughout his life, no matter how his soul withered, nothing showed on his face. It retained its purity and beauty. It was the picture that carried the marks and scars that such a life produces. The ending is dramatic, unforgettable. Remember?

And is there not a connection between the face and the soul? Between how we appear—especially in the face—and who we really are?

Of course there is.

And what is makeup for? Obviously, it is to cover what we don’t want seen, those things that mar the face, lest the viewer misjudge our soul. Could be that we make the face up to be presentable to others, to put on our best face so that our soul will look good, too. Because we know that people perceive us, regard us, rate us, value us, at first, at least, at face value.

Think of face lifts and other face fixes, like botox injections and lip enhancement. All so that the face may look good, look right, look beautiful. These practices may also say something about the soul of the people who buy them. I do not know.

But you know very well that you feel confident when you look good, and that means your face more than any other part of your body. This sentence does not advocate anything; it does not suggest you get your face peeled or its lines eradicated and filled with botox. (By the way, there's a reason it's called botox--it is highly toxic.) No, I'm exploring ideas, just writing an essay here, which means I am attempting to understand something. In this case, the face.