The Sublime and the Ambiance of Seduction

In 1764, a philosopher who was later to become famous wrote: “Of the peoples of our part of the world, in my opinion those who distinguish themselves among all others by the feeling for the beautiful are the Italians and the French, but by the feeling for the sublime, the Germans, English, and Spanish. Holland can largely be considered as that land where the finer taste becomes largely unnoticeable”1. To continue to quote and paraphrase, the sublime, according to national character, is at once terrifying (the Spanish), noble (the English), and splendid (the Germans). This distribution also confirms what sort of taste each of these nations have in the arts: “In England, thoughts are of profound content, tragedy, the epic poem, and in general the solid gold of wit, which under French hammers can be stretched to very thin leaves of gold. In Germany, wit still shines very much through a foil”2. Our philosopher can also be seen situating the difference between the beautiful and the sublime in the relation between the sexes. The feminine sex is beautiful, the masculine sex is sublime. Fortunately, to be a bit more subtle, he adds: “It is not to be understood by this that woman lacks noble qualities, or that the male sex must do without beauty completely. On the contrary, one expects that a person of either sex brings both together, in such a way that all the other merits of a woman should unite solely to enhance the character of the beautiful, which is the proper reference point; and on the other hand, among the masculine qualities the sublime clearly stands out as a criteria of this kinds”3. Women have a sense for beauty, elegance, decoration, a taste for ornamentation: “The fair sex has just as much understanding as the male, but it is a beautiful understanding, whereas ours should be a deep understanding, an expression that signifies identity with the sublime”. Since their virtue is beauty (that of men being nobility), women avoid evil not because it is injust, but because it is ugly: “do not speak to them of duty, compulsion, or obligation”. Vanity and conceit are feminine tendencies that employ the pretty more than the beautiful: a pretty woman only inspires a cool admiration, like a bouquet, and has a tendency toward conceit. A charming woman, as opposed to a pretty one, reflects a delicate sensibility: feminine charm fills us, again, according to our philosopher, with tenderness and constant esteem. Since the sublime spirit of the man makes him capable of sublimation, it is the pale but healthy complexion of the woman (not the flushed and hearty complexion) that arouses the sentiment of the sublime in the man. Our philosopher, in evoking the different effects that the figure of the woman has on the tastes of men, will not, for the sake of tactfulness, speak about “what in this impression relates too closely to the sex impulse and may be a piece with the particular sensual idea”. In addition, the qualities of the beautiful and the sublime also characterize the human being in general, his faculties and his passions. Thus intelligence is sublime, spirit is beautiful, boldness is sublime, tricks are beautiful. Sublime qualities inspire respect, beautiful qualities inspire love. Friendship has the character of the sublime, love the character of beauty. Tragedy arouses the sentiment of the sublime: in thy, the anger of a terrifying man — Achilles’ anger for example — is sublime, whereas affectation is rather comical, and like the preoccupations of the seducer or charmer, beautiful. Even the physical features of people emanate from either of the two sentiments: those with brown hair and black eyes have a greater affinity with the sublime, those with blue eyes and blond hair are more closely related to beauty. Advanced age is more in keeping with the sublime, youth corresponds more with beauty. Temperaments also exhibit a particular affinity with the beautiful or the sublime. If the sentiment of beauty dominates the sanguine temperament, the melancholic is particularly sublime. Friendship, it also being sublime, is a sentiment which suits the melancholic. The melancholic, in fact, nurtures a lofty sentiment that dignifies human nature, and maintains man as a being worthy of respect: this profound sentiment makes the melancholic a virtuous exemplar of the sublime spirit