Medieval Anger: Two Types - Two Systems of Manual and Facial Gestures

Abstract

The article analyzes the relationship between medieval theories of anger and representations of that emotion through manual and facial gestures. The medieval theory of emotions drew a distinction between two kinds of anger, sinful and righteous. The first was interpreted as an uncontrollable emotion that could not be hidden: it necessarily manifests itself in gestures and facial expressions, the catalogues of which were created by Seneca and some medieval authors following Seneca. Hugo of Saint-Victor, who singled out six modes of gestures associated with vices, defined the mode of anger as "turbulent" (turbidus). The anger not only distorts the face, but also causes the hands to move, making them "restless" (Martin of Braga). In sinful anger, thus, facial expressions fully correspond with manual gestures. The "harmony" of the facial and manual gestures makes it possible to nominally denote that gesture system as a natural one. The concept of righteous anger incorporates some ideas which by their very essence are opposite to the "natural" notion of anger. Thus, Lactantius associated the anger with the idea of mercy, Augustine associated it with the idea of tranquility and Thomas Aquinas - with the idea of meekness. The Christian theory of righteous anger turned out to be a kind of emotional oxymoron; the gesture system of such anger can also be interpreted as oxymoron: at the level of manual gestures righteous anger retains aggressiveness, but facial expression of this anger is peaceful and calm, in complete contradiction to manual gestures. This oxymoronic gesture system had dominated (with some exceptions) when depicting righteous anger until the New Age, when even righteous characters (Archangel Michael, Jesus Christ) began to increasingly show their anger not only in manual gestures, but also in appropriate facial expression.