Body Language
Summarize your impressions of Hitler's body language. What, if anything, does this tell you about what to expect from Hitler in his future conduct?
It is difficult to regard the body language of Adolf Hitler, when making his rallying speeches to the German populace, with anything but horror. A modern viewer is all too well aware of Hitler's legacy as a leader to view the documentary evidence of his reign with an objective eye. But even to the uninitiated contemporary German viewer of these speeches who disagreed with the National Socialist movement, Hitler's militaristic gestures and the utter conviction with which he made his fascist salute to the crowds must have seemed frightening. Hitler's body language is histrionic, almost melodramatic, and seems to convulse his entire being, body and soul. Hitler seems like a man in a trance rather than a leader making calculated movements to coincide with the most important parts of his speeches, like a leader of today who is carefully 'prepped' for television. Hitler gestures are emotional and unpredictable, rather than designed to hit home certain intellectual or even rhetorical points.
This excess of emotion found in Hitler's body language, combined with his total conviction in his words that is underlined in his gesture, is the most striking clue of what was to come in Germany. There is no rationality evident even in the physical dramatization of his speech. However, this is not to say that the entire National Socialist legacy is evident in Hitler's body language, because there is also something 'weak' about his lack of commanding stasis. He gyrates in front of the podium, virtually frothing at the mouth. He begs the audience to listen to him as he calls to them, making far-flung gestures, rather than has confidence they will listen to his words on their merit, and his merit as a leader alone.
