The Hamlet Project

I love formal speech like this. It always has a Star Trekky vibe – a meeting of peoples of different worlds, relying on formality and courtesy to get them through. No one would say something like this casually. It is inevitably accompanied with a stiffness in the body, perhaps a bow, a salute, a curtsy. I think we must read something ancient in this formality. It must be a signal to our reptilian brains somehow. A kind of intentional posturing of “I come in peace.” And I wonder why. Why might formality be reassuring? Is the image of someone restraining themselves, in both speech and body, a signal that they will restrain themselves from violence? Does it broadcast “I am careful. I am in control. I will not draw my sword.”?