John Dryden once referred to Chaucer as a rough diamond. I suppose he meant that underneath all the naughtiness of the Miller’s Tale was fine literature. The image of a rough diamond is supposed to elicit the idea that underneath a person’s environment, appearance and demeanour is a thing of beauty, something worth revealing. However, as this idea permeates our culture it has taken on mythic proportions. In its grasp we all, no matter how wicked we appear, are, by nature, beautiful, good, magnificent even. Not even an assasin is rotten at the core (see here for my comments on the film, The American). In fact, it appears that the more repugnant the outward…