The Art of Seduction (23 page)

straight up to Charles and curtseyed: "The King of Heaven sends me to
MILLENNIUM

you with the message that you shall be the lieutenant of the King of Heaven, who is the king of France." In the talk that followed, Joan seemed to echo Charles's most private thoughts, while once again recounting in extraordinary detail the feats she would accomplish. Days later, this indecisive, flighty man declared himself convinced and gave her his blessing to lead a French army against the English.

Miracles and saintliness aside, Joan of Arc had certain basic qualities that made her exceptional. Her visions were intense; she could describe them in such detail that they had to be real. Details have that effect: they lend a sense of reality to even the most preposterous statements. Furthermore, in a time of great disorder, she was supremely focused, as if her strength came from somewhere unworldly. She spoke with authority, and she predicted things people wanted: the English would be defeated, prosperity would return. She also had a peasant's earthy common sense. She had surely heard descriptions of Charles on the road to Chinon; once at court, she could
104
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The Art of Seduction

"How peculiar
have sensed the trick he was playing on her, and could have confidently

[
Rasputin's
]
eyes are,"
picked out his pampered face in the crowd. The following year, her visions
confesses a woman who

abandoned her, and her confidence as well—she made many mistakes,

had made efforts to resist

his influence. She goes on

leading to her capture by the English. She was indeed human.

to say that every time she

We may no longer believe in miracles, but anything that hints at

met him she was always

strange, unworldly, even supernatural powers will create charisma. The psy
amazed afresh at the power
of his glance, which it was

chology is the same: you have visions of the future, and of the wondrous
impossible to withstand for
things you can accomplish. Describe these things in great detail, with an air
any considerable time.

of authority, and suddenly you stand out. And if your prophecy—of pros
There was something
oppressive in this kind and

perity, say—is just what people want to hear, they are likely to fall under
gentle, but at the same
your spell and to see later events as a confirmation of your predictions. Ex
time sly and cunning,
hibit remarkable confidence and people will think your confidence comes
glance; people were helpless

from real knowledge. You will create a self-fulfilling prophecy: people's be
under the spell of the
powerful will which could

lief in you will translate into actions that help realize your visions. Any hint
be felt in his whole being.

of success will make them see miracles, uncanny powers, the glow of
However tired you might

charisma.

be of this charm, and

however much you wanted

to escape it, somehow or

other you always found

The authentic animal.
One day in 1905, the St. Petersburg salon of
yourself attracted back and

Countess Ignatiev was unusually full. Politicians, society ladies, and courtiers
held.
•
A young girl who

had heard of the strange

had all arrived early to await the remarkable guest of honor: Grigori Efi
new saint came from her
movich Rasputin, a forty-year-old Siberian monk who had made a name
province to the capital, and

for himself throughout Russia as a healer, perhaps a saint. When Rasputin
visited him in search of

edification and spiritual

arrived, few could disguise their disappointment: his face was ugly, his hair
instruction. She had never
was stringy, he was gangly and awkward. They wondered why they had
seen either him or a

come. But then Rasputin approached them one by one, wrapping his big
portrait of him before, and

met him for the first time

hands around their fingers and gazing deep into their eyes. At first his gaze
in his house. When he
was unsettling: as he looked them up and down, he seemed to be probing
came up to her and spoke

and judging them. Yet suddenly his expression would change, and kindness,
to her, she thought him like
joy, and understanding would radiate from his face. Several of the ladies he
one of the peasant

preachers she had often

actually hugged, in a most effusive manner. This startling contrast had pro
seen in her own country
found effects.

home. His gentle, monastic

The mood in the salon soon changed from disappointment to excite
gaze and the plainly parted
light brown hair around the

ment. Rasputin's voice was so calm and deep; his language was coarse, yet
worthy simple face, all at

the ideas it expressed were delightfully simple, and had the ring of great
first inspired her confidence.

spiritual truth. Then, just as the guests were beginning to relax with this
But when he came nearer

to her, she felt immediately

dirty-looking peasant, his mood suddenly changed to anger: "I know you,
that another quite different

I can read your souls. You are all too pampered. . . . These fine clothes and
man, mysterious, crafty,

arts of yours are useless and pernicious. Men must learn to humble them
and corrupting, looked out
from behind the eyes that

selves! You must be simpler, far, far simpler. Only then will God come
radiated goodness and

nearer to you." The monk's face grew animated, his pupils expanded, he
gentleness.
•
He sat down

looked completely different. How impressive that angry look was, recalling
opposite her, edged quite
Jesus throwing the moneylenders from the temple. Now Rasputin calmed
close up to her, and his

light blue eyes changed

down, returned to being gracious, but the guests already saw him as some
color, and became deep and
one strange and remarkable. Next, in a performance he would soon repeat
The Charismatic
•
105

in salons throughout the city, he led the guests in a folk song, and as they
dark. A keen glance
sang, he began to dance, a strange uninhibited dance of his own design,
reached her from the corner
of his eyes, bored into her,

and as he danced, he circled the most attractive women there, and with his
and held her fascinated.
eyes invited them to join him. The dance turned vaguely sexual; as his
A leaden heaviness
partners fell under his spell, he whispered suggestive comments in their
overpowered her limbs as
his great wrinkled face,

ears. Yet none of them seemed to be offended.

distorted with desire, came

Over the next few months, women from every level of St. Petersburg
closer to hers. She felt his
society visited Rasputin in his apartment. He would talk to them of spiri-
hot breath on her cheeks,
tual matters, but then without warning he would turn sexual, murmuring
and saw how his eyes,
burning from the depths of

the crassest come-ons. He would justify himself through spiritual dogma:
their sockets, furtively roved
how can you repent if you have not sinned? Salvation only comes to those
over her helpless body, until
who go astray. One of the few who rejected his advances was asked by a
he dropped his lids with a
sensuous expression. His

friend, "How can one refuse anything to a saint?" "Does a saint need sinful
voice had fallen to a
love?" she replied. Her friend said, "He makes everything that comes near
passionate whisper, and he
him holy. I have already belonged to him, and I am proud and happy to
murmured strange,
voluptuous words in her

have done so." "But you are married! What does your husband say?" "He
ear.
•
Just as she was on
considers it a very great honor. If Rasputin desires a woman we all think it
the point of abandoning
a blessing and a distinction, our husbands as well as ourselves."
herself to her seducer, a

memory stirred in her

Rasputin's spell soon extended over Czar Nicholas and more particu-
dimly and as if from some
larly over his wife, the Czarina Alexandra, after he apparently healed their
far distance; she recalled
son from a life-threatening injury. Within a few years, he had become the
that she had come to ask
most powerful man in Russia, with total sway over the royal couple.
him about God.

—RENÉ FÜLÖP-MILLER,

RASPUTIN: THE HOLY DEVIL

People are more complicated than the masks they wear in society. The man who seems so noble and gentle is probably disguising a dark side, which will often come out in strange ways; if his nobility and refinement are in fact a put-on, sooner or later the truth will out, and his hypocrisy will disappoint and alienate. On the other hand, we are drawn to people who seem more comfortably human, who do not bother to disguise their contradictions. This was the source of Rasputin's charisma. A man so authentically himself, so devoid of self-consciousness or hypocrisy, was immensely appealing. His wickedness and saintliness were so extreme that it made him seem larger than life. The result was a charismatic aura that was immediate and preverbal; it radiated from his eyes, and from the touch of his hands. Most of us are a mix of the devil and the saint, the noble and the ignoble, and we spend our lives trying to repress the dark side. Few of us can give free rein to both sides, as Rasputin did, but we can create charisma to a smaller degree by ridding ourselves of self-consciousness, and of the discomfort most of us feel about our complicated natures. You cannot help being the way you are, so be genuine. That is what attracts us to animals: beautiful and cruel, they have no self-doubt. That quality is doubly fascinating in humans. Outwardly people may condemn your dark side, but it is not virtue alone that creates charisma; anything extraordinary will do. Do not apologize or go halfway. The more unbridled you seem, the more magnetic the effect.
106
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The Art of Seduction

By its very nature, the

The demonic performer.
Throughout his childhood Elvis Presley was
existence of charismatic
thought a strange boy who kept pretty much to himself. In high school in
authority is specifically
Memphis, Tennessee, he attracted attention with his pompadoured hair and
unstable. The holder may

forego his charisma; he
sideburns, his pink and black clothing, but people who tried to talk to him
may feel "forsaken by his
found nothing there—he was either terribly bland or hopelessly shy. At the
God," as Jesus did on the
high school prom, he was the only boy who didn't dance. He seemed lost
cross; he may prove to his

followers that "virtue
in a private world, in love with the guitar he took everywhere. At the Ellis
is gone out of him." It is
Auditorium, at the end of an evening of gospel music or wrestling, the
then that his mission

concessions manager would often find Elvis onstage, miming a perfor
is extinguished, and hope
mance and taking bows before an imaginary audience. Asked to leave, he
waits and searches for a

new holder of charisma.
would quietly walk away. He was a very polite young man.

—MAX WEBER, FROM
MAX

In 1953, just out of high school, Elvis recorded his first song, in a local
WEBER: ESSAYS IN SOCIOLOGY,

studio. The record was a test, a chance for him to hear his own voice. A

year later the owner of the studio, Sam Phillips, called him in to record two C . WRIGHT M I L L S

blues songs with a couple of professional musicians. They worked for hours, but nothing seemed to click; Elvis was nervous and inhibited. Then, near the end of the evening, giddy with exhaustion, he suddenly let loose and started to jump around like a child, in a moment of complete selfabandon. The other musicians joined in, the song getting wilder and wilder. Phillips's eyes lit up—he had something here.

A month later Elvis gave his first public performance, outdoors in a Memphis park. He was as nervous as he had been at the recording session, and could only stutter when he had to speak; but once he broke into song, the words came out. The crowd responded excitedly, rising to peaks at certain moments. Elvis couldn't figure out why. "I went over to the manager after the song," he later said, "and I asked him what was making the crowd go nuts. He told me, 'I'm not really sure, but I think that every time you wiggle your left leg, they start to scream. Whatever it is, just don't stop.'

A single Elvis recorded in 1954 became a hit. Soon he was in demand. Going onstage filled him with anxiety and emotion, so much so that he became a different person, as if possessed. "I've talked to some singers and they get a little nervous, but they say their nerves kind of settle down after they get into it. Mine never do. It's sort of this energy . . . something maybe like sex." Over the next few months he discovered more gestures and sounds—twitching dance movements, a more tremulous voice—that

made the crowds go crazy, particularly teenage girls. Within a year he had become the hottest musician in America. His concerts were exercises in mass hysteria.

Elvis Presley had a dark side, a secret life. (Some have attributed it to the death, at birth, of his twin brother.) This dark side he deeply repressed as a young man; it included all kinds of fantasies which he could only give in to when he was alone, although his unconventional clothing may also have been a symptom of it. When he performed, though, he was able to let these demons loose. They came out as a dangerous sexual power. Twitch-
The Charismatic • 107

ing, androgynous, uninhibited, he was a man enacting strange fantasies be-
He is their god. He leads
fore the public. The audience sensed this and was excited by it. It wasn't a
them like a thing \ Made
by some other deity than

flamboyant style and appearance that gave Elvis charisma, but rather the
nature, \ That shapes man
electrifying expression of his inner turmoil.

better; and they follow him

A crowd or group of any sort has a unique energy. Just below the sur-
\ Against us brats with no
less confidence \ Than boys

face is desire, a constant sexual excitement that has to be repressed because
pursuing summer butterflies
it is socially unacceptable. If you have the ability to rouse those desires, the
\ Or butchers killing
crowd will see you as having charisma. The key is learning to access your
flies. .
. . own unconscious, as Elvis did when he let go. You are full of an excite-—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, ment that seems to come from some mysterious inner source. Your unin
CORIOLANUS

hibitedness will invite other people to open up, sparking a chain reaction: their excitement in turn will animate you still more. The fantasies you bring to the surface do not have to be sexual—any social taboo, anything
The roof did lift as Presley

came onstage. He sang for

repressed and yearning for an outlet, will suffice. Make this felt in your
twenty-five minutes while

recordings, your artwork, your books. Social pressure keeps people so re-
the audience erupted like
pressed that they will be attracted to your charisma before they have even
Mount Vesuvius. "I never
met you in person.

saw such excitement and

screaming in my entire life,

ever before or since," said

[
film director Hal
]
Kanter.

The Savior.
In March of 1917, the Russian parliament forced the coun-
As an observer, he
describ-ed being stunned by

try's ruler, Czar Nicholas, to abdicate and established a provisional govern
"an exhibition of public
ment. Russia was in rums. Its participation in World War I had been a
mass hysteria . . . a tidal

disaster; famine was spreading widely, the vast countryside was riven by
wave of adoration surging

up from 9,000 people,

looting and lynch law, and soldiers were deserting from the army en masse.
over the wall of police
Politically the country was bitterly divided; the main factions were the
flanking the stage, up over
right, the social democrats, and the left-wing revolutionaries, and each of
the flood-lights, to the
performer and beyond him,

these groups was itself afflicted by dissension.

lifting him to frenzied

Into this chaos came the forty-seven-year-old Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. A
heights of response."
Marxist revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik Communist party, he —A DESCRIPTION OF ELVIS

had suffered a twelve-year exile in Europe until, recognizing the chaos PRESLEY'S CONCERT AT THE

overcoming Russia as the chance he had long been waiting for, he had hur-HAYRIDE THEATER, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA, DECEMBER 17, 1956,

ried back home. Now he called for the country to end its participation in IN PETER WHITMER,
THE INNER

the war and for an immediate socialist revolution. In the first weeks after his
ELVIS: A PSYCHOLOGICAL

arrival, nothing could have seemed more ridiculous. As a man, Lenin
BIOGRAPHY OF ELVIS AARON

PRESLEY

looked unimpressive; he was short and plain-featured. He had also spent years away in Europe, isolated from his people and immersed in reading and intellectual argument. Most important, his party was small, representing only a splinter group within the loosely organized left coalition. Few took him seriously as a national leader.

Undaunted, Lenin went to work. Wherever he went, he repeated the

same simple message: end the war, establish the rule of the proletariat, abolish private property, redistribute wealth. Exhausted with the nation's endless political infighting and the complexity of its problems, people began to listen. Lenin was so determined, so confident. He never lost his cool. In the midst of a raucous debate, he would simply and logically debunk each one of his adversaries' points. Workers and soldiers were im-
108
•
The Art of Seduction
No one could so fire others

pressed by his firmness. Once, in the midst of a brewing riot, Lenin amazed
with theif plans, no one

his chauffeur by jumping onto the running board of his car and directing
could so impose his will

the way through the crowd, at considerable personal risk. Told that his ideas
and conquer by force of his

personality as this

had nothing to do with reality, he would answer, "So much the worse for
seemingly so ordinary and

reality!"

somewhat coarse man who

Allied to Lenin's messianic confidence in his cause was his ability to or
lacked any obvious sources
of charm. . . . Neither

ganize. Exiled in Europe, his party had been scattered and diminished; in
Plekhanov nor Martov nor
keeping them together he had developed immense practical skills. In front
anyone else possessed the

of a large crowd, he was a also powerful orator. His speech at the First All
secret radiating from Lenin
Russian Soviet Congress made a sensation; either revolution or a bourgeois
of positively hypnotic effect

upon people—I would

government, he cried, but nothing in between—enough of this compro
even say, domination of
mise in which the left was sharing. At a time when other politicians were
them. Plekhanov was

scrambling desperately to adapt to the national crisis, and seemed weak in
treated with deference,

Martov was loved, but

the process, Lenin was rock stable. His prestige soared, as did the member
Lenin alone was followed
ship of the Bolshevik party

unhesitatingly as the only

Most astounding of all was Lenin's effect on workers, soldiers, and peas
indisputable leader. For
only Lenin represented that

ants. He would address these common people wherever he found them—in
rare phenomenon,

the street, standing on a chair, his thumbs in his lapel, his speech an odd
especially rare in Russia, of

mix of ideology, peasant aphorisms, and revolutionary slogans. They would
a man of iron will and

listen, enraptured. When Lenin died, in 1924—seven years after single
indomitable energy who
combines fanatical faith in

handedly opening the way to the October Revolution of 1917, which had
the movement, the cause,

swept him and the Bolsheviks into power—these same ordinary Russians
with no less faith in

went into mourning. They worshiped at his tomb, where his body was

himself.

preserved on view; they told stories about him, developing a body of

— A . N . P O T R E S O V , Q U O T E D I N

D A N K W A R T A . R U S T O W , ED.
,

Lenin folklore; thousands of newborn girls were christened "Ninel," Lenin
PHILOSOPHERS AND KINGS:

spelled backwards. This cult of Lenin assumed religious proportions.
STUDIES IN LEADERSHIP

There all kinds of misconceptions about charisma, which, paradoxically, only add to its mystique. Charisma has little to do with an exciting physical

"I had hoped to see the

appearance or a colorful personality, qualities that elicit short—term interest.
mountain eagle of our

party, the great man, great

Particularly in times of trouble, people are not looking for entertainment—

physically as well as

they want security, a better quality of life, social cohesion. Believe it or not,
politically. I had fancied

a plain-looking man or woman with a clear vision, a quality of single
Lenin as a giant, stately
and imposing. Mow great

mindedness, and practical skills can be devastatingly charismatic, provided it
was my disappointment to

is matched with some success. Never underestimate the power of success in
see a most ordinary-looking

enhancing one's aura. But in a world teeming with compromisers and

man, below average height,

fudgers whose indecisiveness only creates more disorder, one clear-minded
in no way, literally in no

way distinguishable from

soul will be a magnet of attention—will have charisma.

ordinary mortals. "

One on one, or in a Zurich cafe before the revolution, Lenin had little

— J O S E P H STALIN, ON MEETING

or no charisma. (His confidence was attractive, but many found his strident