The Chromatic Warning

The colour red exerts a profound influence on human behaviour, and its symbolic potency permeates countless aspects of daily existence — frequently without our (9) .......... being conscious of it. Its primordial significance for our species must stem chiefly from the colour of blood, (10) .......... there exists an equally compelling precedent in the natural world, where vivid red pigmentation in plants and animals serves as an unambiguous signal of toxicity or imminent danger. Red is, besides, the colour that blazes at the core of a fire, and that suffuses the horizon (11) .......... the sun descends at dusk. In contemporary life, red is synonymous with prohibition and peril: the mere glimpse of it (12) .......... the observer instantaneously more vigilant. It appears on interdictory road signs, on hot-water taps, on switches whose activation yields drastic consequences, and in the annotations of teachers marking work. It is equally the colour of passion, fury and all (13) .......... consuming emotions. Blood and the heart have long been regarded as the seat of feeling — (14) .......... the point where medieval physicians routinely bled patients suffering emotional disturbances, under the erroneous conviction that they harboured (15) .......... much blood. Here, perhaps, lies yet another dimension of red as harbinger of danger: when a person's face begins to redden visibly, prudence generally recommends withdrawing from the vicinity (16) .......... they erupt.