Chapter 22
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 rôle, that is, when he reflects, he gazes upon his audience; he makes a backward (or concentric) movement; when he assumes the active rôle, 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 Phèdre:
_Dieu--que ne puis-je à l'ombre des fôrets, Suivre de l'oeil un char fuyant dans la carrière--_
("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 rôle of actor or that of mere spectator or narrator. Neither the one nor the other can be forced upon him. The actor's rôle arises not from intelligence but simply from instinct. The actor identifies himself with the personages he represents. He renders all their sentiments. This rôle 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 rôle 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.