“Appearances Are Often Deceptive”

“All that glisters is not gold— / Often have you heard that told. / Many a man his life hath
sold. / But my outside to behold: / Gilded tombs do worms enfold. / Had you been as wise as
bold, / Young in limbs, in judgment old, / Your answer had not been inscrolled.” William
Shakespeare wrote these realistic lines in his play, ‘The Merchant of Venice’. These lines cannot
be more true to life. They uncover the reality of deception disguised in a sweet demeanor. It
unveils the bitter reality that appearances are often deceptive by pointing out that all that
glitters is not gold and even gilded tombs can have worms in it.

It is often said and wrongly perceived that “Face is the index of the mind” or “The eyes are
the doorway to the soul.” People often wear a mask of sweetness while having the most bitter
thoughts in their minds. They can be experts in concealing what is actually going on in their
minds. The best example of this is a con-artist. Thus, the accuracy of the proverb, Face is the
index of the mind, depends upon how good of an actor a person is. Even a cold-hearted
murderer can pull off the most pitiful expressions if he is good at deceiving others.

We should not judge a person’s mindset and intentions based on his appearance, attire,
posture or gestures. Appearance can be very misleading. We often assume one’s personality
and character from one’s getup. Wearing a suit and tie does not make anyone a gentleman
while wearing leather jackets and chains does not turn anyone into a gangster. The best way to
put it is: “The cowl does not make one a monk.” It means that anyone who is wearing the
clothes of a monk is not a saint and One's appearance or behavior in public does not indicate
one's true character.

The best example of deception by appearance is found in one of the children’s favorite fairy
tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In the fairy tale, Snow White ate the perfect looking
ripped apples but they turned out to be poisonous! This is the reality of life too. Most of the
attractive things turn out to be either dangerous or harmful. In other words, what may be easy
on the eyes may just be a serpent in disguise.

Appearance often deceives us because we take things at face value rather than reading
between the lines. This is because we have started to focus too much on the outer appearance
that we have forgotten to take a look at inside and what actually lies within. We even make
friends based on looks and appearance and that is why most of our friends turn out to be
double-crossers and backstabbers. It is very important to look beneath all the glamour and
focus on the real personality.

We should not judge someone just by their appearance and first impressions as in the first
meeting one is trying to look and be at his best behavior. We should not trust anyone until we
know them very well and someone once said that you do not really know a person until you
have seen their anger because anger is the most genuine of the emotions. Therefore, while
making friends we should get to know them first because one cannot deduce the depth of
water by just looking at the surface of water. The same can be said for humans. We cannot
judge a person’s capabilities and nature just by his appearance.

However, one can live in the prison of one’s own mind. Sometimes it is not the appearance
of others that are deceiving but it’s our own mind that makes up a perception of its own about
others and we trap ourselves in it. Someone once said, “Two people stood looking through the
stars; one saw the mud and the other saw the stars.” Both are looking at the same sky but
their view of the sky and way of seeing it is very different. One is optimistic and focuses on the
stars and the other is a pessimist who can only focus on the darkness. This shows the deception
of one’s own mind.

Another example of viewing things from a different perspective is in the shape of the Moon.
If one person sees the Moon in the first quarter of the year, he will think of the Moon as
crescent-shaped while if someone else sees the New Moon, he will think of the Moon as a
circle. The same goes for humans. We are different for everyone. Everyone views and sees us in
a different light. The hero of one’s life is the villain in the story of someone else. People judge
each other on the basis of what they saw of one another even if it is for the shortest duration of
time, without knowing the person completely. They live with that opinion about others for the
rest of their life.

The proverb, “Appearances are often deceptive” is most suited for the business market of
Today‘s era. The products in nice and sparkly packing with bold claims and high-end prices are
often phony and of cheap quality. This is why people should stop running behind fancy things
and stop being fascinated by the outer appearance because this will only benefit the cunning
businessmen who jump at every opportunity of taking advantage of people’s fascination with
outer appearance and try to sell the idea.

Having said all of this, appearance does matter to an extent. People should dress decently
and neatly because the first impression is often based on appearance and a good first
impression does help in cases such as job interviews. Candidates with nice and graceful
appearance are preferred. Even though the decision regarding who would acquire the job is
based on merit but appearance does help a tad bit in turning the decision in your favor.

To conclude, I would like to say that appearance does matter but to a very little extent. It is
the inside that really matters. We should stress on the personality instead of the appearance
because it is the personality that stays with the person for life whereas outer appearance and
beauty fade away with time. We should not judge others right away but try to give them time
and understand them because maybe it is our own perception that is the problem. Most
importantly, we should certainly not let our judgments be based on appearances and learn to
look beyond the façade because appearances are often deceptive!