The paragraph “Woman Exemplify Grace” from The Book of the Courtier by Baldesar Castiglione describes women “inordinate desire to be beautiful.” (C, 244) The author gives many examples of how women want to improve their beauty such as, they use make up. However, they seem not to realize that men know different tricks used by women. Also, many activities are not liked by males. For example, the author is very sarcastic while talking about make up. “[S]he seems to have put a mask on her face and dares not laugh so as not to cause it to crack, and never changes color except in the morning when she dresses; and, then, for the rest of the entire day remains motionless like a wooden statue and shows herself only by torchlight, like wily merchants who display their cloth in a dark place.” (C, 244)
The New York Times article “Market Watch/Lashfully” by Chelsea Zalopany is about women’ desire to improve their physical appearance. The author describes that many women decide to take a special care about their eye lashes. Ladies used mascaras to make their eye lashes longer and sexier. However, new technology is discovered. Chelsea explains “[t]he process is surprisingly (and refreshingly) painless — a lash artist assesses one’s existing lash shape and designs a custom style based on multiple lengths, curvatures and widths. Each lash is applied individually (typically 70 to 100 are added per eye) and first-time visitors should expect the process to take one to two hours. The cost runs from $250 to $275.”
In both readings women use different tricks to improve their beauty, no matter what is the price they have to pay (in first reading the price is being an object of farce, in second reading the price is a huge part of income spend on beauty supplies).
