Beauty would seem to be within reach of the deformed, while ugliness is endemic and obdurate. A misshapen human who strives towards virtue may transform himself into a less malformed figure. Whether the outer shell reflects the inner character, or whether disfigurement is judged biological in origin and thus unchangeable, determines whether our response is to be compassionate or condemnatory: “In a word, if these Defects are trifling, or only the Appearance of such it is imprudent or malicious to take notice of them;