Reflection on Jones-Pierce’s Essay on Shakespeare and Beauty Standards

“Poetry and disability are linked”

(Jones-Pierce, 5)

In Bellee Jones-Pierce’s piece entitled Forming Beauty in Shake-speare’s Sonnets Jones-Pierce calls attention to typical depictions of beauty in Shakespearian pieces and other texts throughout European history. She highlights her experience as a teacher and how students tend to identify the typical structure of sonnets and she looks to decipher the reasons for breaking from that form in old texts and she emphasizes the beauty standards that these pieces uphold. That is why the quote above is so powerful and true. The typical beauty standards that Shakespeare and his fellow sonnet writers portrayed is heteronormative and depicts an individual, typically young woman who is often delicate and lacks any disabilities. Jones-Pierce points this out and how it can essentially dehumanize disabilities and separate those with disabilities from those who fit these strict and limited beauty standards that these sonnets uphold.

Jones-Pierce identifies an important area of intersectionality when it comes to disabilities and artforms. The unique challenges and stigmas that disabled individuals have encountered often goes overlooked as exemplified by these Shakespearian era works. It is important to acknowledge this practice in old works and look to be more inclusive and empathetic in works published today.