The presentation of self in everyday life - performances

Ervin Goffman’s book, “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life” is, first of all, a description of quotidian interactions which are analysed from a dramaturgical point of view. Although he never regarded himself as having written as a symbolic interactionist, Goffman is considered to have made a big contribution to this perspective. Interactionism analyses the social behaviour focusing on what is subjective, at a small scale. Goffman’s approach has been called dramaturgical because he “makes so many parallels to the theatre […]. According to this perspective, people can be seen as resembling performers in action”

One of the themes in Goffman’s book deals with performances, it being the actual title of the first chapter. The author uses the term performance to refer to the part the actor is playing. When he takes a role upon himself, the performer is expecting the audience to trust and believe the impression he is trying to create. But one analysing this issue should take a moment to question "the individual's own belief in the impression of reality that he attempts to engender in those among whom he finds himself".

Goffman finds that there are two ways through which the performer relates to the role he is playing. He can actually believe that the part played is the real reality, or he can be a cynic and not have any faith whatsoever in the impression he is trying to create. So, a performance refers to the actions of an individual while being present in a group of observers on whom he has some influence."It will be convenient to label as "front"[...] the expressive equipment of a standard kind intentionally or unwittingly employed by the individual during the performance" . The front is made up of the setting and the personal front. By setting Goffman understands the scenic parts of expressive equipment, and by personal front, the other items of expressive equipment, the items that we most intimately identify with the performer himself and that we naturally expect will follow the performer wherever he goes. The personal front is also made up of two stimuli. The appearance, or what makes us aware of the social status of the performer; and the manner, or what makes us aware of the role the performer expects to play in the following interaction.

In reality, what Goffman is trying to illustrate is that every person interacts according to a script, a predetermined set of actions. This happens for a number of different reasons. Some performers feel the need to act so that they can portray themselves in a positive way. For example, a performer will pay extra attention to the way he looks, talks, behaves at a job interview, but once he gets the job, he will not make the effort to appear the perfect employee everyday. Others perform because they are forced by the social situation which has its specific set of rules. A shop-assistant has to appear friendly and help each costumer although he might be feeling under the weather or simply does not feel like it. But what is more important than the purpose of the performance is whether the performer has faith in it. The person at the job interview may not think he is the perfect employee, but he makes the effort to appear as one to get hired. Whereas the shop-assistant can easily think to himself "I am not a bad clerk, but I cannot be asked to act like a friendly smiling robot all the time. I am only human".

An example of a character who played a part throughout his life is Tudor Petrican from the book "Invitation to the waltz" by Mihail Drumeș. His destiny is tragic, as the parts he chose to play ruined his life, his relationship and the people around him. The author has successfully created a character that was made up only of the parts we played.

While he was a student, he performed the role of the eminent pupil, but after school he became a completely different person, having love affairs with older women. The most notable thing in the short description of the character is that Tudor himself tries to explain that he did not think of this as role playing, but that he was sincere both at school and in private. Considering this, Tudor seems to be the kind of sincere performer who truly believes that the reality he portrays is the real one. But what gives him away, that he was actually aware of his performance, is that he admits to doing or saying things in order to get acknowledged as a good student or a good lover. For example, he describes how he used to find or create ways in which he could successfully perform the role of the student who spent extra time preparing for the lesson so that teachers could feed his ego by praise.