Can Beauty Be Perfect? Aesthetic Problems in Juliusz Słowacki’s Late Works

Abstract

The article discusses the relationship between beauty and perfection in Słowacki’s Genesis thought. In his late works, the poet created an ethic which was aimed at recovering the lost perfection, and he emphasized the role of beauty in this process. True beauty is spiritual, comes from God, and, like God, is perfect. It is the ability to manifest itself through imperfect matter and even then elicits admiration and a longing for the lost unity with God. The epiphanies of Christ and the Mother of God, which reveal the heavenly perfection of existence, foreshadow the fate of all beings in the world.