Stanilavsky directing Griboedov

Hanfmann & Vakar (1962; 150-152)

We come now to the last step in our analysis of verbal thought. Thought itself is engendered by motivation, i.e., by our desires and needs, our interests and emotions. Behind every thought there is an affective-volitional tendency, which holds the answer to the last “why” in the analysis of thinking. A true and full understanding of another’s thought is possible only when we understand its affective-volitional basis. We shall illustrate this by an example already used: the interpretation of parts in a play. Stanislavsky, in his instructions to actors, listed the motives behind the words of their parts. For example:

Text of the Play	Parallel Motives
SOPHYA: O, Chatsky, but I am glad you’ve come.	Tries to hide her confusion.
CHATSKY: You are glad, that’s very nice; But gladness such as yours not easily one tells. It rather seems to me, all told, That making man and horse catch cold I’ve pleased myself and no one else.	Tries to make her feel guilty by teasing her. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself Tries to force her to be frank.
LIZA: There, sir, and if you’d stood on the same landing here Five minutes, no, not five ago You’d heard your name clear as clear. You say, Miss! Tell him it was so.	Tries to calm him. Tries to help Sophya in a difficult situation.
SOPHYA: And always so, no less, no more. No, as to that, I’m sure you can’t reproach me.	Tries to reassure Chatsky. I am not guilty of anything
CHATSKY: Well, let’s suppose it’s so. Thrice blessed who believes. Believing warms the heart.	Let us stop this conversation; etc.
[A. Griboedov, Woe from Wit, Act I]

To understand another’s speech, it is not sufficient to understand his words – we must understand his thought. But even that is not enough – we must also know its motivation. No psychological analysis of an utterance is complete until that plane is reached.

We have come to the end of our analysis; let us survey its results. Verbal thought appeared as a complex, dynamic entity, and the relation of thought and word within it as a movement through a series of planes. Our analysis followed the process from the outermost to the innermost plane. In reality, the development of verbal thought takes the opposite course: from the motive which engenders a thought to the shaping of the thought, first in inner speech, then in meanings of words, and finally in words. It would be a mistake, however, to imagine that this is the only road from thought to word. The development may stop at any point in its complicated course; an infinite variety of movements to and fro, of ways still unknown to us, is possible. A study of these manifold variations lies beyond the scope of our present task.