In exterior, too, he had begun to resemble a sage of antiquity; his hair had fallen off the crown of his head, and his full face had completely set in a sort of solemn jelly of positively blatant virtue.
Ivan Turgenev – Smoke (1867)
I occasionally wonder if it is possible to judge character by faces. To some extent it is possible because we do it all the time, especially for common expressions such as distaste or disapproval. Yet sometimes it may be a result of prejudice based on stereotypes. Or maybe situations where a stranger has features similar to someone known or famous.
The other day I glanced at the face of a woman in a café and immediately her face gave me the impression of a person whose whole world was bound up in herself. Slightly plump, middle aged, fairly smart, very much an indoors look. Simple prejudice on my part of course.
And yet -
I know I’d be mildly surprised if I turned out to be wrong. Not that I’ll ever undergo the indignity of being wrong in this case. Maybe prejudice is partly rooted in such soil, in the impossibility of being wrong about strangers. Or maybe not in this case - I'll never know.
4 comments:
"There's no art / to find the mind's construction in the face."
But I'm not sure Duncan was right; not universally at any rate. Maybe he meant "Among the conniving political types I spend my time with, there's ..."
It’s everything … posture, movement style, reactions.
I can read faces and be right or wrong, but I've never understood people who claim that they can see your character in your eyes! That's never seemed viable to me.
dearieme - he probably did mean the conniving political types. It's surprising how unconvincing they can be.
James - yes it is and it doesn't take long to pick up.
Tammly - it never seemed viable to me, there isn't enough to read.
Post a Comment