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Delsarte System of Oratory by Various

V >> Various >> Delsarte System of Oratory




If the gestures are good, the most wretched speaking is tolerated. So
much the better if the speaking is good, but gesture is the
all-important thing. Gesture is superior to each of the other languages,
because it embraces the constituent parts of our being. Gesture includes
everything within us. Sound is the gesture of the vocal apparatus. The
consonants and vowels are the gesture of the buccal apparatus, and
gesture, properly so called, is the product of the myological apparatus.

It is not ideas that move the masses; it is gestures.

We easily reach the heart and soul through the senses. Music acts
especially on the senses. It purifies them, it gives intelligence to the
hand, it disposes the heart to prayer. The three languages may each
move, interest and persuade.

Language is a sort of music which moves us through vocal expression; it
is besides normal through the gesture of articulation. No language is
exclusive. All interpenetrate and communicate their action. The action
of music is general.

The mind and the life are active only for the satisfaction of the
heart; then, since the heart controls all our actions, gesture must
control all other languages.

Gesture is magnetic, speech is not so. Through gesture we subdue the
most ferocious animals.

The ancients were not ignorant of this all-powerful empire of gesture
over an audience. Therefore, sometimes to paralyze, sometimes to augment
this magic power, orators were obliged to cover their faces with a mask,
when about to speak in public. The judges of the Areopagus well knew the
power of gesture, and to avoid its seductions, they adopted the resource
of hearing pleas only in the darkness.

The sign of the cross made at the opening of a sermon often has great
effect upon good Catholics. Let a priest with his eyes concentric and
introspective make deliberately the sign of the cross while solemnly
uttering these words: "In-the-name-of-the-Father;" then let his glance
sweep the audience. What do they think of him? This is no longer an
ordinary man; he seems clothed with the majesty of God, whose orders he
has just received, and in whose name he brings them. This idea gives him
strength and assurance, and his audience respect and docility.




Chapter IV.

The Laws of Gesture.



The static treats of the laws of gesture which are six in number, viz.:
Priority, retroaction, the opposition of agents, unity, stability and
rhythm.



_The Priority of Gesture to Speech._


Gesture must always precede speech. In fact, speech is reflected
expression. It must come after gesture, which is parallel with the
impression received. Nature incites a movement, speech names this
movement. Speech is only the title, the label of what gesture has
anticipated. Speech comes only to confirm what the audience already
comprehend. Speech is given for naming things. Gesture asks the
question, "What?" and speech answers. Gesture after the answer would be
absurd. Let the word come after the gesture and there will be no
pleonasm.

Priority of gesture may be thus explained: First a movement responds to
the sensation; then a gesture, which depicts the emotion, responds to
the imagination which colors the sensation. Then comes the judgment
which approves. Finally, we consider the audience, and this view of the
audience suggests the appropriate expression for that which has already
been expressed by gesture.

The basis of this art is to make the auditors divine what we would have
them feel.

Every speaker may choose his own stand-point, but the essential law is
to anticipate, to justify speech by gesture. Speech is the verifier of
the fact expressed. The thing may be expressed before announcing its
name. Sometimes we let the auditors divine rather than anticipate,
gazing at them in order to rivet their attention. Eloquence is composed
of many things which are not named, but must be named by slight
gestures. In this eloquence consists. Thus a smack of the tongue, a blow
upon the hand, an utterance of the vowel _u_ as if one would remove a
stain from his coat. The writer cannot do all this. The mere rendition
of the written discourse is nothing for the orator; his talent consists
in taking advantage of a great number of little nameless sounds.

A written discourse must contain forced epithets and adjectives to
illustrate the subject. In a spoken discourse a great number of
adjectives are worse than useless. Gesture and inflection of the voice
supply their place. The sense is not in the words; it is in inflection
and gesture.



_Retroaction._


We have formulated this general law: The eccentric, normal and
concentric expression must correspond to the sensitive, moral and
intellectual state of man. When gesture is concerned, the law is thus
modified: In the sensitive state, the gesture, which is naturally
eccentric, may become concentric, as the orator is passive or active.

He is passive when subject to any action whatever, when he depicts an
emotion.

He is agent when he communicates to the audience the expression of his
own will or power; in a word, at all times when he controls his
audience.

When the orator assumes the passive role, that is, when he reflects, he
gazes upon his audience; he makes a backward (or concentric) movement;
when he assumes the active role, he makes a forward (or eccentric)
movement. When one speaks to others, he advances; when one speaks to
himself, he recoils a step, his thought centres upon himself.

In the passive state, one loves. But when he loves, he does not move
forward. A being who feels, draws back, and contemplates the object
toward which the hand extends. Contemplation makes the body retroact.

Hence in the passive state, the orator must step backward. In the
opposite state he moves forward. Let us apply this law: A spendthrift
officer meets his landlord, whom he has not yet paid, and greets him
with an--"Ah, good day, sir!" What will be his movement? It must be
retroactive. In the joy of seeing a friend again, as also in fright, we
start back from the object loved or hated. Such is the law of nature,
and it cannot be ignored.

Whence comes this law? To behold a loved object fully, we must step
back, remove to some little distance from it. Look at a painter admiring
his work. It is retroaction at sight of a beloved person, which has led
to the discovery of the phenomena of life, to this triple state of man
which is found in like manner, everywhere: Concentric, eccentric, and
normal.

The concentric is the passive state, for when one experiences a deep
emotion, he must retroact. Hence a demonstration of affection is not
made with a forward movement. If so, there is no love. Expiration is the
sign of him who gives his heart. Hence there is joy and love. In
inspiration there is retroaction, and, in some sort, distrust. The hand
extends toward the beloved object; if the hand tend toward itself, a
love of self is indicated. Love is expressed by a retroactive, never by
a forward movement. In portraying this sentiment the hand must not be
carried to the heart. This is nonsense; it is an oratorical crime. The
hand must tend toward the loved being to caress, to grasp, to reassure
or to defend. The hand is carried to the heart only in case of suffering
there.

Take this passage from Racine's Phedre:

_Dieu--que ne puis-je a l'ombre des forets,
Suivre de l'oeil un char fuyant dans la carriere--_

("God--may I not, through the dim forest shades,
With my glance follow a fleet chariot's course.")

Here the actor does not follow affectionately, but with the eye, and
then by recoiling and concentrating his thought upon himself.

In the role of _Emilie_:

"_He may in falling crush thee 'neath his fall_"

at sight of her crushed lover Emilie must recoil in terror, and not seem
to add the weight of her body to that which crushes the victim.

Augustus, on the contrary, may say:

"I might in falling crush thee 'neath my fall,"

pausing upon a forward movement, because he is here the agent.

Let us note in passing that the passive attitude is the type of
energetic natures. They have something in themselves which suffices
them. This is a sort of repose; it is elasticity.



_Opposition of Agents._


The opposition of the agents is the harmony of gesture. Harmony is born
of contrasts. From opposition, equilibrium is born in turn. Equilibrium
is the great law of gesture, and condemns parallelism; and these are the
laws of equilibrium:

1. The forward inclination of the torso corresponds to the movement of
the leg in the opposite direction.

2. When one arm is added to the weight of the already inclined torso,
the other arm must rise to form a counterpoise.

3. In gazing into a well, the two arms must be drawn backward if the
body is equally supported by the two legs; in like manner the two arms
may be carried in front if the torso bends backward. This is allowable
only in the first attitude of the base, or in a similar attitude.

The harmonic law of gesture is the static law _par excellence_.

It is of childlike simplicity. We employ it in walking; also when we
carry a weight in one hand, the other rises. The law consists in placing
the acting levers in opposition, and thus realizing equilibrium. All
that is in equilibrium is harmonized. All ancient art is based upon this
opposition of levers. Modern art, with but few exceptions, is quite the
contrary.

Here is an example of the observance of this rule: If the head and arms
are in action, the head must move in opposition to the arms and the
hand. If both move in the same direction, there is a defect in
equilibrium, and awkwardness results.

When the arm rises to the head, the head bends forward and meets it
half-way. The reverse is true. Every movement in the hand has its
responsive movement in the head. If the head advances, the hand
withdraws. The movements must balance, so that the body may be in
equilibrium and remain balanced.

Here is the difference between ancient and modern art. Let us suppose a
statue of Corneille reading his works. To-day we should pose it with
one leg and arm advanced. This is parallelism. Formerly the leg would
have been opposed to this movement of the arm, because there should be
here the expansion of the author toward his work, and this expansion
results precisely from an opposition of levers.

We know the ancient gladiator; we do exactly the opposite from him in
fencing.

Modern art makes the man walk with leg and arm parallel. Ancient art
would have the leg opposed to the arm.

It is through opposition that the smile expresses moral sadness. This
law of opposition must be observed in the same member. For example, the
hand should be opposed to the arm. Thus we have magnificent spheroidal
movements which are graceful and also have considerable force. Thus all
the harmonies occur in one same whole, in one same truth. In a word, all
truths interpenetrate, and when a thing is true from one point of view,
it is so from all.



_Number of Gestures._


Many reasons go to prove that gestures need not be multiplied:

A.--We are moved by only one sentiment at a time; hence it is useless to
multiply gestures.

B.--But one gesture is needed for the expression of an entire thought;
since it is not the word but the thought that the gesture must announce;
if it expressed only the word, it would be trivial and mean, and also
prejudicial to the effect of the phrase.

In these phrases: "What do you seek in the world, happiness? It is not
there," that which first strikes us is the absence of happiness. Gesture
must indicate it in advance, and this should be the dominating movement.

The intelligent man makes few gestures. To multiply gestures indicates a
lack of intelligence. The face is the thermometer of intelligence. Let
as much expression as possible be given to the face. A gesture made by
the hand is wrong when not justified in advance by the face.
Intelligence is manifested by the face. When the intelligent man speaks,
he employs great movements only when they are justified by great
exaltation of sentiment; and, furthermore, these sentiments should be
stamped upon his face. Without expression of the face, all gestures
resemble telegraphic movements.

C.--The repeated extension of the arms denotes but little intelligence,
little suppleness in the wrist and fingers. The movement of a single
finger indicates great _finesse_.

It is easy to distinguish the man of head, heart and actions. The first
makes many gestures of the head; the second many of the shoulders; the
last moves the arms often and inappropriately.

D.--Gesture is allowable only when an ellipse of the word or phrase
admits of an additional value.

E.--Effects must not be multiplied; this is an essential precaution.
Multiplied movements are detrimental when a graver movement is awaited.

F.--The orator is free to choose between the role of actor or that of
mere spectator or narrator. Neither the one nor the other can be forced
upon him. The actor's role arises not from intelligence but simply from
instinct. The actor identifies himself with the personages he
represents. He renders all their sentiments. This role is the most
powerful, but, before making it the object of his choice, there must be
severe study; he must not run the risk of frivolity.

We can dictate to the preacher and mark out his path. He must not be an
actor, but a _doctor_. Hence his gestures must never represent the
impressions of those of whom he speaks, but his own. Hence he should
proportion the number of his gestures to the number of his sentiments.

G.--If the orator would speak to any purpose, he must bring back his
discourse to some picture from nature, some scene from real life.

There must be unity in everything; but a role may be condensed in two or
three traits; therefore a great number of gestures is not necessary.

Let it be carefully noted: the expression of the face should make the
gesture of the arms forgotten. Here the talent of the orator shines
forth. He must captivate his public in such a way that his arm gestures
will be ignored. He must so fascinate his auditors that they cannot ask
the reason of this fascination, nor remark that he gesticulates at all.

H.--Where there are two gestures in the same idea, one of them must
come before the proposition, the other in its midst.

If there is but one gesture and it precedes the proposition, the term to
which it is applied must be precisely indicated.

For example: _Would he be sensible to friendship?_ Although friendship
may in some degree be qualified as the indirect regimen, gesture should
portray it in all its attributes.



_Duration of Gesture._


The suspension or prolongation of a movement is one of the great sources
of effect. It is in suspension that force and interest consist. A good
thing is worth being kept in sight long enough to allow an enjoyment of
the view.

The orator should rest upon the preceding gesture until a change is
absolutely required.

A preoccupied man greets you with a smile, and after you have left, he
smiles on, until something else occurs to divert his mind.

The orator's abstraction should change the face, but not the gesture. If
the double change takes place simultaneously, there will be no unity.
The gesture should be retained and the expression of the face changed.

A variety of effects and inflections should be avoided. While the
speaker is under the influence of the same sentiment, the same
inflection and gesture must be retained, so that there may be unity of
style.

Art proposes three things: to move, to interest, to persuade by unity of
inflection and gesture. One effect must not destroy another. Divergence
confuses the audience, and leaves no time for sentiment.

It is well to remember that the stone becomes hollowed by the incessant
fall of the drop of water in the same place.



_The Rhythm of Gesture._


Gesture is at the same time melodic, or rather inflective, harmonic and
rhythmic. It must embrace the elements of music, since it corresponds to
the soul; it is the language of the soul, and the soul necessarily
includes the life with its diverse methods of expression, and the mind.
Gesture is melodic or inflective through the richness of its forms,
harmonic through the multiplicity of parts that unite simultaneously to
produce it. Gesture is rhythmic through its movement, more or less slow,
or more or less rapid.

Gesture is, then, inevitably synthetic, and consequently harmonic; for
harmony is but another name for synthesis.

Each of the inflective, harmonic and rhythmic modes has its peculiar
law.

The rhythmic law of gesture is thus formulated:

"The rhythm of gesture is proportional to the mass to be moved."

The more an organ is restrained, the more vehement is its impulse.

This law is based upon the vibration of the pendulum. Great levers have
slow movements, small agents more rapid ones. The head moves more
rapidly when the torso and the eye have great facility of motion. Thus
the titillations of the eye are rapid as lightning.

This titillation always announces an emotion. Surprise is feigned if
there is no titillation.

For example, at the unexpected visit of a friend there is a lighting up
of the eye. Wherefore? Because the image is active in the imagination.
This is an image which passes within ourselves, which lies in inward
phenomena.

So in relation to material phenomena: there is a convergence, a
direction of the eyes toward the object; if the object changes place,
the eyes cannot modify their manner of convergence; they must close to
find a new direction, a convergence suited to the distance of the
object.

There is never sympathetic vision. The phenomena of the imagination are
in the imagination at a fixed distance. When an image changes place in
the idea, it produces a titillation equal to that which would be
produced in the order of material things. For example, let us quote
these lines:

"At last I have him in my power,
This fatal foe, this haughty conqueror!
Through him my captives leave their slavery."

Here the body must be calm; there is a sort of vehemence in the eyes; it
will be less in the head than in the arms. All these movements are made,
but the body remains firm. Generally the reverse takes place; the whole
body is moved; but this is wrong.

In these words: "Where are they, these wretches?" there must be great
violence in the upper part of the body, but the step is very calm.

To affect a violent gait is an awkward habit. A modified slowness in the
small agents creates emphasis; if we give them too great facility of
movement, the gestures become mean and wretched.

Rhythm is in marvelous accord with nature under the impulse of God.



_Importance of the Laws of Gesture._


We never really understand an author's meaning. Every one is free to
interpret him according to his individual instinct. But we must know how
to justify his interpretation by gesture. Principles must aid us in
choosing a point of view in accordance with his individual nature;
otherwise incoherence is inevitable. Hence rules are indispensable. But
when the law is known, each applies it in accordance with his own idea.

The author himself cannot read without rules, in such a manner as to
convey the ideas he intended to express. Only through rules can we
become free in our interpretation; we are not free without law, for in
this case we are subject to the caprice of some master.

The student of oratory should not be a servile copyist. In the
arrangement of his effects, he must copy, imitate and compose. Let him
first reproduce a fixed model, the lesson of the master. This is to
copy. Let him then reproduce the lesson in the absence of the master.
This is to imitate. Finally, let him reproduce a fugitive model. This is
to compose.

Thus to reproduce a lesson, to give its analysis and synthesis, is to
disjoint, to unite and to reunite; this is the progressive order of
work.

The copying and imitative exercises should be followed by compositions,
applying the principles already known. The orator may be allowed play
for his peculiar genius; he may be sublime even in employing some
foolish trick of his art. But whatever he does, he must be guided by
fixed rules.




Chapter V.

Of Gesture in Particular.



_The Head._


The dynamic apparatus is composed of the head, the torso and the limbs.
As in the vocal apparatus, we have the lever, the impelling force, and
the fulcrum.

The dynamic apparatus produces gesture, which renders the moral or
normal state; as the voice expresses inflection and reveals the
sensitive state.

The head must be studied under two relations: as the agent of expression
through its movements, and as the centre of attraction; that is, the
point of departure or arrival for the different gestures of the arm.

Let us now apply ourselves to the signification of the movements of the
head and eyes, the face and lips.



_The Movements of the Head._


There are two sorts of movements of the head: movements of attitude and
fugitive movements.

_Movements of Attitude._--The head has nine primary attitudes, from
which many others proceed.

In the normal attitude, the head is neither high nor low.

In the concentric attitude the head is lowered; this is the reflective
state.

In the eccentric attitude the head is elevated; this is the vital
state.

Soldiers and men of robust physique carry the head high.

Here are three genera, each of which gives three species.



_The Normal State._


When the head is erect, it is passive and neutral.

The head inclining laterally toward the interlocutor indicates
affection.

If in the inverse direction, opposite the interlocutor, sensualism is
indicated. This is in fact retroaction; in the first case we love the
soul, in the latter the form.



_The Eccentric State._


If the head bends backward it is the passional or vehement state.

The head inclined toward the interlocutor, denotes abandon, confidence.

The head turned away from the interlocutor, denotes pride, noble or
base. This is a neutral expression which says something, but not the
whole.



_The Concentric State._


The head lowered, that is, inclined forward, denotes the reflective
state.

If the head inclines toward the interlocutor, it is veneration, an act
of faith in the object we love.

If the head inclines away from the interlocutor, it is stratagem or
suspicion.

All other attitudes of the head are modifications of these. These nine
attitudes characterize states, that is, sentiments, but sentiments which
are fugitive. Either of these attitudes may be affected until it becomes
habitual. But there are movements which cannot be habitually affected,
which can only modify types and attitudes of the inflections of the
head. These are _fugitive movements_.

There are nine inflections or fugitive movements of the head:--

1. If a forward movement, it ends in an upright one, with elevated chin,
and indicates interrogation, hope, appellation, desire.

2. The same movement with the chin lowered, indicates doubt,
resignation.

3. A nod of the head, a forward movement, means confirmation, _yes_, or
_well_.

4. If the movement is brusque forward, it is the menace of a resolute
man.

5. The head thrown back means exaltation.

6. If the movement is brusque backward, it is the menace of a weak man.

7. There are rotative inflections from one shoulder to the other; this
is impatience, regret.

8. The rotary movement of the head alone signifies negation, that is
_no_.

If the movement ends toward the interlocutor, it is simple negation.

If the movement ends opposite to him, it is negation with distrust.

9. The rotative and forward inflection would denote exaltation.

The sense of this response,--"I do not know," when tidings of a friend
are asked, may be divined by an inflection of the head.

It is well to note how these movements are transmitted from agent to
agent.

All movements which severally affect the head, the hand, the body and
the leg, may affect the whole.

Thus the movement of negation is made by the hand. This movement is
double. There is negation with direct resolution, and negation with
inverse resolution, which is elliptical. The hand recoils as the head
recoils, and when the head makes the movement of impatience, the hand
rises with the head and says:--"Leave me alone, I do not wish to hear
you."

It is curious to see an inflection pass successively from the head to
the hand, from the hand to the eye, from the eye to the shoulders, from
the shoulders to the arms, from the arms to the legs, from the legs to
the feet.

For example: Above we have indicated a double menace made by the head.
One might transfer this menace to the hand and say: "You will have a
quarrel to settle with me!"

Each agent has its role, and this is why they transmit their movements.

When the head has a serious part to play, it communicates an inflective
movement to the hand, which renders it terrible.

A man who menaces with the head is not sure of his aim, but he who
menaces with the hand is sure of striking right. In order to do this,
the eye must be firmly fixed, as the eye necessarily loses its power and
accuracy by a movement of the head.