The Judgement of the Eye

 “…like beauty, my friend, ‘tis in the eye of the beholder” (13).  The literal meaning of this is that the perception of beauty is subjective.  People can have different perspectives on what is beautiful or what is flawless while another person can see it as ugly or ordinary. There have been many different iterations of this quote; Shakespeare wrote of beauty in Love’s Labour Lost, saying “Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye”, Benjamin Franklin said “Beauty, like supreme dominion/Is but supported by opinion,” and Margaret Wolfe is credited with the first use "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" in her novel Molly Bawn. 

We see this in the play Man of La Mancha when Cervantes is inside the prison. During his imprisonment, the Duke and the Governor take his manuscript and describe it as a worthless piece of paper. But in the eyes of Cervantes, his manuscripts are a thing of beauty, they are his life's work and they mean a lot to him.

A real-life example of beauty is in the eyes of the beholder in my life is a t-shirt I have. The t-shirt I have is great I can wear it on any occasion, it is very comfortable and I believe that it looks good. But my friends don't like it and tell me that quite often. I think the reason I like it so much is that it is very versatile and cosy. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion and everyone has a different meaning of beauty. Another real-life example I've experienced with this is when I visit pharaonic temples. When I go to these temples I am not amazed or wowed by the buildings and the architecture of the buildings.  Some people commit their life to finding more temples and more about their history but I cannot imagine myself spending more than 10 minutes at these historic monuments. Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.