Chapter 7 - Gesture

Examples | Suggestions

Gesture, embracing movements of the head, body, arms, hands, legs and feet, is a natural and necessary part of expression. The student should study for grace, flexibility, appropriateness, variety and spontaneity. It will be profitable to carefully observe the expression of various classes of people, paintings and sculpture. Practise daily before a looking-glass.

The head should be well-poised and not held on one side as if scrutinizing an audience. When held erect it denotes a normal attitude, courage, joy, pride, or authority; when upward it indicates hope or prayer; when downward, shame, modesty, or reflection; when forward, appeal, listening, sympathy or anticipation; when backward, surprise, terror or independence; when shaking, denial, discontent, or emphasis. Frequent and meaningless movements should be studiously avoided. In bowing, incline the head and upper body together, so as to bring the bend from the waist. It should be done slowly and pleasantly, with the eyes looking down.

The face should be trained to promptly and truthfully reflect the emotions of the speaker. Quintilian says: '' The face is the dominant power of expression. With this we supplicate; with this we threaten; with this we soothe; with this we mourn; with this we rejoice; with this we triumph; with this we make our submissions; upon this the audience hang; upon this they keep their eyes fixed; this they examine and study even before a word is spoken."

The eyes are wide open in joy, fear and surprise; closed in faintness, half-closed in hate and scrutiny; raised in prayer and supplication; drooped in modesty and veneration ; look askance in envy, jealousy, and appreciation.

The nostrils are extended in fear and indignation, and elevated in scorn.

The lips are closed in repose; partly open in surprise and wonder; wide open in terror; turn upward in pleasure, courtesy and good humor; turn downward in grief and sorrow; pout in discontent; and compress in anger, defiance and determination.

The body should move in harmony with the other members as required by the thought. In turning from side to side the movement should be from the waist and not from the neck.

The arms move from the shoulder, excepting in conversational gesture. They should rest at the sides without crooking the elbows. Movements may be slow and gentle, slow and intense, swift and light, or swift and strong. The size, length, and velocity of a gesture depend upon the thought. The lines are usually in curves, expressing grace, while straight lines are used when special emphasis is required. The general purpose of gesture is to locate, illustrate, generalize or emphasize.

The hands should be carefully trained for flexibility and expressiveness. The fingers should be slightly apart and curved. A gesture has three divisions: 1. The preparation, made in an opposite direction from that which the gesture is to take. 2. The gesture proper, which must be precisely upon the word intended. 3.

The return, in which the hand should be dropped gently and slowly without slapping the sides of the body.

The supine hand, palm upward, is used to express good-humor, frankness and generalization.

The prone hand, palm downward, shows superposition, or the resting of one thing upon another.

The vertical hand, palm outward, is used in warding off, putting from, and in repugnant and disagreeable thought.

The clenched hand is used in anger, defiance and great emphasis.

The index finger is used to specialize and indicate.

Both hands are used in appeal and to express intensity, expansiveness and greatness. Usually one hand should slightly lead the other. The hands are clasped in prayer and wrung in grief.

The feet. The standing position should be easy, the feet at an angle of forty-five degrees, one foot in advance of the other, the width of the base depending upon the height of the speaker. The knees should be straight, shoulders even and chin level. Avoid rising on the toes and too frequent change of foot position. The most graceful effect is secured when the left foot is forward and the gesture made with the right hand, or vice versa. This combination gives balance, tho it is not always possible to use it. The change of foot position will not be so noticeable if done in the act of making a gesture.

The position may be Active or Passive. Passive position is that of normal discourse. Active position may be Advanced or Retired. The Advanced is used in great earnestness, excitement, intensity, or courageousness.

EXAMPLES

1. Freedom calls you! quick, be ready.
Think of what your sires have done; Onward, onward! strong and steady,
Drive the tyrant to his den;
 On, and let the watchword be,
 Country, home, and liberty.
"Polish War Song."
JAMES G. PERCTVAL.

2. Therefore, I pray and exhort you not to reject this measure. By all you hold most dear, by all the ties that bind every one of us to our common order and our common country, I solemnly adjure you, I warn you, I implore you, yea on my bended knees I supplicate you, reject not this bill! LORD BROUGHAM.

The Retired is used in fear, defiance, horror and indignation.
1. Thy threats, thy mercies I defy, And give thee in the teeth the lie!
2. My lords, I cannot repress my indignation. I feel myself
impelled to speak. My lords, we are called upon as members of
this House, as men, as Christians, to protest against such horrible
barbarity! That God and nature have put into our hands! What
ideas of God and nature that noble lord may entertain, I know
not; but I know that such detestable principles are equally ab
horrent to religion and humanity. EARL OF CHATHAM.

For Repose practise a strong dramatic passage without making any visible movements.

SUGGESTIONS

Don't make too many gestures with the same hand.
Don't lean.
If possible, avoid using handkerchief.
Don't button and unbutton your coat.
Avoid artificiality, affectation, familiarity and crudeness*
Too few gestures are better than too many.
Don't shrug the shoulders.
Seldom apologize.
Look jour audience in the eyes.
When possible, one gesture should glide into the next.

Use only that member of the body actually required. The hands should not be held behind the back for any length of time, nor be clasped in front, nor should they fumble, twitch or play with each other, rest on the watch chain or in the buttonhole, and should never be kept in the pockets while one is before an audience.

Practise the outline above, first with each hand separately, then with both hands. The movement should begin at the wrist, gradually extend to the elbow, ending with a broad sweeping movement from the shoulder. The aim should be to make the circles alike in size and curve.

There are three Zones in which gestures are made: The Upper, Middle and Lower. To the first, located about the head and above it, belong such thoughts as are joyous, highly intellectual, spiritual, imaginative and exalted; to the second, at the middle of the body, belong the unemotional, narrative, didactic and conversational; and to the third, below the middle of the body, belong such thoughts as are emphatic, determined and forceful.

There are four principal directions in which gestures move: Front, Oblique, Side and Back. The front position denotes future, propinquity, and objects of direct address; the oblique position is used for general and indefinite statements ; the side for distance and breadth; the back for that which is remote, past or hidden.

In the following exercises, nine examples are arranged under each heading. The first three are to be made to the front of the speaker, the next three in an oblique direction, and the last three to the side. The gesture should be given precisely on the first word in italics.

EXAMPLES OF GESTURE

ONE HAND SUPINE MIDDLE ZONE

1. Do you confess the bond?
2. What trade art thou?
3. That is your exclusive province to determine.
4. Character is better than reputation.
5. My early life ran quiet as the brooks by which I sported.
6. Truth, honor, justice were his motives.
7. I must fly, but follow quick.
8. The father saw, and his fury fled.
9. Whatever impedes his progress shall be removed.

BOTH HANDS SUPINE MIDDLE ZONE

1. Forward! through blood and toil, and cloud and fire!
2. I appeal to you by the unity of our race.
3. Do you not know me?
4. Romans, countrymen and lovers!
5. I hold my hands to you to show they still are free!
6. Now let there be the merry sound of music and the dance!
7. Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness.
8. Proclaim the tidings to all people.
9. On a sudden open fly the infernal gates.

ONE HAND SUPINE ASCENDING

1. The star of hope lures on.
2. Aspire to the highest and noblest attainments.
3. Yon gentle hills, robed in a garment of untrodden snow.
4. Up with your ladders! Quick! 'tis but a chance!
5. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows.
6. Fix your eye upon excellence.
7. Away, oh away, soars the fearless and free.
8. Heaving higher and higher their accordant notes.
9. Takes shape like bubble tossing in the wind.

BOTH HANDS SUPINE ASCENDING

1. Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are!
2. Give your children food, O Father!
3. Hear my last prayer! I ask no mortal wreath.
4. Ye crags and peaks, I'm with you once again.
5. The sun bursts through the battle-smoke.
6. Too low they build who build beneath the stars.
7. Rouse, ye Romans! rouse ye slaves!
8. All the vaulted arches rang with music.
9. Joy, joy forever! my task is done!

ONE HAND SUPINE DESCENDING

1. I protest against such a measure.
2. I cast in the whirlpool a goblet of gold.
3. Great men, too, lie where they fall.
4. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.
5. The first test of a truly great man is his humility.
6. I ne'er will ask for quarter, and I ne'er will be your slave!
7. Oh judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts.
8. He has become too vile for association.
9. Who steals my purse, steals trash.
   

BOTH HANDS SUPINE DESCENDING

1. Here I devote your senate.
2. I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
3. Down, down into the fathomless sea.
4. The huge pile sank down at once into the opening earth.
5. We have no concessions to make, my lord.
6. Here will we sit down and let the sound of music creep in our ears.
7. Gentlemen may cry "Peace! Peace!" but there is no peace!
8. Nature hears the shock and hurls her fabric to the dust.
9. Be ready, Gods! With all your thunderbolts dash him to pieces!

ONE HAND PRONE MIDDLE ZONE

1. Blaze, with your serried columns! I will not bend the knee.
2. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!
3. Strode on and thundered at the palace gate.
4. Go, get thee from me, Cromwell.
5. I charge j7ou all, restrain such propensities.
6. On stream and wood the moonbeams rest.
7. Along the silent room he stalks.
8. If ye are men, follow me!
9. "Traitor" I go; but I return.

BOTH HANDS PRONE MIDDLE ZONE

1. Lie lightly on him earth.
2. That his bones may have a tomb of orphans' tears wept on 'em!
3. With our hands upon the altar, we swear eternal fealty.
4. I'll swim the sea of slaughter till I sink beneath the wave!
5. Look down on what? A fathomless abyss.
6. One dead silence reigned o'er the spot.
7. Bound me the smoke and shout of battle roll!
8. Deep stillness fell upon them all.
9. Spread wild destruction everywhere.

ONE HAND PRONE ASCENDING

1. Ye gods, withhold your vengeance.
2. Justice cries: Forbear!
3. Boys flying kites haul in their white-winged birds.
4. Stay! Speak, speak, I charge thee, speak!
5. They little knew the danger impending o'er their city.
6. The flames went leaping higher, higher, higher!
7. Away, delusive phantom.
8. As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form.
9. A midnight gloom reigned over the farthest height.

BOTH HANDS PRONE ASCENDING

1. Crown his temples with the silver locks of seventy years.
2. Sink, O Night, among the mountains.
3. Bless the Lord, O my soul.
4. Now stretches forth her leaden sceptre o'er a slumbering world.
5. Hung be the heavens with black.
6. And you, ye storms, howl out his greatness.
7. Rise! rise! ye wild tempests and cover his flight!
8. Around him rose the bare discolored walls.
9. They cried aloud: "Huzza! we are saved!"

ONE HAND PRONE DESCENDING

1. To thy knees and beg for pardon.
2. Pray you tread softly.
3. Maintaining she was false to him.
4. And he fell upon their decks and he died.
5. He shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.
6. Thou, coward, crawl like a worm.
7. Away with such follies!
8. Thou art too base for man to tread upon.
9. It is a great temptation, but push it aside!

BOTH HANDS PRONE DESCENDING

1. Down, down, down to death!
2. We are in Thy sight, worms of the dust.
3. I saw the bleeding body of my father flung amid the blazing rafters of our dwelling.
4. He shall go down to the vile dust, from whence he sprung.
5. They shall be blotted out from the records of Freedom.
6. Sons of dust, in reverence bow!
7. Till pride and worse ambition threw me down!
8. The people will sweep you from your places with their indignation.
9. I disown them all!

ONE HAND VERTICAL MIDDLE ZONE

1. Pause, pause! in heaven's name, pause!
2. Do not presume too much upon my love!
3. All that I ask is simply fair play!
4. He groped towards the door, but it was locked!
5. Now for the fight!
6. Be that word our sign of parting!
7. Away with an idea so absurd.
8. Begone! we will not look upon you more.
9. His arm warded of the blow.

BOTH HANDS VERTICAL MIDDLE ZONE

1. Gone to be married! Gone to swear a peace!
2. With united hearts let us drive back the invaders.
3. She stood as if paralyzed with fear!
4. Here I fling hatred and full defiance in your face!
5. Their separation was final.
6. Back, back to thy punishment!
7. Avaunt, and quit my sight!
8. The gates of death in sunder break.
9. Put away such idle dreams!

ONE HAND VERTICAL ASCENDING

1. We pray Thee, turn away Thy displeasure.
2. Oh, forbid it, Heaven!
3. An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
4. And he said: "Fight on! Fight on!"
5. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come.
6. The wild cataract leaps in glory.
7. Blow on! This is the land of Liberty!
8. Get thee back into the tempest and the night's Plutonian shore!
9. Unreal mockery, hence!

BOTH HANDS VERTICAL ASCENDING

1. Advance, then, ye future generations!
2. ye loud waves! and O ye forests high!
3. Avert, O God, the awful calamity!
4. Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!
5. O horror, horror, horror!
6. And the battle-thunder broke from them all!
7. Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds.
8. Burst are the prison bars.
9. Victory! Victory! Victory! is the shout!

MISCELLANEOUS EXERCISES

1. I defy him! let him come!
   
   
2. For Heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound!
   
   
3. By this time to-morrow thou shalt have France, or I, thy head!
   
   
4. My happy heart with rapture swells.
   
   
5. Sail forth into the sea, O ship! Ah! distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
   
   
6. I see the silent ocean of the past.
   
   
7. Hurrah! hurrah! a single field hath turned the chance of war, Hurrah! hurrah! for Ivry and King Henry of Navarre!
   
   
8. King Robert crossed both hands upon his breast And meekly answered him: "Thou knowest best."
   
   
9. I feel to-day, as if I would give all, provided I through fifty years might reach and kill and bury that half-minute speech.
   
   
10. I care not how high his station, how low his character, how contemptible his speech; whether a privy councillor or a parasite, my answer would be a blow!
    
    
11. Read this declaration at the head of the army, every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor!
    
    
12. When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep, And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew, And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew, Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their flags, And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd navy of Spain, And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags, To be lost evermore in the main.
    
    
13. I am, sir, sensible I am, indeed, that, tho I should want words I must proceed; and, for the first time in my life, I think I think that no great orator should shrink; and, therefore, Mr. Speaker, I for one will speak out freely. Sir, I've not yet done. Sir, in the name of those enlightened men who sent me here to speak for them why then, to do my duty as I said before to my constituency I'll say no more.
    
14. Yet out of this mixed, and, as you say, despicable mass, he forged a thunderbolt, and hurled it at what

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