Hugo, a great French writer, put forward the famous principle of beauty and ugliness in the preface to Cromwell, and his Notre Dame de Paris is a model of applying this principle. Baudelaire is another influential French poet and literary theorist. He advocates the theory that ugliness is beauty, and his Flower of Evil is the masterpiece of this theory. "People have deeply discussed and highly appraised the literary thoughts of these two writers from different aspects." One view holds that Hugo's principle of contrast between beauty and ugliness follows the logic of contrast and does not change the nature of things themselves. Baudelaire's thought of ugliness as beauty changed the nature of things on both sides of the contradiction;

Both aesthetics are concrete reflections of things. In fact, the contrast between beauty and ugliness and the application of these two principles have not changed the essence of things, but changed the original appearance of things, and they have changed the appearance of things in the opposite direction. "The contrast between beauty and ugliness widens and enlarges the distance between beauty and ugliness, making beauty more beautiful and uglier, while ugliness as beauty shortens the gap between beauty and ugliness, making ugliness less ugly than before." The contrast between beauty and ugliness, taking ugliness as beauty, is the correct way and effective method to reflect social life artistically. "The principle of contrast between beauty and ugliness advocates putting two opposing things together for comparison, effectively highlighting the contradiction between them and forming a huge contrast, thus revealing the essential characteristics of the opposition between the two things more deeply."

Hugo applied his contrast principle of beauty and ugliness to the extreme in Notre Dame de Paris: "Beauty and ugliness in the works are not simple opposites, but intricately intertwined, forming sharp contradictions and fierce conflicts." The heroine Esmeralda is the embodiment of beauty, presenting a beautiful model from appearance to heart, while the bell ringer quasimodo is ugly in appearance and pure and kind in heart. Bishop Claude looks hypocritical! The heart is insidious and vicious, and the guard captain Fubis is handsome and romantic! These characters are "mean and selfish in heart" with obvious contrast characteristics: Esmeralda sets off inside and outside, complements each other perfectly and harmoniously; Quasimodo's ugly appearance contains a noble soul; Claude and Phobos contrast their ugly souls with beautiful appearance ",and more importantly, there is a strong contrast and sharp contrast between them: Claude is particularly ugly in the face of Esmeralda's perfection and quasimodo's ugliness and inner beauty, while Phobos is particularly despicable and wretched. Here, the contrast between beauty and ugliness has achieved an idealized effect, and the two beautiful images of Esmeralda and quasimodo are set off by ugly characters. Brilliant; And Claude and Phobos, two clowns, are even more obscene in the eyes of beauty! The theory that the soul is dirty, disgusting, ugly and beautiful is the concrete expression of the author's world outlook and methodology in the aesthetic field; It emphasizes beauty in ugliness, regards ugliness as beauty, turns decay into magic, and makes ugly things show beauty. "

Baudelaire's Flowers of Evil, from the general title to the chapter content, is a typical proof of practicing this theory. Has the so-called flower of evil changed the nature of evil? No, it just shows that this evil is not evil, but has the elements of goodness and flowers, which naturally reduces the degree and weight of evil; On the other hand, isn't this flower a flower? Not exactly. "It should be sure that it is still a flower, but it is not as bright and beautiful as other flowers, because it has evil elements, or it is a flower produced by evil." In the specific poem Flowers of Evil, the author has two ways to express the theory that ugliness is beauty: one is to dig out the negative beauty from the normal ugly things, for example, in Five Blessingg No.6 Middle School, the author reconciled his mother's. The cruel words of his wife and the evil words of the world are all regarded as blessings to himself; This is different from secular aesthetics and axiology, as the poem says: suffering is a panacea, which can cure our corrupt morality, and suffering is outstanding! The incomparable pure essence is enough to inspire strong and unyielding people to meet the sacred joy! (Translated by Zhang Qiuhong)

The elixir and essence here are only the author's subjective understanding, which does not replace objective things and does not change the nature of those curses; And using this aesthetic taste to treat those foul words will achieve the effect of turning decay into magic. "The second is to combine contradictory ideas, or reveal the beautiful genes in ugly things, or expose the evil spirit in positive things." For example:

I drink your breath, oh, sweet, oh, toxin, where can I find your lazy beauty? (Qian Chunkun translated "Balcony")

The sky is sad and beautiful, like a big altar! ("Harmony at dusk" translated by Guo Hongan)

Lazy baby, how I like to see your slim figure (dancing snake translated by Zheng Kelu)

Oh, curly hair, oh, full of lazy fragrance! Will find you again, oh, full of burnout! (Hair translated by Guo Hongan)

Don't you think I am an autumn sun? Oh, I am so pure and heartless. "(autumn translation Chen.

In these poems, some beauty and ugliness are intertwined, or show the two sides of things, such as: the balcony is sweet and poisonous, the sky is sad and beautiful (both sad and beautiful), Margaret is so pure and heartless; Or in order to show the opposite of things, there are beautiful things with negative words, such as lazy beauty, lazy baby, lazy incense and so on. And there are morbid things decorated with praise, such as fullness and burnout. "In either case, they did not change the nature of the things described in the poem, but only increased the connotation of things, making them richer and more complicated." The most typical one is "you want to bring the whole universe into your life."

Alas, the greatness of filth! Lofty and despicable! Let filth combine with greatness, let greatness contain filth, and filth is mixed with greatness. Therefore, filth is not so disgusting, and greatness is not so charming; So is the combination of sublimity and meanness. "

Dialectical historical materialism holds that the objective world is in the development and change of contradiction, opposition and dialectical unity. "The contrast principle of beauty and ugliness and the theory of taking ugliness as beauty actually look at the material world according to two cognitive routes, which is in line with the epistemology of dialectical materialism. The principle of contrast between beauty and ugliness is based on Hugo's famous saying in the preface to Cromwell:

Modern poetic art will feel that everything in all things is not in line with human beauty, ugliness is next to beauty, deformity is close to beauty, vulgarity is hidden behind sublimity, evil and good coexist, and darkness and light are harmonious. "This is not so much a declaration of romantic literature as a correct reflection of objective truth, and it is also a theoretical viewpoint that meets the requirements of realistic literature." It only pays attention to the beauty in previous classical literature! It is an aesthetic concept that only describes the sublime and requires a comprehensive reflection of real life. "In fact, in the field of aesthetics, it is also a two-sided world full of contradictions, that is, beauty and ugliness coexist!

Hugo and Baudelaire, two great talented artists, successfully put their respective theoretical ideas into practice through their own creations. "Hugo's contrast principle of beauty and ugliness and his excellent works, such as Notre Dame de Paris, vividly show the two sides of the objective world: beauty and ugliness are born and opposed; It clearly expresses the author's tendency of subjective understanding: beauty overcomes ugliness and ugliness is transformed into beauty. " Baudelaire insists on taking ugliness as beauty, and takes Flowers of Evil as an example, which not only profoundly reveals the relationship between appearance and essence of things: ugliness contains beauty, and people need to understand and examine ugliness dialectically; Moreover, it has created a new path in the field of aesthetics: ugliness is the other half of literary creation, revealing the true meaning of life! Another important way to beautify the human spirit "Although the two masters use different aesthetic perspectives, they are both sincere and kind, leading people to distinguish ugliness from beauty in theory and practice!" Find beauty from ugliness, in both beauty and ugliness! In the art gallery where these two colors are intertwined, we should grasp and explore the aesthetic significance of the binary opposition between beauty and ugliness and its dialectical transformation in the real world. " Hugo's contrast between beauty and ugliness has certainly not changed the essence of things, nor has Baudelaire's view that ugliness is beauty. "