We tend to think, along with Miranda, that nothing ill "can dwell in such a temple."
But a professor--who has taught courses on beauty--quoted in this New York Times report, describes this as the "halo-horn effect." Not poetry, this piece or his words, and therefore ugly. Yet, the article and he persist. And now, appropriately, the prof will write on the ugly instead of the beautiful. He investigates whether ugly is only skin deep. And the whole of us, of course, is prejudiced against the ugly. Awfully funny stuff, unintentionally, and the bad prose is worth a glance because it is in the end about something good, and reminds us why we hope beauty’s rose might never die. Beauty is good, even if she says nothing.
Did Miranda know she was beautiful, or did she only see it in Ferdinand? The beautiful live on the inside of their skins and may not experience themselves as beautiful. Hence, these days, even beautiful women wear make-up and array their hair and put on the trappings of beauty more assiduously than those who have less to prove.
Actually, these days, beauty is mostly about mascara. I know men who never see past mine.