... since the reality of play extends beyond the sphere of human life it cannot have its foundations in any rational nexus, because this would limit it to m'kind ~ ~ ~ play cannot be denied. you can deny, if you like, nearly all abstractions: justice, beauty, truth, good ness, mind, g o d . you can deny seriousness, but not play
in play, the beauty of the human body in motion reaches its zenith. in its more developed forms it is saturated with rhythm and harmony, the noblest gifts of aesthetic perception known to mmm
here, then, we have the first main characteristic of play: that it is free, is in fact freedom . a second characteristic is closely connected with this, namely, that play is not "ordinary" or "real" life. is is rather a stepping out of "real" life into a temporary sphere of activity with a disposition all of its own. every child knows perfectly well that he is "only pretending", or that it was "only for fun". how deep-seated this awareness is in the child is strikingly illustrated by the following story, told to me by the father. he found the 4 year old son sitting at the front of a row of chairs, playing "trains". as he hugged him the boy said: "dont kiss the engine, daddy, or the carriages won't thinkg it is real".
this "only pretending" quality of play betrays a consciousness of the inferiority of play compared with "seriousness", a feeling that seems to be somethinkg as primary as play itself. nevertheless, as we have already pointed out, the consciousness of play being "only a pretend" does not by any means prevent it from proceeding with the utmost seriousness, with an absorption, a devotion that passes into rapture and, temporarily at least, completely abolishes that troublesome "only" feeling. any game can at any time wholly run away with the players. the contrast between play and seriousness is always fluid. the inferiority of play is continually being offset by the corresponding superiority of its seriousness. play turns to seriousness and seriousness to play. play may rise to heights of beauty and sublimity that leave seriousness far beneath.
~@~
play is distinct from "ordinary" life both as to locality and duration. this is the third main characteristic of play: its secludedness, its limitness. it is "played out" within certain limits of time and place. it contains its own course and meaning.
play begins, and then at a certain moment it is "over". it plays itself to an end. while it is in progress all is movement, change, laternation, succession, association, separation. but immediately connected with its limitation as to time there is a further curious feature of play: it at once assumes fixed form as a cultural phenomenon. once played, it endures as a new-found creation of the mind, a treasure to be retained by the memory ....
more striking even than the limitation as to time is the limitation as to space. all play moves and has its being within a play-ground marked off beforehand either materially or ideally, deliberately or as a matter of course. just as there is no formal difference between play and ritual, so the "consecrated spot" cannot be formally distinguished from the play-ground. the arena, the card-table, the magic circle, the temple, the stage, the screen, the tennis court, the court of justice, etc., are all in form and function play-grounds, i.e. forbidden spots, isolated, hedged round, hallowed, within which special rules obtain. all are temporary worlds within the ordinary world, dedicated to the performance of an act apart
inside the play-ground an absolute and peculiar order reigns. here we come across another, very positive feature of play: it creates order, IS order. into an imperfect world and into the confusion of life it brings a temporary, a limited perfection. play demands order absolute and supreme. the least deviation from it "spoils the game", robs it of its character and makes it worthless. the profound affinity between play and order is perhaps the reason why play, as we noted in passing, seems to lie to such a large extent in the field of asthetics. play has a tendency to be beautiful. it may be that this astehtic factor is identical with the impulse to create orderly form, which animates play in all its aspects
the element of tension in play to which we have just referred plays a particularly important part. tension means uncertainty, chanciness; a striving to decide the issue and so end it. the player wants soemthinkg to "go", to "come off"; he wants to "succeed" by his own exertions. baby reaching for a toy, pussy patting a bobbin, a little girl playing ball - all want to achieve somethinkg difficult, to succeed, to end a tension. play is "tense", as we say. it is this element of tension and solution that governs all solitary games of skill and application such as a puzzle, jig-saws, mosaic-making, patience, target-shooting, and the more play bear the character of competition the more fervent it will be. in gambling and athletics it is at its height. though play as such such is outside the range of good and bad, the element of tension imparts to it a certain ethical value in so far as it means a testing of the player's prowess: his courage, tenacity, resources, and, last but not least, his spiritual powers - his "fairness"; because, despite his ardent desire to win, he must still stick to the rules of the game
these rules in their turn are a very important factor in the play-concept. all play has its rules. they determine what "holds" in the temporary world circumscribed by play. the rules of a game are absolutely binding and allow no doubt. paul valery once in passing:" no scepticisim is possible where the rules of a game are concerened, for the principle underlying them is an unshakable truth ...". indeed, as soon as the rules are transgressed the whole play-world collapses. the game is over. the umpir's whistle breaks the spell and sets "real" life going again
the player who trespasses against the rules or ignores them is a "spoil-sport". the spoil-sport is not the same as the false player, the cheat; for the latter pretends to be playing the game and, on the face of it, still acknowledges the magic circle. it is curious to note how much more lenient society is to the cheat than to the spoil-sport. this is because the spoil-sport shatters the play-world itself. by withdrawing from the game he reveals the relativity and fragility of the play-world in which he had temporaily shut himself with others. he robs play of its ILLUSION - a pregnant word which means literally "in-play" (from INLUSIO, ILLUDERE or INLUDERE). therefore he must be cast out, for he threatens the existence of the play-community.
the figure of the spoil-sport is most apparent in boy's games. the little community does not enquire whether the spoil-sport is guilty of defection because he dares not enter into the game or because he is not allowed to. rather, it does not recognize "not being allowed" and calls it "not daring". for it, the problem of obedience and conscience is no more than fear of punishment. the spoil-sport breaks the magic world, therefore he is a coward and must be ejected. in the world of high seriousness, too, the cheat and the hypocrite have always had an easier time of it than the spoil-sports, here called apostates, heretics, innovators, prohphets, conscientious objectors, etc. it sometimes happens, however, that the spoil-sports in their turn make a new community with rules of its own. the outlaw, the revolutionary, the cabbalist or members of a secret society, indeed heretics of all kinds are of a highly associative if not sociable disposition, and a certain element of play is prominent in all their doings
a play-community generally tends to become permanent even after the game is over. of course, not every game of marbles or every bridge-party leads to the founding of a club. but the feeling of being "apart together" in an exceptional situation, of sharing somethinkg important, of mutually withdrawing from the rest of the world and rejecting the usual norms, retains its magic beyond the duration of the individual game. the club pertains to play as the hat of the head. it would be rash to explain all the associations which the anthropologist call "phratria" - e.g. clans, motherhoods, etc - simply as play-communities; nevertheless it has been shown again and again how difficult it is to draw the line between, on the one hand, permanent social groupings - particularly in archaic cultures with their extremely important, solemn, indeed sacred customs - and the sphere of play on the other
the exceptional and special position of play is most tellingly illustrated by the fact that it loves to surround itself with an air of secrecy. even in early childhood the charm of play is enhanced by making a "secret" out of it. this is for US , not for the "others". what the "others" do "outside" is no concern of ours at the moment. inside the circle of the game the laws and customs of ordinary life no longer count. we are different and do thinkgs differently. this temporary abolition of the ordinary world is fully acknowledged in child-life, but it is no less evident in the great ceremonial games of savage societies
during the great feast of initiation when the youths are accepted into the male community, it is not the neophytes only that are exempt from the ordinary laws and regulations: there is a truce to all feuds in the tribe. all retaliatory acts and vendettas are suspended. this temporary suspension of normal social life on account of the sacred play-season has numerous traces in the more advanced civilizations as well. everythinkg that pertains to saturnalia and carnival customs belongs to it. even with us a bygone age of a robuster private habits than ours, more marked class-priviligeges and a more complaisant police recognized the orgies of young men and rank under the name of a "rag". the saturnalian license of young men still survives, in fact, in the ragging at english universities, which the oxford english dictionary defines as "an extensive display of noisy and disorderly conduct carried out in defiance of authority and discipline"
the "differences" and secrecy of play are most vividly expressed in "dressing up". here the "extra-ordinary" nature of play reaches perfection. the disguised or masked individual "plays" another part, another being. he IS another being. the terrors of childhood, open-hearted gaiety, mystic fantasy and sacred awe are all inextricably entangle in this strange business of masks and disguises
summing up the formal characteristics of play we might call it a free activity standing quite consciously outside "ordinary" life as being "not serious", but at the same tice absorbing the player intensely and utterly. it is an activity connected with no material interest, and no profit can be gained by it. it proceeds within its own proper boundaries of time and space according to fixed rules and in an orderly manner. it promotes the formation of social groupings which tend to surround themselves with secrecy and to stress their difference from the common world by disguise or other means
the function of play in the higher forms which concern us here can largely be derived from the two basic aspects under which we meet it: as a contest FOR somethinkg or a representation OF somethinkg. these two functions can unite in sich a way that the game "represents" a contest, or else becomes a contest for the best representation of somethinkg
[on representation being a dis'play]: the child is MAKING AN IMAGE of somethinkg different, somethinkg more beautiful or more sublime, or more dangerous that what he usually IS [pretending]. one is a prince, or one is daddy or a wicked witch or a tiger. the child is quite literally "beside himself" with delight, transported beyond himself to such an extent that he almost believes he actually is such and such a thinkg, without, however, wholly losing consciousness of "ordinary reality". his representation is not so much a sham-reality as a realization in appearance: "imagination" in the original sense of the word
examples can be taken from all over the world. according to ancient chinese the purpose of music and the dance is to keep the world in its right course and to force nature into benevolence towards man. the year's prosperity will depend on the right performance of sacred contests as the seasonal feasts. if these gatherings do not take place the crops will not ripen
^v^
in archaic man the experinece of life and nature, still unexpressed, takes the form of a "seizure" - being seized on, thrilled, enraptured. "the creative faculty in a people as in the child or every creative person, springs from this state of being seized". "Man is seized by the revelation of fate". "the reality of the natural rhythm of genesis and extinction has seized hold of his consciousness, and this, inevitably and by reflex action, leads him to represent his emotion in an act"
as a rule the play-element gradually recedes into the background, being absorbed for the most part in the shared sphere. the remainder crystallizes as knowledge: folklore, poetry, philosophy, or in various forms of judicial and social life. the original play-element is then almost completely hidden behind cultural phenomena. but at any moment, even in a highly developed civilization, the play-"instinct" may reassert itself in full force, drowning the individual and the mass in the intoxication of an immense game
+o-
like all other forms of play, the contest is largely devoid of purpose. that is to say, the action begins and ends in itself, and the outcome does not contribute to the necessary life-process of the group ... on a visit to england the shah of persia is supposed to have declined the pleasure of attenting as race meeting, saying that he knew very well that one horse runs faster than another
=||~
what is "winning", and what is "won". winning means showing oneself superior in the out come of a game. nevertheless, the evidence of this superiority tends to confer upon the winner a semblance of superiority in general. in this respect he wins somethinkg more than the game as such. he has won esteem, obtained honour; and this honour and esteem at once accrue to the benefit of the group to which the victor belongs. here we have another very important characteristic of play: success won readily passes from the individual to the group
every game has its stake. it can be of material or symbolical value, but also ideal. the stake can be a gold cup or a jewel or a king's daughter or a shilling; the life of the player or the welfare of the whole tribe. it can be a prize or a "gage". this is s amost significant word. etymologically and semantically it is related to the latin "vadium" (german: wette), meaning a "pledge"
to dare, to take risks, to bear uncertainty, to endure tension - these are the essence of the play spirit. tension adds to the importance of the game and, as it increases, enables the player to forget the he is only playing
_,^
the curious custom practised by certain indian tribes in british columbia, now generally know as the: potlatch. in its most typical form as found among the Kwakiutl tribe the potlatch is a great solemn feast, during which one of two groups, with much pomp and ceremony, makes gifts on a larger scale to the other group for the express purpose of showing its superiority. the only return expected by the donors but incumbent on the recipients lies in the obligation of the latter to reciprocate the feast within a certain period ond if possible to surpass it ... should it fail to do so it forfeits its name, its honour, its badge and totems, even its civil and religious rights. the upshot of all this is that the possessions of the tribe circulate among the houses of the "quality" in an adventurous way. it is to be assumed that originally the potlatch was always held between two phratriai
in the potlatch one proves one's superiority not merely by the lavish prodigality of one's gift but, what is even more striking, by the wholesale destruction of one's possession just to show that one can do without them. these destruction, too, are executed with dramatic ritual and are accompanied by haughty challenges. the action always takes the form of a contest: if one chieftain breaks a copper pot, or burns a pile of blankets, or smashes a canoe, his opponent is under an obligation to destroy at least as much or more if possible. a man will defiantly send the potsherds to his rival or display them as a mark of honor, it is related of the Tlinkit, a tribe akin to the Kwakiutl, that if a chieftain wanted to affront a rival he would kill a number of his own slaves, whereupon the other, to avenge himself, had to kill an even greater number of his ... similar customs in greek, roman and old germanic cultures... and evidence of both giving and destroying matches in ancient chinese tradition ...
the potlatch and everythinkg connected with it hinges on winning, on being superior, on glory, prestige and, last but not least, revenge. always, even when only one person is the feast-giver, there are two groups standing in opposition but bound by a spirit of hostility and friendship combined. in order to understand this ambivalent attitude we must recognize that the essential feature of the potlatch is the winning of it. the opposed groups do not contend for wealth or power but simply for the pleasure of parading their superiority - in a word, for glory
/`\
there is no satisfying this need save in play
from the life of childhood right up to the highest achievements of civilization one of the strongest incentives to perfection, both individual and social, is the desire to be praised and honoured for one's excellence. in parsing another each praises himself. we want to be honoured for our virtues. we want the satisfaction of having done somethinkg well. doing somethinkg well means doing it better than others. in order to excel one must prove one's excellence; in order to merit recognition, merit must be made manifest. competition serves to give proof of superiority. this is particularly true of archaic society
-_>
competition for honour may also take, as in china, an inverted form by turning into a contest in politeness. the special word for this - jang - means literally "to yield to another"; hence one demolishes one's adversary by superior manners, making way for him or giving him precedence. the courtesy-match is nowhere as formalized, prehaps, as in china, but it is to be met with all over the world. we might call it an inverted boasting-match, since the reason for this diplay of civility to others lies in an intense regard for one's own hon our
ß