Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

www

12.-Fear and Terror.

FEAR, violent and sudden, opens wide the eyes and mouth, shortens the nose, gives the countenance an air of wildness, covers it with deadly paleness, draws back the elbows parallel with the sides, lifts up the open hands, with the fingers spread, to the height of the breast, at some distance before it, so as to shield it from the dreadful object. One foot is drawn back behind the other, so that the body seems shrinking from the danger, and putting itself in a posture for flight. The heart beats violently, the breath is quick and short, and the whole body is thrown into a general tremor. The voice is weak and trembling, the sentences are short, and the meaning confused and incoherent.

Example.

Ah! mercy on my soul! What is that? My old friend's ghost? They say none but wicked folks walk. I wish I were at the bottom of a coal-pit. La! how pale, and long his face is grown since his death : he never was handsome; and death has improved him very much the wrong way.-Pray, do not come near me! I wished you very well when you were alive; but I could never abide a dead man cheek by jowl with me. Ah, ah, mercy on us! No nearer, pray! If it be only to take leave of me that you are come back, I could have excused you the ceremony with all my heart. Or if you-mercy on us! no nearer, pray-or if you have wronged any body, as you always loved money a little, I give you the word of a frighted Christian, I will pray as long as you please, for the deliverance or repose of your departed soul. My good, worthy, noble friend, do, pray, disappear, as ever you would wish your old friend to come to his senses again. Moliere.

13.-Sorrow.

IN moderate sorrow, the countenance is dejected, the eyes are cast downward, the arms hang loose, sometimes a little raised, suddenly to fall again; the hands open, the fingers spread, and the voice plaintive, frequently interrupted with sighs. But when this passion is in excess, it distorts the countenance, as if in agonies of pain; it raises the voice to the loudest complainings, and sometimes even to cries and shrieks; it wrings the hands, beats the head and breast, tears the hair, and throws itself on the ground: and, like other passions, in excess, seems to border on phrensy.

Example.

SEEMS, madam! nay, it is: I know not seems.
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,

Nor windy suspiration of forc'd breath;
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief
That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play;
But I have that within which passeth show,

These but the trappings and the suits of woe. Shakespeare's Hamlet.

m

14.-Remorse.

REMORSE, or a painful remembrance of criminal actions or pursuits, casts down the countenance, and clouds it with anxiety, hangs down the head, shakes it with regret, just raises the eyes as if to look up, and suddenly casts them down again with sighs; the right hand sometimes beats the breast, and the whole body writhes as if with self-aversion. The voice has a harshness as in hatred, and inclines to a low and reproachful tone.

Example.

Он, when the last account 'twixt heaven and earth
Is to be made, then shall this hand and seal
Witness against us to damnation!
How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds
Makės deeds ill done! Hadst not thou been by,
A fellow by the hand of Nature mark'd,
Quoted and sign'd, to do a deed of shame,
This murder had not come into my mind;
But taking note of thy abhorred aspect,
Finding thee fit for bloody villany,
Apt, liable to be employed in danger,
I faintly broke with thee of Arthur's death;
And thou, to be endeared to a king,
Mad'st it no conscience to destroy a prince.

Shakespeare's King John.

15.-Despair.

DESPAIR, as in a condemned criminal, or one who has lost all hope of salvation, bends the eye-brows downwards, clouds the forehead, rolls the eyes frightfully, opens the mouth horizontally, bites the lips, widens the nostrils, and gnashes the teeth. The arms are sometimes bent at the elbows, the fists clenched hard, the veins and muscles swelled, the skin livid, the whole body strained and violently agitated; while groans of inward torture are more frequently uttered than words. If any words, they are few, and expressed with a sullen eager bitterness, the tone of the voice often loud and furious, and sometimes in the same note for a considerable time.

Example.

K. Hen. How fares my lord? speak, Beaufort, to thy sovereign
Car. If thou be'st Death, I'll give thee England's treasure,

Enough to purchase such another island,
So thou wilt let me live and feel no pain.
K. Hen. Ah, what a sign it is of evil life,
When death's approach is seen so terrible!
War. Beaufort, it is thy sovereign speaks to thee.

Car. Bring me to my trial when you will.
Died he not in his bed? where should he die?
Can I make men live, whether they will or no?-
Oh! torture me no more, I will confess.-
Alive again? then show me where he is,
I'll give a thousand pounds to look upon him.-
He hath no eyes, the dust hath blinded them-
Comb down his hair; look! look! it stands upright,
Like lime-twigs to catch my winged soul!
Give me some drink, and bid the apothecary
Bring the strong poison that I bought of him.

K. Hen. O thou eternal Mover of the heavens,
Look with a gentle eye upon this wretch!
O beat away the busy meddling fiend
That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul,
And from his bosom purge this black despair!

War. See how the pangs of death do make him grin.
K. Hen. Peace to his soul, if God's good pleasure be!

Lord Cardinal, if thou think'st on Heaven's bliss,
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.-
He dies, and makes no sign: O God, forgive him.

Shakespeare's Henry VI. 2d Parts

16.-Surprise.

SURPRISE, wonder, or amazement, opens the eyes, and makes them appear very prominent. It sometimes raises them to the skies, but more frequently fixes them on the object; the mouth is open, and the hands are held up nearly in the attitude of fear; the voice is at first low, but so emphatical, that every word is pronounced slowly and with energy; when, by the discovery of something excellent in the object of wonder, the emotion may be called admiration; the eyes are raised, the hands lifted up, or clapped together, and the voice elated with expressions of rapture.

Example.

GONE to be married, gone to swear a peace!
False blood to false blood join'd! Gone to be friends!
Shall Lewis have Blanch? and Blanch those provinces?

It is not so: thou hast mis-spoke, misheard!

Be well advis'd, tell o'er thy tale again:
It cannot be: thou dost but say 'tis so.

What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head?

Why dost thou look so sadly on my son?
What means that hand upon that breast of thine?.
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum,
Like a proud river peering o'er his bounds?
Be these sad sighs confirmers of thy words?
Then speak again; not all thy former tale,
But this one word, whether thy tale be true?

17.-Pride.

Shakespeare's King John.

PRIDE assumes a lofty look, bordering upon the aspect and attitude of anger. The eyes full open, but with the eye-brows considerably drawn down, the mouth pouting, mostly shut, and the lips contracted. The words are uttered with a slow, stiff, bombastic affectation of importance; the hands sometimes rest on the hips, with the elbows. brought forward in the position called a-kimbo; the legs at a distance from each other, the steps large and stately.

Example.

Your grace shall pardon me, I will not back;
I am too high born to be propertied;
To be a secondary at control,
Or useful serving-man and instrument
To any sovereign state throughout the world.
Your breath first kindled the dead coal of war
Between this chastis'd kingdom and myself,
And brought in matter that should feed this fire:
And now 'tis far too huge to be blown out
With that same weak wind which enkindled it.
You taught me how to know the face of right,
Acquainted me with interest to this land;
Yea, thrust this enterprise into my heart;
And come ye now to tell me John hath made
His peace with Rome? What is that peace to me?
I, by the honour of my marriage-bed,
After young Arthur, claim this land for mine;
And now it is half conquered, must I back,
Because that John hath made his peace with Rome?
Am I Rome's slave? What penny hath Rome borne,
What men provided, what munition sent,
To under-prop this action? Is't not I
That undergo this charge? Who else but I,
And such as to my claim are liable,
Sweat in this business, and maintain this war?
Have I not heard these islanders shout out,
Vive le Roy! as I have bank'd their towns?
Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match played for a crown?
And shall I now give o'er the yielded set?
No, no, my soul, it never shall be said.

Shakespeare's King John.

wwwwww

18.-Boasting.

In confidence and courage, the head is erect, the breast projected, the countenance clear and open, the accents are strong, round, and not too rapid; the voice firm and even. Boasting exaggerates these appearances by loudness, blustering, and what is not unaptly called swaggering; the arms are placed a-kimbo, the foot stamped on the ground, the head drawn back with pride, the legs take large strides, and the voice swells into bombast.

f

Example.

Captain Bobadil's Method of Defeating an Army-I will tell you, Sir, by way of private and under seal, I am a gentleman; and live here obscure, and to myself: but, were I known to his Majesty and the Lords, observe me, I would undertake upon this poor head and life, for the public benefit of the state, not only to spare the entire lives of his subjects in general, but to save the one half, nay three fourths of his yearly charge in holding war, and against what enemy soever. And how would I do it, think you? - Why thus, Sir:-I would select nineteen more to myself, throughout the land: gentlemen they should be; of good spirit, strong and able constitution. I would choose them by an instinct that I have. And I would teach these nineteen the special rules; as, your Punto, your Reverso, your Stoccata, your Imbroccata, your Passada, your Montonto; till they could all play very near, or altogether, as well as myself. This done, say the enemy were forty thousand strong. We twenty would come into the field, the tenth of March or thereabout; and we would challenge twenty of the enemy: they could not, in their honour, refuse us. Well-we would kill them: challenge twenty more-kill them: twenty more-kill them: twenty more-kill them too. And, thus, would we kill every man his ten a-day-ten aday-that's ten score: ten score-that's two hundred: two hundred aday-five days, a thousand: forty thousand-forty times five-five times forty-two hundred days, kill them all up by computation. And this I will venture my poor gentleman-like carcass to perform (provided there be no treason practised upon us), by fair and discreet manhood; that is, civilly-by the sword. Every Man in his Humour.

19.-Perplexity.

PERPLEXITY, irresolution, or anxiety, collects the body together as if for thoughtful consideration; the eye-brows are contracted, the head hanging on the breast, the eyes cast downwards, the mouth shut, the lips pursed together. Suddenly the whole body alters its aspect, as having discovered something, then falls into contemplation as before; the motions of the body are restless and unequal, sometimes moving quick, and sometimes slow; the pauses in speaking are long, the tone of the voice uneven, the sentences broken and unfinished.

[blocks in formation]

:

« EdellinenJatka »