The man who administered an oath can rebuke its taker while performing it.

Evidence

When Roosevelt stood up to take the oath, Moses realized for the first time just how weak his legs were. (“The platform was high above the crowd,” he told the author, “and people couldn’t see what was going on, but both his legs had to be locked upright, the hinges squeaking and then snapping into place.”) But that didn’t stop Moses from doing what he had planned. When Roosevelt made his way to the lectern, one arm gripping a cane, the other the arm of his eldest son, James, and placed his hand on the family’s two-hundred-year-old Dutch Bible, Moses administered the oath of office—and, as soon as it was finished, without waiting for Roosevelt’s inaugural address, stalked off the platform and out of the Chamber. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 1341

Categorization

• SEED: Moses performing the ceremonial act he’d been denied while registering his contempt in the same gesture is a superb scene-study model for writing power conflicts.