Free «Beauty by Jane Martin» Essay Sample

Literature is an evitable part of society as it usually depicts its most peculiar characteristics and tendencies. The play “Beauty” by Jane Martin is a great example of such emotions as jealousy and complete dissatisfaction with your life and its aspects. Unfortunately people tend to envy others and their accomplishments and in such a way fail to notice that they own dreams come true. Such a tendency can be explained as human nature or some other factor, anyway people are very seldom satisfied with what they have and just take it as granted. Jealousy in its turn is a devastating power that harms people from the inside.

Such emotions as jealousy and discontent can be observed on the example of two main characters of the story. The main characters that are looking for rapid and significant changes in their lives are Carla and Bethany. These two young girls are only at the initial stages of their lives and every deviation or divergence of interests results in huge dissatisfaction and a complete collapse of all the beliefs and goals.

Carla and Bethany represent two absolutely opposite personalities that are very different in every aspect. According to the story Carla is a rather attractive and beautiful woman, but unfortunately her career is not very successful and she cannot gain success. Carla has no difficulties in acquiring men’s attention and her main activities are talking on the phone and going on dates. However, she does not seem to be rather intelligent as she has serious problems even in memorizing some simple things as the number of pages in the book she reads.

Another girl, Bethany, in her turn is not a very attractive women and she has too many shortcomings that should immediately be dealt with. Bethany in her turn is a very bright girl and her intelligence gave her a chance to become a very outstanding girl in school and have a large salary. It is known that Bethany is an accountant and she has a rather successful career, but still she is not happy. Even her extremely high income does not make her feel better. The problem is that she is extremely unsatisfied with her appearance and it makes her feel depressed. In result this story provides us with an example of two absolutely different girls who are unsatisfied with their lives and are looking for immediate and rapid changes.

Jane Martin decided to apply “the genie” in order to realize the desires of the main characters and make them feel happier. Carla wanted to become smart and have better career and Bethany was really worried about her appearance and dreamt of a better one. Beauty is perceived as the main happiness and importance for Bethany. Her successful career does not satisfy her and she cannot value all the good things she has already. Bethany feels that her life is not the way she would like to have it and she tries her best to apply some transformations to it.

An interesting fact is that Carla quite experienced in being beautiful and she understands that beauty is far not the main goal and achievement in life. She understands that this quality is far not enough to be an independent and successful person. Carla is definitely the one who can see and share with others her experience and understanding of the weak points of obtaining beauty. However, even personal experience and Carla’s pieces of advice do not stop Bethany from changes. Obtaining true beauty is her main purpose in life and her most important goal.

This story has several messages hidden behind the context. The first one is that people can hardly see their own happiness and they usually tend to see only the drawbacks and disadvantages in their lives. However, strangers are more likely to estimate the situation properly and define the true establishments of the person. The good side of our life is usually neglected and people tend to see only the negative point. However, the true situation and analysis can be made only in case people can stand aside and look calmly at all the facts and circumstances.

One more idea is that beauty plays far not the most significant role though many people think it does so. The thing is that people choose their own standards and stereotypes and all our beliefs are created by ourselves. People tend to give more importance to appearance as compared to some inner qualities. In such a way we can see that intelligence and inner personality are of less importance and for many people these features are not enough to obtain happiness and feel completely satisfied in their lives. Carla and Bethany are both dissatisfied with what they have and they are covered with a great envy towards each other. Envy is the main emotion that often results in wrong decision making and some inappropriate choices.

This story has a warning idea and it tries to show what envy and jealousy can lead to. The example of Bethany and Carla is quite a vivid one and it is easy to see how being discontent with what we have can lead even to a larger unhappiness. It is important to value what we have and all the achievements instead of being constantly dissatisfied with the turn of events. It may seem to be hard to look only at the positive side of our lives, but still this is the main thing that should be done or other ways we are very likely to face a similar situation as Carla and Bethany did.

One of the most important ideas of this story in my opinion is hidden within the words that they both have the things everybody else would like to have. These words can be perceived and analyzed from a philosophical point of view and they can definitely be considered as a great food for thought.

The story has a very good form of narration as all the events and ideas are presented in a form of a dialog between Carla and Bethany. Two girls argue within the whole story and they do not want to accept the position and viewpoints of each other. They are completely assured of their personal views and beliefs and do not even try to think of any exceptions. Both girls share their troubles and worries with each other and they nearly do not mention the good side of their matter. One more interesting thing is that the author makes us think and decide what the ending can be like and what this situation should result in.

It is important to be able to see both pros and cons in our life and be able to value all the accomplishments, even some small ones. God has equal attitude to every person in the world and every individual deserves true happiness. However, many people look for happiness in wrong places; keep on searching for it, when in fact it is near as it was with Carla and Bethany in the play “Beauty” by Jane Martin. For some people happiness is beauty, for some it is career and success. Anyway, envy and jealousy are weak features of character that should be avoided in our lives.