Staging the Face of De Monfort: Joanna Baillie and the Development of Dramatic Character in De Monfort

This chapter, which is on Joanna Baillie’s pictorial dramaturgy, examines Baillie’s treatment of the face as a visual aid, illustrating how hatred takes effect and is experienced. It contextualises Baillie’s approach to the actor’s body as a site for legible expression with reference to contemporary acting styles and explores her contribution to the development of dramatic character. In ‘Introductory Discourse’ (1798) Baillie aligns her work with debates about the physiological and psychological qualities of the mind originating in the Scottish Enlightenment. She shows awareness of the conventions used in sentimental novels. Her intellectual investment in characterisation gains a European dimension once her ideas are considered in relation to Johann Caspar Lavater’s Essays on Physiognomy (1789–98). As a cultural practice, physiognomy presents the body as central to the production of meaning. Lavater relied on portraits to illustrate his physiognomical interpretations and believed that fleeting expressions distorted the representation of true character. This chapter includes discussion of De Monfort (1798), which is unusual in that it appeared in print before it was performed, and of the experience of hatred, horror, and despair in De Monfort’s face, while evaluating the significance of reading character for Baillie’s moral message and response to Lavater’s physiognomy.