Schlachtopfer des Gesetze." (Schiller 22). Schiller unmasks and at the
same time criticizes the socially postulated paradigm that beauty is
synonymous with virtue and that physical deformity is indicative of evil.
Der Verbrecher engages and rejects Lavater's concept of physiognomy
physiognomy by presenting an ugly person through narrative technique:
the omniscient narrator reveals Christian's actions and Christian's own
direct discourse presents the inner workings of his mind. Schiller
unmasks the body politics of his era, showing that society relies on false
criteria, namely that of "beauty" to determine whether or not a being can
be moral. In connecting his protagonist with his own moral and aesthetic
philosophy as well as to Christian Wolff, Schiller promotes the idea that
ugliness is not devoid of value beyond the diametric opposite of beauty.
Schiller uncovers a redeeming aspect of ugliness in a cautionary tale
about the effects of rash judgments. In abiding by such superficial
criteria, society creates the monster, not nature.
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