The Demosthenes Complex

The story of how the orator Demosthenes overcame his speech handicaps is, of course, generally known. As a child he was considered weak and sickly. He was awkward in his movements, his voice was weak, and, because of a pronounced lisp, his articulation was defective. In order to cure himself of the habit of shrugging one shoulder, Demosthenes practiced speaking under a sword so suspended that it nicked the offending shoulder when moved. To gain presence of mind in face of tumult, he matched his voice against the roar of the waves; and to cure his speech impediment, he spoke with pebbles in his mouth. It was said that his sources of power as an orator were three—lofty morality, intellectual superiority, and the magical power of his language.

We find, however, that all these formidable attempts on the part of Demosthenes to overcome his initial impediment do not explain why he became a convincing orator. To roar and to convince are not identical abilities. “A more complex explanation,” says Broaty (1), “is more helpful because it connects the specific symptom with the patient's persistent attitudes and general behavior. The more complex explanation implies a development in three instead of two stages. The great orator, or the verbal virtuoso, does not reach his admirable functional level simply by overcoming an initial impediment; rather, the impediment once appeared because he had so much more to express than he was able to verbalize, so he became bottlenecked in his own ‘speech organs.’ (Such a situation may be intensified by proud parents who too early stimulate great verbal ability.) The stutterer remains for the rest of his life—more or less—in this frustrating stage, living in perpetual tension bet