While reading about Gorgias of Leontini for class, I was struck by something mentioned in his introduction; something I found to be at the heart of his Encomium of Helen. It was simply this: that while “…Plato is didactic, Gorgias aims to persuade through performance” (37). That one line helped me to understand the work I was reading. It was quite easy for me to imagine one on a stage, passionately reciting Gorgias’ argument for Helen, defending her in the face of her naysayers and possibly convincing them that in the end it was Helen who was to be pitied; Helen who had no control over her destiny. Yet all the argument really happens to be is a smokescreen; a clever use of words and logic to cover the fact that Helen did in fact commit adultery when she left her husband to go with Paris. Whatever influenced her to do so does not change that simple fact, and yet Gorgias’ clever use of language does a very good job of masking it. After all, who could dispute that fate, birth, and simple love are forces too strong to be denied? It would take someone fairly cynical indeed to want to blame Helen for leaving when Gorgias paints her as a victim of circumstance, rather than choice.
Which is why, when we were given the assignment to find a clip that showed one of four classical theories, I immediately thought of “Razzle Dazzle” sequence from the movie Chicago as the perfect choice. For what is Billy Flynn doing for one Miss Roxie Hart during her trial but a trumped up version of what Gorgias did for Helen? He is throwing up a layer of words and showy distractions so that everyone around him forgets that she has committed a murder. As he tells her himself, “How can they hear the truth above the roar?” People don’t care about the truth when they can have a bit of a show, and if you can give them that you can get away with murder. Literally, as it happens. The trick to keep in mind is not to falter; to not give the audience enough time to think about what is being said; else they might realize that the story that’s being woven about them has as many holes as a slice of Swiss cheese.
In the end, even though Roxie is guilty of murder, Billy manages to hide that behind a mixture of a falsified tragic past and an unfortunate twist of fate, painting Roxie as a victim of circumstances and therefore unable to foresee or change the path her life would take…much as Gorgias would claim of Helen. Yet we know, because Billy has already told us, that it doesn’t particularly matter if one is innocent or guilty. What truly matters is how well one can talk themselves out of a hairy situation once they find themselves in it…how well they manage to “razzle dazzle” the crowd so that they forget that the three-ring circus they have found themselves participating in hasn’t been there all along.
“ Razzle Dazzle Chicago Movie”. YouTube. 14 Feb 2011. Web. 14 Feb. 2011.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn5-VN3SH1o&feature=fvsr>.
Gorgias. "Encomium of Helen". ed. Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. Print.
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