“Yes, happiness can be self-indulgent, and our pursuit of it can oppress others,” she seems to say, “but, on the other hand, none of us can live a moment without joy and beauty and pleasure, as proven, gentlemen, by your reaction, just now, to me.” She makes us feel, viscerally, how joyless and pedantic and brittle it would be to deny that beauty is real or claim that happiness is best avoided.
