Hatred—Rage, effects of on the system—Uncovering of the teeth—Rage in
the insane—Anger and indignation—As expressed by the various races of
man—Sneering and defiance—The uncovering of the canine tooth on one
side of the face.
If we have suffered or expect to suffer some wilful injury from a man,
or if he is in any way offensive to us, we dislike him; and dislike
easily rises into hatred. Such feelings, if experienced in a moderate
degree, are not clearly expressed by any movement of the body or
features, excepting perhaps by a certain gravity of behaviour, or by
some ill-temper. Few individuals, however, can long reflect about a
hated person, without feeling and exhibiting signs of indignation or
rage. But if the offending person be quite insignificant, we experience
merely disdain or contempt. If, on the other hand, he is all-powerful,
then hatred passes into terror, as when a slave thinks about a cruel
master, or a savage about a bloodthirsty malignant deity.[1001] Most of
our emotions are so closely connected with their expression, that they
hardly exist if the body remains passive—the nature of the expression
depending in chief part on the nature of the actions which have been
habitually performed under this particular state of the mind. A man,
for instance, may know that his life is in the extremest peril, and may
strongly desire to save if; yet, as Louis XVI. said, when surrounded by
a fierce mob, “Am I afraid? feel my pulse.” So a man may intensely hate
another, but until his bodily frame is affected, he cannot be said to
be enraged.
_Rage_.—I have already had occasion to treat of this emotion in the
third chapter, when discussing the direct influence of the excited
sensorium on the body, in combination with the effects of habitually
associated actions. Rage exhibits itself in the most diversified
manner. The heart and circulation are always affected; the face reddens
or becomes purple, with the veins on the forehead and neck distended.
The reddening of the skin has been observed with the copper-coloured
Indians of South America,[1002] and even, as it is said, on the white
cicatrices left by old wounds on negroes.[1003] Monkeys also redden
from passion. With one of my own infants, under four months old, I
repeatedly observed that the first symptom of an approaching passion
was the rushing of the blood into his bare scalp. On the other hand,
the action of the heart is sometimes so much impeded by great rage,
that the countenance becomes pallid or livid,[1004] and not a few men
with heart-disease have dropped down dead under this powerful emotion.
The respiration is likewise affected; the chest heaves, and the dilated
nostrils quiver.[1005] As Tennyson writes, “sharp breaths of anger
puffed her fairy nostrils out.” Hence we have such expressions as
“breathing out vengeance,” and “fuming with anger.”[1006]
The excited brain gives strength to the muscles, and at the same time
energy to the will. The body is commonly held erect ready for instant
action, but sometimes it is bent forward towards the offending person,
with the limbs more or less rigid. The mouth is generally closed with
firmness, showing fixed determination, and the teeth are clenched or
ground together. Such gestures as the raising of the arms, with the
fists clenched, as if to strike the offender, are common. Few men in a
great passion, and telling some one to begone, can resist acting as if
they intended to strike or push the man violently away. The desire,
indeed, to strike often becomes so intolerably strong, that inanimate
objects are struck or dashed to the ground; but the gestures frequently
become altogether purposeless or frantic. Young children, when in a
violent rage roll on the ground on their backs or bellies, screaming,
kicking, scratching, or biting everything within reach. So it is, as I
hear from Mr. Scott, with Hindoo children; and, as we have seen, with
the young of the anthropomorphous apes.
But the muscular system is often affected in a wholly different way;
for trembling is a frequent consequence of extreme rage. The paralysed
lips then refuse to obey the will, “and the voice sticks in the
throat;”[1007] or it is rendered loud, harsh, and discordant. If there
be much and rapid speaking, the mouth froths. The hair sometimes
bristles; but I shall return to this subject in another chapter, when I
treat of the mingled emotions of rage and terror. There is in most
cases a strongly-marked frown on the forehead; for this follows from
the sense of anything displeasing or difficult, together with
concentration of mind. But sometimes the brow, instead of being much
contracted and lowered, remains smooth, with the glaring eyes kept
widely open. The eyes are always bright, or may, as Homer expresses it,
glisten with fire. They are sometimes bloodshot, and are said to
protrude from their sockets—the result, no doubt, of the head being
gorged with blood, as shown by the veins being distended. According to
Gratiolet, “the pupils are always contracted in rage,” and I hear from
Dr. Crichton Browne that this is the case in the fierce delirium of
meningitis; but the movements of the iris under the influence of the
different emotions is a very obscure subject.[1008]
Shakspeare sums up the chief characteristics of rage as follows:—
“In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man,
As modest stillness and humility;
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his full height! On, on, you noblest English.”
_Henry V_., act iii. sc. 1.
The lips are sometimes protruded during rage in a manner, the meaning
of which I do not understand, unless it depends on our descent from
some ape-like animal. Instances have been observed, not only with
Europeans, but with the Australians and Hindoos. The lips, however, are
much more commonly retracted, the grinning or clenched teeth being thus
exposed. This has been noticed by almost every one who has written on
expression.[1009] The appearance is as if the teeth were uncovered,
ready for seizing or tearing an enemy, though there may be no intention
of acting in this manner. Mr. Dyson Lacy has seen this grinning
expression with the Australians, when quarrelling, and so has Gaika
with the Kafirs of South America. Dickens,[1010] in speaking of an
atrocious murderer who had just been caught, and was surrounded by a
furious mob, describes “the people as jumping up one behind another,
snarling with their teeth, and making at him like wild beasts.” Every
one who has had much to do with young children must have seen how
naturally they take to biting, when in a passion. It seems as
instinctive in them as in young crocodiles, who snap their little jaws
as soon as they emerge from the egg.
A grinning expression and the protrusion of the lips appear sometimes
to go together. A close observer says that he has seen many instances
of intense hatred (which can hardly be distinguished from rage, more or
less suppressed) in Orientals, and once in an elderly English woman. In
all these cases there “was a grin, not a scowl—the lips lengthening,
the cheeks settling downwards, the eyes half-closed, whilst the brow
remained perfectly calm.”[1011]
This retraction of the lips and uncovering of the teeth during
paroxysms of rage, as if to bite the offender, is so remarkable,
considering how seldom the teeth are used by men in fighting, that I
inquired from Dr. J. Crichton Browne whether the habit was common in
the insane whose passions are unbridled. He informs me that he has
repeatedly observed it both with the insane and idiotic, and has given
me the following illustrations:—
Shortly before receiving my letter, he witnessed an uncontrollable
outbreak of anger and delusive jealousy in an insane lady. At first she
vituperated her husband, and whilst doing so foamed at the mouth. Next
she approached close to him with compressed lips, and a virulent set
frown. Then she drew back her lips, especially the corners of the upper
lip, and showed her teeth, at the same time aiming a vicious blow at
him. A second case is that of an old soldier, who, when he is requested
to conform to the rules of the establishment, gives way to discontent,
terminating in fury. He commonly begins by asking Dr. Browne whether he
is not ashamed to treat him in such a manner. He then swears and
blasphemes, paces tip and down, tosses his arms wildly about, and
menaces any one near him. At last, as his exasperation culminates, he
rushes up towards Dr. Browne with a peculiar sidelong movement, shaking
his doubled fist, and threatening destruction. Then his upper lip may
be seen to be raised, especially at the corners, so that his huge
canine teeth are exhibited. He hisses forth his curses through his set
teeth, and his whole expression assumes the character of extreme
ferocity. A similar description is applicable to another man, excepting
that he generally foams at the mouth and spits, dancing and jumping
about in a strange rapid manner, shrieking out his maledictions in a
shrill falsetto voice.
Dr. Browne also informs me of the case of an epileptic idiot, incapable
of independent movements, and who spends the whole day in playing with
some toys; but his temper is morose and easily roused into fierceness.
When any one touches his toys, he slowly raises his head from its
habitual downward position, and fixes his eyes on the offender, with a
tardy yet angry scowl. If the annoyance be repeated, he draws back his
thick lips and reveals a prominent row of hideous fangs (large canines
being especially noticeable), and then makes a quick and cruel clutch
with his open hand at the offending person. The rapidity of this
clutch, as Dr. Browne remarks, is marvellous in a being ordinarily so
torpid that he takes about fifteen seconds, when attracted by any
noise, to turn his head from one side to the other. If, when thus
incensed, a handkerchief, book, or other article, be placed into his
hands, he drags it to his mouth and bites it. Mr. Nicol has likewise
described to me two cases of insane patients, whose lips are retracted
during paroxysms of rage.
Dr. Maudsley, after detailing various strange animal-like traits in
idiots, asks whether these are not due to the reappearance of primitive
instincts—“a faint echo from a far-distant past, testifying to a
kinship which man has almost outgrown.” He adds, that as every human
brain passes, in the course of its development, through the same stages
as those occurring in the lower vertebrate animals, and as the brain of
an idiot is in an arrested condition, we may presume that it “will
manifest its most primitive functions, and no higher functions.” Dr.
Maudsley thinks that the same view may be extended to the brain in its
degenerated condition in some insane patients; and asks, whence come
“the savage snarl, the destructive disposition, the obscene language,
the wild howl, the offensive habits, displayed by some of the insane?
Why should a human being, deprived of his reason, ever become so brutal
in character, as some do, unless he has the brute nature within
him?”[1012] This question must, as it would appear, he answered in the
affirmative.
_Anger, Indignation_.—These states of the mind differ from rage only in
degree, and there is no marked distinction in their characteristic
signs. Under moderate anger the action of the heart is a little
increased, the colour heightened, and the eyes become bright. The
respiration is likewise a little hurried; and as all the muscles
serving for this function act in association, the wings of the nostrils
are somewhat raised to allow of a free indraught of air; and this is a
highly characteristic sign of indignation. The mouth is commonly
compressed, and there is almost always a frown on the brow. Instead of
the frantic gestures of extreme rage, an indignant man unconsciously
throws himself into an attitude ready for attacking or striking his
enemy, whom he will perhaps scan from head to foot in defiance. He
carries his head erect, with his chest well expanded, and the feet
planted firmly on the ground. He holds his arms in various positions,
with one or both elbows squared, or with the arms rigidly suspended by
his sides. With Europeans the fists are commonly clenched.[1013] The
figures 1 and 2 in Plate VI. are fairly good representations of men
simulating indignation. Any one may see in a mirror, if he will vividly
imagine that he has been insulted and demands an explanation in an
angry tone of voice, that he suddenly and unconsciously throws himself
into some such attitude.
Anger and Indignation. Plate VI
Rage, anger, and indignation are exhibited in nearly the same manner
throughout the world; and the following descriptions may be worth
giving as evidence of this, and as illustrations of some of the
foregoing remarks. There is, however, an exception with respect to
clenching the fists, which seems confined chiefly to the men who fight
with their fists. With the Australians only one of my informants has
seen the fists clenched. All agree about the body being held erect; and
all, with two exceptions, state that the brows are heavily contracted.
Some of them allude to the firmly-compressed mouth, the distended
nostrils, and flashing eyes. According to the Rev. Mr. Taplin, rage,
with the Australians, is expressed by the lips being protruded, the
eyes being widely open; and in the case of the women by their dancing
about and casting dust into the air. Another observer speaks of the
native men, when enraged, throwing their arms wildly about.
I have received similar accounts, except as to the clenching of the
fists, in regard to the Malays of the Malacca peninsula, the
Abyssinians, and the natives of South Africa. So it is with the Dakota
Indians of North America; and, according to Mr. Matthews, they then
hold their heads erect, frown, and often stalk away with long strides.
Mr. Bridges states that the Fuegians, when enraged, frequently stamp on
the ground, walk distractedly about, sometimes cry and grow pale. The
Rev. Mr. Stack watched a New Zealand man and woman quarrelling, and
made the following entry in his note-book: “Eyes dilated, body swayed
violently backwards and forwards, head inclined forwards, fists
clenched, now thrown behind the body, now directed towards each other’s
faces.” Mr. Swinhoe says that my description agrees with what he has
seen of the Chinese, excepting that an angry man generally inclines his
body towards his antagonist, and pointing at him, pours forth a volley
of abuse.
Lastly, with respect to the natives of India, Mr. J. Scott has sent me
a full description of their gestures and expression when enraged. Two
low-caste Bengalees disputed about a loan. At first they were calm, but
soon grew furious and poured forth the grossest abuse on each other’s
relations and progenitors for many generations past. Their gestures
were very different from those of Europeans; for though their chests
were expanded and shoulders squared, their arms remained rigidly
suspended, with the elbows turned inwards and the hands alternately
clenched and opened. Their shoulders were often raised high, and then
again lowered. They looked fiercely at each other from under their
lowered and strongly wrinkled brows, and their protruded lips were
firmly closed. They approached each other, with heads and necks
stretched forwards, and pushed, scratched, and grasped at each other.
This protrusion of the head and body seems a common gesture with the
enraged; and I have noticed it with degraded English women whilst
quarrelling violently in the streets. In such cases it may be presumed
that neither party expects to receive a blow from the other.
A Bengalee employed in the Botanic Gardens was accused, in the presence
of Mr. Scott, by the native overseer of having stolen a valuable plant.
He listened silently and scornfully to the accusation; his attitude
erect, chest expanded, mouth closed, lips protruding, eyes firmly set
and penetrating. He then defiantly maintained his innocence, with
upraised and clenched hands, his head being now pushed forwards, with
the eyes widely open and eyebrows raised. Mr. Scott also watched two
Mechis, in Sikhim, quarrelling about their share of payment. They soon
got into a furious passion, and then their bodies became less erect,
with their heads pushed forwards; they made grimaces at each other;
their shoulders were raised; their arms rigidly bent inwards at the
elbows, and their hands spasmodically closed, but not properly
clenched. They continually approached and retreated from each other,
and often raised their arms as if to strike, but their hands were open,
and no blow was given. Mr. Scott made similar observations on the
Lepchas whom he often saw quarrelling, and he noticed that they kept
their arms rigid and almost parallel to their bodies, with the hands
pushed somewhat backwards and partially closed, but not clenched.
_Sneering, Defiance: Uncovering the canine tooth on one side_.—The
expression which I wish here to consider differs but little from that
already described, when the lips are retracted and the grinning teeth
exposed. The difference consists solely in the upper lip being
retracted in such a manner that the canine tooth on one side of the
face alone is shown; the face itself being generally a little upturned
and half averted from the person causing offence. The other signs of
rage are not necessarily present. This expression may occasionally be
observed in a person who sneers at or defies another, though there may
be no real anger; as when any one is playfully accused of some fault,
and answers, “I scorn the imputation.” The expression is not a common
one, but I have seen it exhibited with perfect distinctness by a lady
who was being quizzed by another person. It was described by Parsons as
long ago as 1746, with an engraving, showing the uncovered canine on
one side.[1014] Mr. Rejlander, without my having made any allusion to
the subject, asked me whether I had ever noticed this expression, as he
had been much struck by it. He has photographed for me (Plate IV. fig
1) a lady, who sometimes unintentionally displays the canine on one
side, and who can do so voluntarily with unusual distinctness.
The expression of a half-playful sneer graduates into one of great
ferocity when, together with a heavily frowning brow and fierce eye,
the canine tooth is exposed. A Bengalee boy was accused before Mr.
Scott of some misdeed. The delinquent did not dare to give vent to his
wrath in words, but it was plainly shown on his countenance, sometimes
by a defiant frown, and sometimes “by a thoroughly canine snarl.” When
this was exhibited, “the corner of the lip over the eye-tooth, which
happened in this case to be large and projecting, was raised on the
side of his accuser, a strong frown being still retained on the brow.”
Sir C. Bell states[1015] that the actor Cooke could express the most
determined hate “when with the oblique cast of his eyes he drew up the
outer part of the upper lip, and discovered a sharp angular tooth.”
The uncovering of the canine tooth is the result of a double movement.
The angle or corner of the mouth is drawn a little backwards, and at
the same time a muscle which runs parallel to and near the nose draws
up the outer part of the upper lip, and exposes the canine on this side
of the face. The contraction of this muscle makes a distinct furrow on
the cheek, and produces strong wrinkles under the eye, especially at
its inner corner. The action is the same as that of a snarling dog; and
a dog when pretending to fight often draws up the lip on one side
alone, namely that facing his antagonist. Our word _sneer_ is in fact
the same as _snarl_, which was originally _snar_, the _l_ “being merely
an element implying continuance of action.”[1016]
I suspect that we see a trace of this same expression in what is called
a derisive or sardonic smile. The lips are then kept joined or almost
joined, but one corner of the mouth is retracted on the side towards
the derided person; and this drawing back of the corner is part of a
true sneer. Although some persons smile more on one side of their face
than on the other, it is not easy to understand why in cases of
derision the smile, if a real one, should so commonly be confined to
one side. I have also on these occasions noticed a slight twitching of
the muscle which draws up the outer part of the upper lip; and this
movement, if fully carried out, would have uncovered the canine, and
would have produced a true sneer.
Mr. Bulmer, an Australian missionary in a remote part of Gipps’ Land,
says, in answer to my query about the uncovering of the canine on one
side, “I find that the natives in snarling at each other speak with the
teeth closed, the upper lip drawn to one side, and a general angry
expression of face; but they look direct at the person addressed.”
Three other observers in Australia, one in Abyssinia, and one in China,
answer my query on this head in the affirmative; but as the expression
is rare, and as they enter into no details, I am afraid of implicitly
trusting them. It is, however, by no means improbable that this
animal-like expression may be more common with savages than with
civilized races. Mr. Geach is an observer who may be fully trusted, and
he has observed it on one occasion in a Malay in the interior of
Malacca. The Rev. S. O. Glenie answers, “We have observed this
expression with the natives of Ceylon, but not often.” Lastly, in North
America, Dr. Rothrock has seen it with some wild Indians, and often in
a tribe adjoining the Atnahs.
Although the upper lip is certainly sometimes raised on one side alone
in sneering at or defying any one, I do not know that this is always
the case, for the face is commonly half averted, and the expression is
often momentary. The movement being confined to one side may not be an
essential part of the expression, but may depend on the proper muscles
being incapable of movement excepting on one side. I asked four persons
to endeavour to act voluntarily in this manner; two could expose the
canine only on the left side, one only on the right side, and the
fourth on neither side. Nevertheless it is by no means certain that
these same persons, if defying any one in earnest, would not
unconsciously have uncovered their canine tooth on the side, whichever
it might be, towards the offender. For we have seen that some persons
cannot voluntarily make their eyebrows oblique, yet instantly act in
this manner when affected by any real, although most trifling, cause of
distress. The power of voluntarily uncovering the canine on one side of
the face being thus often wholly lost, indicates that it is a rarely
used and almost abortive action. It is indeed a surprising fact that
man should possess the power, or should exhibit any tendency to its
use; for Mr. Sutton has never noticed a snarling action in our nearest
allies, namely, the monkeys in the Zoological Gardens, and he is
positive that the baboons, though furnished with great canines, never
act thus, but uncover all their teeth when feeling savage and ready for
an attack. Whether the adult anthropomorphous apes, in the males of
whom the canines are much larger than in the females, uncover them when
prepared to fight, is not known.
The expression here considered, whether that of a playful sneer or
ferocious snarl, is one of the most curious which occurs in man. It
reveals his animal descent; for no one, even if rolling on the ground
in a deadly grapple with an enemy, and attempting to bite him, would
try to use his canine teeth more than his other teeth. We may readily
believe from our affinity to the anthropomorphous apes that our male
semi-human progenitors possessed great canine teeth, and men are now
occasionally born having them of unusually large size, with interspaces
in the opposite jaw for their reception.[1017] We may further suspect,
notwithstanding that we have no support from analogy, that our
semi-human progenitors uncovered their canine teeth when prepared for
battle, as we still do when feeling ferocious, or when merely sneering
at or defying some one, without any intention of making a real attack
with our teeth.