This is one of those cards where people wince when it is turned over, until I point out the lack of duress demonstrated by the character on the card.
It is actually a card that demonstrates the need for a pregnant pause to gain perspective, something that validates a timely tarot reading. The Hanged Man is a defense from the pedantic, from a narrow and restrictive mind that fails in seeking broad truth. The Hanged Man doesn’t jump to conclusions or speak off the cuff, he considers, contemplates and broadens his scope.
Every angle must be considered from the mundane to the spiritual and for this reason The Hanged Man tends toward the philosophical and comes with as many questions as he answers. But those questions lend themselves to a more gratifying path that rich in purpose and meaning. He hangs upside down so that he may see from a new and unexpected way, and when you draw him he asks that you may do the same.