Throughout our discussion of the play today, I found myself constantly recalling the phrase: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players." Mr. Lazarow asked us if there were any times where we weren't acting a part, and I formed my own opinion on the matter.
We truly do seem to always act in front of others. Friendship cliques, family member and occupation roles--we all act a part under these circumstances. When friends go out to the mall, for instance, they behave differently with each other than they would if they were hanging at the mall with their mothers. I've heard many people mention how different someone is when they hang with certain "crowds." We behave differently depending on who we are with.
But reverting back to the question of whether we are always merely "players" of a stage: I don't believe that...not entirely, at least. Everyone indeed plays many roles each day of their lives, but nobody can just be defined as "actors." After all, if all we can possibly do is act a part, how real are we? I personally believe that what defines us as real--and not just simple characters searching for a role to play--are our mindsets.
Through personal experiences, and our development in maturity that results from them, we become very opinionated on matters. Our very personal opinions make us individualists. Of course, some people opt not to express their personal opinions openly on certain topics, and may instead simply agree (or pretend to agree, that is) on what others have to say. Those very opinions, however, though possibly not expressed openly to others, are a part of our mindsets that make us amount to more than mere "actors." Nobody else can view our personal beliefs on matters, (unless we choose to express them, of course) but because we have those very thoughts, we may "act" differently in front of others, but our mindsets will never change.
-Chloe Martianou
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I think for this discusssion we need a definition of "real" and "actor". I agree with the phrase "all the world's a stage", but I think that's becasue my definition of "actor" is different than yours. We all play parts, daughter, student, friend, etc. Throughout these parts there are basic qualities that make us us. These, when referring to characters, are called characterristics. You call them mindsets. Every character has qualities that seperate him from the other characters, just like we have qualities that seperate us from our peers. They don't make us less characters.
ReplyDelete~Becca
Chloe, I agree with you that we are all always "role-playing", but we are not necessarily "actors". I have many different roles I play when I am with different groups of people. My "self" when I am with my orchestra friends is different from my "self" when I am with my harp friends which is different from my "self" when I am with my friends in this class, which is different from my "self" when I am with all my other groups of friends.
ReplyDeleteNone of these "selves" are any more or less definatively ME. I am not "acting", in the common sense of the word, when I am with any of these groups, even though I ,may seem very different. They are just different roles I play in society that require different sets of characteristics of my personality. The full "me" (my full personality) is only known when all of these characteristics are put together.
-Audrey
I agree with Audrey. She said it better than I could have.
ReplyDelete- Colin
I agree as well. I also think that the extent of the changes between your roles is also a characteristic. If someone changes very little from situation to situation, they can be considered "true" to who they are or "real". But if someone acts drastically different around different groups of people, they are labeled "fake" or "conformist". Its ironic because typically these people are acting in that way so that people will like them, but it actually causes people to dislike them.
ReplyDelete~Elizabeth
I also agree with Audrey saying that "role-playing" is not necessarily equal to "acting." We all can behave differently depending on which situation we are in, but that does not mean that we are hiding our true feelings and "acting"
ReplyDelete-Joanne