Beauty as Duty: A Victorian Appreciation
(Manners, Culture and Dress, 1870)
The thought that one’s appearance should never be a burden for others is not entirely a Victorian concept, it was more than likely borrowed from the Greeks:
It is every woman’s duty to make herself as beautiful as possible;and no less the duty of every man to make himself pleasing in appearance. The duty of looking well is one we owe not only to ourselves, but to others as well.
Click here to read about physical perfection during the Golden Age of Hollywood.