Morality, morality - concepts, alwaysclosely related to the life of society and changing depending on the era. Some categories of them belong to the so-called eternal values. Others are relative. And what was considered unacceptable at one time becomes perfectly acceptable at another.
Ugly Categories
Our article is devoted to the consideration of the concept."Moral monster." In order to understand it, it is necessary to study the phenomenon of deformity from an aesthetic, ethical, lexical point of view. Let's start with the first. Beauty standards, for all their subjectivity, boiled down to a certain uniformity. If we were talking about a person, he valued regular facial features, proportional slender constitution, the presence of paired limbs, organs (eyes, ears). Everything had to function normally. Any deviations in appearance, which caused negative emotions, were perceived by others as non-standard. The meaning of the word “freak” in this case was identical to the concepts “ugly”, “ugly”, “repulsive”, “unpleasant”. Remember the famous novels of Victor Hugo - "The Man Who Laughs" and "Notre Dame de Paris". Their main characters - the hunchback Quasimodo and the wandering actor Gwynplaine - are typical aesthetic renegades. They are literally scary on the outside, even the casual glance thrown at them plunges the soul into awe.
Ethics and aesthetics
But on the same example, we can easily be convincedfriend: between the beauty of ethical and aesthetic there is no equal sign. Therefore, a moral monster and a monster in appearance are often at opposite poles. The same Quasimodo was able to exalted beautiful feelings on the feat of self-sacrifice in the name of love. His soul, enclosed in an ugly body shell, is amazingly beautiful, because its basis is made up of the best human qualities. But the spiritual antagonist of the hunchback - the priest Claude Frollo - outwardly completely ordinary, and there is a real, we can say a classic moral monster. Why? This is a despotic ascetic, consciously killing in himself all human weaknesses and feelings. Having dedicated his existence to God, he forgot that the Lord is love: towards people, light, beauty, life. Hypocrite and misanthrope, the priest is destroying the young Esmeralda because she awakened in his body and heart those needs and emotions that Frollo fought over the years and, as he thought, managed to win. Consequently, a moral monster - one who violates the norms of human society, acts contrary to them. Who betrays, commits cruel, vile, criminal acts. Under this category one more character of the work fits - captain Phoebe, a handsome officer who conquered Esmeralda with courteous attitude and showy glitter. How sunny his name is, so vile and low is the soul of the hero and unsightly behavior.
Moral and immoral
"Moral" and "immoral" - the word antonyms, and inIn this sense, the phrase "immoral freak" means the highest degree of immorality, spiritual poverty, moral decline. Who fits this category? Any person, regardless of gender or age, deliberately doing badly. It is immoral to offend the defenseless, to humiliate the weak: to kick the kitten, leave the dog to the mercy of fate, abandon the child or elderly parents. Say disgusting behind the back of a comrade, “hooking up” a colleague, deceiving the one who trusted, is also unclean and goes beyond what is permitted. And in this regard, the ordinary envious who is viciously squinting at a more successful neighbor, and the government of the largest country, plundering national wealth, spreading its people or inciting war, are equally criminal.
It is immoral that it is flawed that enters into inconsistency with the universal code of Good.
