Tina Howe's 'The Divine Fallacy'

Play Response: The Divine Fallacy The concept of beauty has long been debated in books, films, social networks, and religion. Like the word “love” beauty is jammed packed with hidden meanings and purpose. There is a common belief that in order for something or someone to be beautiful they must be “perfect.” In Tina Howe’s The Divine Fallacy, she causes the audience to think about beauty in the not so beautiful, past the mundane cover of a painted face there is untapped beauty in the soul of creativity. The play begins with two individuals with one thing in common: they are both related to famous men and women. Dorothy Kiss is a writer who lives under the shadow of her super model sister while Victor Hugo is a fashion photographer related to the great writer victor Hugo himself. Howe sets the stage with immediate conflict, Victor is restless because Dorothy is late and Dorothy herself does not want her picture taken. Dorothy is not beautiful like her sister and for that reason is soaking in insecurity. Howe does a masterful job of showing the audience this through her “layers” of clothing and “humor.” Both devices are used to show walls that Dorothy has built up in order to cope with not being like her sister. Victor’s wall is his blindness; to him beauty is all the same, it is the perfect …show more content…
It is what prompts life and encourages new thought. Victor’s fallacy of blindness keeps him from seeing the truly beautiful but opens doors to feeling true beauty in a much deeper and richer way. Dorothy’s fallacy or “stigmata” makes her unique and different. She is to be treasured for her quirks because she is not a carbon copy of everyone else. In a meager ten minutes, Howe prods an audience to consider one of society’s greatest questions—what is beauty? Through his strong characters, imagery, and symbolism the genuine is more beautiful then the desired, he faulty is not to be tossed out, it is