Decorum Essay

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Decorum Decorum was a principle of classical rhetoric, poetry and theatrical theory. The term is also applied to prescribed limits of appropriate social behavior within set situations. Social decorum refers to appropriate social behavior and propriety, and is thus linked to notions of etiquette and manners. The precepts of social decorum as we understand them, of the preservation of external decency, were consciously set by Lord Chesterfield, who was looking for a translation of les moeurs: "Manners are too little, morals are too much." The word decorum survives in Chesterfield's severely reduced form as an element of politeness the prescribed limits of appropriate social behavior within a set situation. The use of this word in this sense is of the sixteenth-century, lay down the boundaries established in drama and literature, used by Roger Ascham, The Scholemaster (1570) and echoed in Malvolio's rant in Twelfth Night, "My masters, are you mad, or what are you? Have you no wit, manners nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?...Is there no respect of persons, place nor time in you?" The place of decorum in the courtroom, of the type of argument that is within bounds, remains relevant: the decorum of argument was a constant topic during the O.J. Simpson trial. During Model United Nations conferences the honorable chair may have to announce, "Decorum delegates!" if delegates are not adhering to parliamentary procedure dictated by the rules. This often happens if a delegate speaks out of term or if the delegation is laughing. Other types of decorum are theatre decorum. This is the appropriateness of the actions and events of the play being acted out. In poems and rhetoric, decorum is the appropriateness of the style to the subject. Over all, decorum is the appropriateness of one’s actions/behaviour in relation with the

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