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In Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It, the main character Jaques said: “all the world’s stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” In this statement, Shakespeare used the metaphor of the stage to describe society in which each individual is a player, and everyday life a performance happening on stage. For example, we may carefully dress up and choose our clothes before going on a date, or become fully observant and meticulous in our verbal communication with our boss. Moreover, we may take many selfies, select one and photo-shop it for half an hour before finally posting it on social media. In fact, these are all performances in a particular social context. In this sense, it’s reasonable to say: “life is like a drama, and vice versa.”
Today’s book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life made the author Goffman famous. It is also the most influential of all his books. It was perhaps his experience in film studies that enabled him to view sociology from a distinctive perspective and establish the famous social dramaturgical theory. The theory holds that social behaviors are, in essence, social performances, and every individual is playing different roles. Hence, in nature, we are all “players.”
