Masque Of Beauty example essay topic
405 words
There are other motives in "Masque of Beauty" can be found, as well. Such as drawing parallels between England and ancient Rome. But we cannot think of it as something innovative, as the referrals to the Roman times became very common, ever since the spirit of Renaissance started to affect more and more writers and philosophers. Still, it is the healthy spirit of his nation having a bigger mission then simply enriching itself, which makes the works of Jonson truly unique. The masque "Humenaie" can be thought of as the part of trilogy, although it is thematically unrelated to the "Masque of Blackness" or the "Masque of Beauty". But we can say that it conceptional completion of Jonson's meditations on the subject of beauty and its relation to other aspects of person's life. It is much more allegorical, comparing to the previous two masques. The masques are divided on Humors and Affections. They argue, in front of Hymen's throne, about what is the most important, when it comes to a love affairs. But that is when Reason interferes and puts an end to their argument, by saying that one's love can only be realised if it's ruled by logic: Convey them, Order, to their places, And rank them so, in several traces, As they may set their mixed powers Unto the music of the Hours (Jonson) According to Jonson, the love is rather a predestination than a feeling and it must result in physical consequences. It is a precondition to what Jonson's considers to be the most important things in this life - health, beauty and intelligence. It is not hard to figure out Jonson's socio-political agenda in "Hymen aei", especially if we take into account his earlier ideas of what is the essence of beauty and ugliness, expressed in previous masques.
Jonson is convinced that the intelligence derives from health, but the health, in its turn, is strongly associated with beauty. If we remember that Jonson grade beauty by the degrees of "fairness" and by the "absence of blackness", the three analyzed masques appear to be nothing but the defence of idea of racial purity. Ben Jonson, just like the other English dramatists of the time, was able to foresee some "social curiosities", growing to the point, when they begin to represent a danger to the society, as a whole.
