Information about Decorum
Decorum was a principle of classical rhetoric, which defined what was appropriate to each of the main styles into which Hellenistic and Latin rhetors had divided written literature: the grand style, the middle style and the low (or plain) style. Certain types of vocabulary and diction were considered appropriate for certain stylistic levels. This principle of decorum was an influential concept even in the looser rescripts of Romanticism. Poetry, perhaps more than any other literary form, usually expressed words or phrases that were not current in ordinary conversation, characterized as poetic diction.
The use of this word in this sense is of the sixteenth-century,[1] prescribing the boundaries established in drama and literature, used by Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (1570) and echoed in Malvolio's tirade in Twelfth Night, "My masters, are you mad, or what are you? Have you no wit, manners nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?...Is there no respect of persons, place nor time in you?"[2]
The precepts of social decorum as we understand them, of the preservation of external decency, were consciously set by Lord Chesterfield, who was looking for a translation of les moeurs: "Manners are too little, morals are too much."[3] If Stanhope divorced decorum from ethics, the place of decorum in the courtroom, of the type of argument that is within bounds, remains pertinent:[4] the decorum of argument was a constant topic during the O.J. Simpson trial, to pick an egregious example that remains in the public consciousness.
Concepts of decorum, increasingly sensed as inhibitive and stultifying, were aggressively attacked and deconstructed by writers of the Modernist movement, with the result that readers' expectations were no longer based on decorum, and in consequence the violations of decorum that underlie the wit of mock-heroic, of literary burlesque, and even a sense of bathos, were dulled in the twentieth-century reader.
The word "decorum" survives in Chesterfield's severely reduced form as an element of etiquette: the prescribed limits of appropriate behavior within a set situation.
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The use of this word in this sense is of the sixteenth-century,[1] prescribing the boundaries established in drama and literature, used by Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (1570) and echoed in Malvolio's tirade in Twelfth Night, "My masters, are you mad, or what are you? Have you no wit, manners nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?...Is there no respect of persons, place nor time in you?"[2]
The precepts of social decorum as we understand them, of the preservation of external decency, were consciously set by Lord Chesterfield, who was looking for a translation of les moeurs: "Manners are too little, morals are too much."[3] If Stanhope divorced decorum from ethics, the place of decorum in the courtroom, of the type of argument that is within bounds, remains pertinent:[4] the decorum of argument was a constant topic during the O.J. Simpson trial, to pick an egregious example that remains in the public consciousness.
Concepts of decorum, increasingly sensed as inhibitive and stultifying, were aggressively attacked and deconstructed by writers of the Modernist movement, with the result that readers' expectations were no longer based on decorum, and in consequence the violations of decorum that underlie the wit of mock-heroic, of literary burlesque, and even a sense of bathos, were dulled in the twentieth-century reader.
The word "decorum" survives in Chesterfield's severely reduced form as an element of etiquette: the prescribed limits of appropriate behavior within a set situation.
Notes
1. ^ Cicero's use of decorum in discussing virtue in De officiis does not distinguish it from honestum, according to Melvin R. Watson, "Lord Chesterfield and 'Decorum'" Modern Language Notes 62.3 (March 1947), pp. 197-198.
2. ^ Thomas Kranidas, "Malvolio on Decorum" Shakespeare Quarterly 15.4 (Autumn 1964, pp. 450-451) p 450; see also T. McAlindon, Shakespeare and Decorum (New York) 1973.
3. ^ Chesterfield, in the World, 12 August 1756, noted by Watson 1947:197.
4. ^ "Decorum of Attorney in Argument: Propriety of Appeals to the Pathetic or Sentimental" Michigan Law Review 2.1 (June 1903), p. 49.
2. ^ Thomas Kranidas, "Malvolio on Decorum" Shakespeare Quarterly 15.4 (Autumn 1964, pp. 450-451) p 450; see also T. McAlindon, Shakespeare and Decorum (New York) 1973.
3. ^ Chesterfield, in the World, 12 August 1756, noted by Watson 1947:197.
4. ^ "Decorum of Attorney in Argument: Propriety of Appeals to the Pathetic or Sentimental" Michigan Law Review 2.1 (June 1903), p. 49.
References
- "Language in literature" A first introduction to some basics.
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Romanticism is an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated around the middle of the 18th century in Western Europe, during the Industrial Revolution. It was partly a revolt against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a
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Poetic diction is the term used to refer to the linguistic style, the vocabulary, and the metaphors used in the writing of poetry. In the Western tradition, all these elements were thought of as properly different in poetry and prose up to the time of the Romantic revolution, when
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Roger Ascham (c. 1515 - December 23, 1568), English scholar and didactic writer, was born at Kirby Wiske, a village in the North Riding of Yorkshire, near Northallerton.
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Malvolio is the steward of Olivia's household in William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, or What You Will.
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Style
Malvolio is not so well defined in physical shape as characters such as Toby Belch, however his ethical values are commonly used to define his..... Click the link for more information.
Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, named after the Twelfth Night holiday of the Christmas season.
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Date and text
Twelfth Night..... Click the link for more information.
Ethics (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ἠθική [φιλοσοφία]
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The O.J. Simpson murder case was a highly-publicized U.S. criminal trial in which former American football star for the National Football League (NFL) and actor, O. J. Simpson, was charged with the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
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Deconstruction is a term in contemporary philosophy, literary criticism, and the social sciences, denoting a process by which the texts and languages of Western philosophy (in particular) appear to shift and complicate in meaning when read in light of the assumptions and absences
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Modernism describes a series of reforming cultural movements in art and architecture, music, literature and the applied arts which emerged in the three decades before 1914.
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Mock-heroic works are typically satires or parodies that mock common Romantic or modern stereotypes of heroes. These stereotypes include being unusually brave, mighty and great in all respects.
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Burlesque refers to theatrical entertainment of broad and parodic humor, which usually consists of comic skits (and sometimes a striptease). While some authors assert that burlesque is a direct descendant of the Commedia dell'arte, the term 'burlesque' for a parody or comedy of
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For the Aarni album, see .
Bathos is Greek for depth. As used in English it originally referred to a particular type of bad poetry, but it is now used more broadly to cover any ridiculous artwork or performance...... Click the link for more information.
Etiquette, one aspect of decorum, is a code that governs the expectations of social behavior, according to the contemporary conventional norm within a society, social class, or group. Usually unwritten, it may be codified in written form.
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Behavior or behaviour
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Marcus Tullius Cicero
Cicero around age 60, from an ancient marble bust
Born: January 3, 106 BC
Arpinum, Italy
Died: December 7, 43 BC
Formia, Italy
Occupation: Politician, lawyer, orator and philosopher
Nationality: Ancient Roman
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Cicero around age 60, from an ancient marble bust
Born: January 3, 106 BC
Arpinum, Italy
Died: December 7, 43 BC
Formia, Italy
Occupation: Politician, lawyer, orator and philosopher
Nationality: Ancient Roman
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