Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
May 6th, 2015
Orations Relationship to American Theatre: Where Does Oration End and Theatre Begin?

In Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language, & the Culture of Performance,

author Jay Fliegelman explores the progression of oratory across the United States during the
birth of the American Revolution and the United States as its own nation. For the purpose of this
essay, oratory is defined as a speaker orally relaying a written document of an informational or
persuasive nature to an audience of any size. As oral presentation began to take wing in the
strong written culture of the 13 colonies, important information became to pass through word of
mouth. Not long after oratory became popular, the birth of the American theatre appeared,
jumpstarting an appreciation of the theatrical arts that continues to thrive, even to this day.
Oration and theatricality are incredibly similar: aesthetic, purpose, and audience relationships are
integral to oratorical and theatrical success. By investigating the similarities between oratory and
theatre, I have come to the conclusion that oration is merely a sub-section of theatrical
performance. This changes how one views the difference between theatre and orature. While
orature may seem very artistically sparse, these speakers require the same skills as theatrical
actors. The process of orature is not as simple being able to present an argument in front of a
group of people; it is about creating an affect that will cause the audience to learn and understand
the message being presented.
Both of these modes of performance act as a way to communicate the societal norms and
ideas within American culture. Joseph Roach states the importance of literature and orature being
vehicles of cultural transmission (Roach 13). [Orature and literature] pair a form of collective

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
memory with the enactments that embody it through performancethey remain partially
recorded in the literature, but they are actually remembered and put into practice through
orature (Roach 13). Orature allows for documents, such as laws or origin stories, to be
remembered. This idea of remembrance blends closely with theatrical production, especially with
works of historical significance, such Dunlaps Andr. Theatre, as I will use it within this
essay, is defined as a group of actors performing a pre-written script on a stage for an audience
that can vary in size and interest. This means that oratory is a process that is not simply about
relaying information; the actually presentation of this information must have some artistic
qualities in order to be communicated correctly with an audience. Oratory can be used as a
means of creative expression.
In this essay, I will be comparing both theatre and oration through three lenses: the
importance of aesthetic, the use of variable to create an affect upon the audience, and the
importance of audience. Aesthetic, as defined for this paper, is the overarching design of the
performance, including elements such as clothing, voice, vocabulary, and setting.
These categories illustrate the theatricality found within oratory, especially oratory in the
United States of America. Analyzing the bones of both practices reveals their large similarities,
but also the minute differences that have causes them to migrate from one another. While these
two fields seem incredibly different, they are undeniably intertwined due to their momentous
beginnings in the late 18th century. By analyzing these similarities between orature and theatre,
the similarities highlight the nuances and artistic choices behind orature. This importance of
aesthetic, props, and audience relationships emphasize the complexities are sometimes
overlooked. Fliegelmans book presents the history of oratory during one of the most precarious

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
moments in the United States history. By making these connections between oratory and theatre,
the Declaration of Independence was spread across the country and communicated to the masses
through theatric choices. Oratory can be categorized as an integral part of theatrical performance
not only because speaking clearly and loudly is integral for audience participation, but also
because of emotion that can be transferred from actor to audience. If the Declaration were merely
recited, the document would have lost some of its impact.

Importance of Aesthetic
In the 1770s, the colonists living in New England were unhappy with King Georges lack
of answers towards the issues that were arising in England and at home, such as restricting the
colonies judiciary powers and legislative actions. The political outcry was rising quickly,
especially from the Kings lack of understanding of the colonies needs. Such obstructive and
unresolved issues paved the way to the American Revolution, but groups of people still required
convincing to split one of the most powerful countries in the world. In response to the problem,
Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, itemizing the wrongs done unto the
colonies once and for all. However, words cannot do all the work to create an entirely new
country. Without proper aesthetic, the Declaration of Independence may have just remained a
piece of paper with list of signatures at the bottom. The meant that the men that would be
presenting such an important had to look the part: all actors needed to prove the serious and
gravity of the situation by sounding official, appearing well versed, and effectively relaying the
correct information to the audience. With proper style and oratorical skills, the Declaration of
Independence sparked the American Revolutionary War.

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
In oratory and theatre, speeches and monologues require skill and dynamism in order for
the overarching message to elicit the desired emotions or response from an audience. When an
actor comes to deliver his or her speech, the aesthetic, or styling, of the performance can make a
difference in the audiences reaction to the piece. In a study done by Charles Miller, an instructor
at the University of Minnesota who studies the role of aesthetics and how it affects the learning
process, aesthetics has a strong effect on understanding and processing new information.
The cognitive system is responsible for our interpretation of the world, ultimately
making sense of our surrounding environment. On the other hand, the affective system is
responsible for making rapid conscious and subconscious judgments. The dynamic
interplay of cognitive, affective, and emotional processes is an important facet of the
learning process (Miller 2011).
If the actor is able to produce an affect that strengthens his or her credibility, the audience can be
persuaded to believe the argument that it being presented to them. While this study primarily
discusses the usage of computer software and its usability, this information can be applied to
learning any new information, especially for the use of oratory for transmitting new information.
If a speaker is poorly dressed, hard to understand by many, and appears to have little
authority over the information that he or she is speaking, not many listeners would decide that
what he or she has to say is valid. According to Jay Fliegelman,
All writers seem to be under the influence of one common delusion...that by the help of
words alone, they can communicateThey forget that the passions and fancy,all that is
noble and praise worthyin man considered as a social being depends upon having a
language of their own utterly independent of words (30).

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
If an individual that has strong oratorical skills and appears to be well-informed about the topic
at hand is presenting the same information, more listeners would be more likely to decide that he
is credible. As a theatrical actor, bodily movement, voice modulation, and clarity are important
components to a successful performance. If he or she lacked any of these variables during a play,
the audience may not fully understand or appreciate the characters importance to the plot.
Aesthetic not only creates credibility, but can also creates a striking effect. With the right
affectation, an audiences opinion can be changed, resulting in the revolution that Thomas
Jefferson and others so desperately desired. In the late 1770s, using the correct formula of
gestures, pauses, and voice modulation, the desired response could appear.
The ideal of power at the heart of the new rhetoric rested on an understanding of the
constitution of a man as a mechanism whose springs and triggers could be controlled and
manipulatedIndeed, John Adams described the achievement of national independence
as the perfection of mechanism (Fliegelman 142).
At this point in time, performance was viewed as a science, with a precise affect calculated by a
sequence of performance choices. The sequence of performance choices were put together, it
would create the desired affect and create a specific reaction from the audience. This idea is also
seen within early American theater. In Jeffery H. Richards introduction to Early American
Drama, Richards points out the stylistic choices of star actors in order to gain complete attention
from the audience.
Much of a production a production relied on the stars ability to achieve points. Those
points were certain gestures or enunciations of certain words or phrases that would the
most applauseTo score a point, the actor would move to center front stage, speak lines

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
or emote directly to the audience, and in essence form a bond with the customers
(Richards XXI).
Certain performance choices would prompt a calculated response, creating the desired affect of
what was being spoken, whether it was a government-issued document or theatrical production.
Without a unique aesthetic to any speech or production, the audience will not learn or
understand the information as easily. For important documents like the Declaration of
Independence, this lack of understanding had the possibility to be catastrophic if it was not
properly understood by the colonies. In the early American Theatre, actors would not give the
audience the desired performance if he or she did not make the correct performance choices, thus
shortening the run of any production. Had the Declaration of Independence not been persuasive
enough, the original signers of the document would have been prosecuted for committing on the
most heinous crimes of the time: high treason. Granted, this decision would have depended on
the outcome of the Revolutionary war, but this document was a huge threat to Britain,
nevertheless. While one outcome is less desirable than the other, both illustrate the importance of
aesthetic in theater and oration.
Use of Props
In most theatrical performances, performers will use props in order to create an elaborate
experience for the audience. Without props, theatre, as we know it today, would be incredibly
boring and especially difficult understand. In both oration and theatre, the use of props is used to
express the purpose of the performance and keep audience interest. Without these props,
audience interest can fade and message being communicated will not be understood properly. If a
large group of people completely misunderstood a message, this causes confusion and

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
frustration. Whether a speaker requires a document to read aloud or a weapon to kill an enemy
across the stage, both oration and theatre require the use of props in order to create a significant
experience for audience members. Whether props act as a guide to properly deliver a speech or
as a visual aid to an actors emotions, they are integral to audience understanding.
In oration, many speakers required the document that they were speaking about in order
to pass on information. Authors of said documents, such as Thomas Jeffersons Declaration of
Independence, had a vision for how their work was to be delivered to an audience. Quotation
marks are found on Jeffersons copy of the Declaration of independence, illustrating when to
pause or modulate. Rhetorical pauses indicate the matter of the discourse and the disposition of
the mind of the speakerand thus express both text and speakerAnd thus are part of a larger
cultural code (Fliegelman 13). These marks were made so that many people would deliver the
Declaration in the same way, since speakers of all abilities were reading this document all over
the region. And even with these visual reminders, even Jefferson knew that not every piece
would be delivered uniformly. No two persons will accent the same passage alike. No person
but a real adept would accent it twice like Even when cast in regular meters, poetic texts are
fluid, and reading is an art not a science (Fliegelman 20). Without having the document to read,
the men who performed the Declaration of Independence could have presented the document in a
completely different way from the way it was intended it to be. Even though Jeffersons version
of the Declaration of Independence was heavily edited, he wanted at least provide a template for
speakers to recreate the idea he had for how it should be performed for the masses.
Unfortunately, these marks did not transfer to future copies of the Declaration.

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
In theatre, props can also act as a visual aid for the audience. Since theatrical
performances were given to a variety of audiences, these visual cues could aid in understanding
the plot or emotions of an actor. Also, these props could be symbols for an actors emotions or
intent. This can be seen in William Dunlaps controversial play, Andr, during a scene between
two characters named Bland and MDonald. Bland, incensed over Andrs death sentence,
throws his cockade to the ground.
I have a soldiers honor
But tis in union with a freemans judgment,
And when I act, both prompt.
Thus from my helm/ I tear, what once I proudly thought, the badge
Of virtuous fellowship (Dunlap 87).
The cockade, a knot of ribbon that military men wore during the revolution, was symbol of
independence and strength. By throwing it to the ground, it could be interpreted as opposition to
the American Revolution. As this play was performed after the American Revolution and the
United States was just forging its beginnings, this heated moment caused quite a stir with
audiences. The reaction from the audience was so strong that Dunlap decided to revise the play
after it was published in order to appease the angry masses.
Neer shall my helmet
Lack again its proudest, noblest ornament,
Until my country knows the rest of peace,
Or Bland the peace of death (Dunlap 66).

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
A prop that on its own could be of little significance can gain importance when used on stage.
Without the use of these objects in theatrical performances, the highs and lows of each
performance would not be as strongly performed by the actors or properly experienced by the
audiences.
The use of props provides a unique opportunity for actors both in oratory and theatre to
give captive audiences a richer experience. The props, whether it is a piece of paper or a bundle
of ribbons, contribute to better understand of the information while also contributing to the
overall aesthetic of the piece. From the color of the actors clothing to the accent he or she uses,
these props add to character development or speakers credibility. Revivalist oratory was
excoriated for its emotional manipulativeness and theatricality, but its techniques were
simultaneously appropriated by many of the ministry at large (Fliegelman 38). For the
Declaration of Independence to be spread around the colonies so quickly, the document was not
just passed to skilled orators, but to the clergy as well. In having these religious men read the
Declaration of Independence to the masses, more audiences were reached in a short timeframe.
With the perceived holiness of the venue and their polished oratorical skills, holy men were a
prime example of using props to get any message across to an audience.
Props were just as important to orators as it was to successful actors of the American
stage. By using them as a script to create a desired effect on an audience or to symbolize an
event, props are used to create a rich experience for the audience. Without these objects, oratory
and American theatre as we know it may be drastically different from how we know them today.
These objects add to the aesthetic or both productions, along with informing the audience about

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

10

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
the purpose of the event. Such objects can elicit reactions of audience and around passion, even
igniting the start of the American Revolution.

Importance of Audience
The purpose of both theatre and oratory has been, throughout history, a long and complex
one. Theatre can be used solely for entertainment, a mere distraction for the audience as to what
is going on in the outside world. Oratory has the ability to both inform and persuade an audience
about various topics. However, both have one component that is dependent on the completion of
either of these things: an audience. Without an audience, either purposes of theatre or oratory
cannot be accomplished. In order to entertain, perform, or persuade, the audience needs to be
present for anything to be accomplished for the actors.
In theatre, an audience has been integral part to the exchanging of information since its
very beginnings. For a long time, scholars have studied the purpose of theatre across the planet
with various results and ideas. Even recently, Richard Nelson, a contributor for American
Theatre magazine, broached this topic in September 2014.
Theatre at its essence is simply a kind of relationship. An intimate human relationship.
Between the actor, representing the playwright, and you, the audience. And it is a
potentially profoundly deep relationship, one by which we can know ourselves or, to
quote another playwright, gain the knowledge of our souls (Nelson 33).
Theatre is not merely a group of people following a script; theatre is a way of building
relationships with various audiences. If audiences did not relate or care about the actors on stage,
there would never be an exchange on emotions or any kind of investment in what was being
performed for them. A play, potentially, allows us to see ourselves, but as we are as a society, as

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

11

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
a cultureto see who we are, how we became what we are, how we have what we have and lost
what weve lost (Nelson 33-34). If the audience did not care about Romeo and Juliets suicides,
why do we still produce it today? Emotional investment and relatable characters create an
experience that keeps bringing people back to performances. Without an audience, plays and
musicals would cease to exist, as we know them today.
Oratory also is dependent on creating a relationship with the audience in order for the
message to be delivered. If there is no one that listens to the speaker, the information that he or
she is trying to pass on will never make an impact. Orature is an art of listening as well as
speaking; improvisation is an art of collective memory as well as invention; repetition is an art of
re-creation as well as recreation (Roach 286). The actor was required to form a relationship with
his listeners in order to pass on information or persuade his audience on a topic. To create this
relationship, the audience needed to have a strong command of the English language, since
deception was a serious concern during the late 18th century. The wish for infallible and
irresistible language of sound was rooting in a growing conviction thatthe ambiguity of
words ensured that political discussions may be carried on continually, without profit and
without end (Fliegelman 46). In a time where politics and government were causing unrest
within the community, men and women wanted to know whether they could trust who was
speaking to them. Tone must also be absolutely controlled because, argued John Rice, audiences
listen to tone and not to sense for the true meaning of a speech (Fliegelman 46). Audiences
depended so much on the stylistic choices of an orator that small details such as tone could derail
the entire argument that was being presented. Inference was just as important of a tool for
analyzing truth and meaning in a speech as it still is today. The need was to fix the relationship

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

12

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
not only between intention and statement, but also between statement and inference (Fliegelman
47). Without having an understanding of audiences expectations and ideas about oratory, a
speaker could have potentially invalidated his entire message due to the wrong tone or inflection.
Having this understanding could bolster and strengthen the ability of a speaker to inform and
persuade large groups of people.
Oratory and theatre are both different modes of performance. For these acts to be
performances, an audience must be there in order to watch or listen to what is being
communicated to them. Both require a relationship with their audience, along with being able to
read the audience and how well they understand what is being communicated to them. A skilled
actor can read his or her audience and change their style in order to make sure that they can
create a connection with an audience. If an actor doesnt match the audiences expectations, the
performance will have been for nothing, since a positive impact has not been made. The audience
is just as significant as the message that is being conveyed by the actor. Both of these styles of
performance have to understand and value the audience that he or she is presenting to, if not, the
goal of the interaction will be instantly lost.

Conclusion
In this essay, I aimed to prove that oratory is a very similar to that of theatrical
performances through exploring both the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the
American Theatre. Both of these modes of performance emphasize the importance of aesthetic,
the use of props during a performance, and a strong repertoire with the audience they are
performing for. With the birth of the Elocutionary Revolution and American theatre, actors, both

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

13

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
for oratory and theatrical performances, followed similar steps to ensure that the audience has try
understood what was being communicated in the style which they are accustomed. Both of these
styles of performance contributed to the creation of American culture. While both styles changed
considerably over pre and post-revolution years, the aims of both have stayed the same through
the generations.

Works Cited

Meghann Kuhlman

Kuhlman

14

ENGL 476: Performing the Americas

Term Paper
Dr. D. Hutchins
Dunlap, William. Andr. Early American Drama. Ed. Jeffrey H. Richards. New York: New
York, 1997. Print.
Miller, Charles. AestheticsandEassessment:theInterplayofEmotionalDesignandLearner
Performance.DistanceEducation.November2011:307337.Print.
Nelson, Richard. The Nature of Theatre. American Theatre. September 2014: 32-35. Web.
Richards, Jeffrey H. Introduction. Early American Theatre. By Richards. Penguin Classics: New
York, NY. V-XXXVII.
Roach, Joseph. Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1996. Print.
Tyler, Royall. The Contrast. Early American Drama. Ed. Jeffrey H. Richards. New York: New
York, 1997. Print.