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Brooks writes about the workings of good and evil and showing that they do exist in the real world. Good being virtue and innocence, and evil being all the obstacles that stand in the way. But the melodrama’s messages lies in a kind of sign language. This is what he means by the text of muteness. Sign language uses no words but gestures to show the struggle toward the acknowledgment of the sign of virtue and innocence. In melodrama virtue and innocence is introduced to obstacles. Evil is present throughout the majority of melodrama and virtue then must overcome evil.
Marmantel’s article “Pantomime” says the following, “It is especially for the most impassioned movements of the soul that pantomime is necessary.” Brooks felt that gesture was the language of nature so therefore Pantomime would be the use of the natural language for artistic purposes. The text of muteness is a way of conveying a message and emotion without the use of words. Gledhill feels that melodrama was affected by the prohibition on spoken dialogue. An example would be the creation of the spectacle which provided sophisticated productions with exotic costumes and sets, and special effects which can be seen in all of the melodramas we see today in film. She focuses on the stylistic excess and structural instability of melodrama. Her work has been very helpful in identifying muteness as constitutive fundamentals of the melodramatic text. However unlike Brooks, Gledhill focuses more on Hollywood films that regards melodrama as a invention molded by national and cultural forces.