BDF: Thurs. March 12
ACE: Fri. March 13
What might be the possible effects of a person maintaining a public image that is quite different from real feelings? In other words, what are the complications of leading a "double life"? Who might lead a double life today?
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IMO, all politicians must lead double lives, because they (all of them at some point in time, including dictators) must secure favors from the public to get in office. This very often means telling people what the "want to hear", or sometimes what "you want them to hear".
ReplyDeleteI think this is importaint in Macbeth because, more and more, he is turning from an obedient, trustworthy soldier into a greed, "ambitious" 'politician', and although today's elections may seem far from those 500 years ago, there are many themes- especially those concerning morals and the "double lives"- present today as well as then. Thus, can Macbeth become a real politician?
Vadim's right when he says all politicians lead double lives. However, in a sense, all people live double lives. Children don't reveal the side of themselves they show to their friends to their parents and vice versa. In the workplace, there's a certain decorum that's usually upheld, and co-workers may be more restrained with one another (but not at CHS, cuz everyone's friends there...right)
ReplyDeleteI think it's human nature to hide certain parts of their nature. I believe it's an intelligent defense mechanism of course, because if someone were to know all the sides of you, they could possibly discover how to hurt you the best, giving them undue power over you. The complications of a double life are keeping all the personalities in order, or remembering who knows what about you and keeping it that way. It's all about balancing. I'm guessing everyone in Macbeth is going to mess up at it though, because that's always fun.
This is Leandra by the way...
ReplyDeleteLatesia makes a relevant point in stating that people conceal parts of themselves due to comfort in certain environments. Individuals choose to conduct themselves differently according to their instinct, situation, and privacy. I believe that people are acute to the views of others and once certain social boundaries are crossed, latent discomfort in conversation often results.
At the same time, if people are capable of concealing one side of their personality, they can also choose to accentuate their good qualities to impress others or satisfy delicate insecurities. In some cases, a life weaved through lies leads to conflict and stunning revelations regarding life styles (like Edna from The Awakening and Nora from A Doll's House).
Echoing Lady Macbeth’s previous disguise tactics, Macbeth states "we have scorched the snake, not killed it." This proves that maintaining two faces is a tedious matter when the repercussions may result in a nasty 'after bite' (aka- being exposed via convictions).
~ Leandra
Yeah, that's it...oh, & GAZEROCK IS NOT DEAD.
Hm, I thought it would put my AIM screen name.....well, now you KNOW that was me....hm, and there's supposed to be spaces like this:
ReplyDeleteLatesia makes a relevant point in stating that people conceal parts of themselves due to comfort in certain environments. Individuals choose to conduct themselves differently according to their instinct, situation, and privacy. I believe that people are acute to the views of others and once certain social boundaries are crossed, latent discomfort in conversation often results.
At the same time, if people are capable of concealing one side of their personality, they can also choose to accentuate their good qualities to impress others or satisfy delicate insecurities. In some cases, a life weaved through lies leads to conflict and stunning revelations regarding life styles (like Edna from The Awakening and Nora from A Doll's House).
Echoing Lady Macbeth’s previous disguise tactics, Macbeth states "we have scorched the snake, not killed it." This proves that maintaining two faces is a tedious matter when the repercussions may result in a nasty 'after bite' (aka- being exposed via convictions).
There. -.-
I very much agree with Latesia's point that we all lead double lives to some extent. There's an image we try to project in public (most likely to gain approval from our peers/the public) and then there's that side that holds the truth, or our unadulterated motivations. I think that one of the most interesting things about tragedy though, is that the fall from the top is the greatest. In other words, the public is much less concerned about the deceit of the common man than the moral fall of a person in an influential position. We see this in headlines everyday (most recently the Madoff scandal...)These are individuals who at one time, emanated success and honesty -- people the public trusted and therefore tend to fall the hardest when their true nature is eventually revealed. Unfortunately, Macbeth will probably learn the same lesson.
ReplyDeleteas jimmitti said, i somewhat agree. i don't believe we all live a double life, but yet come off sheltered in a first meeting, or first encounter, due to the want for acceptance, and not to be judged. in the case of macbeth, he truly is living his own life, and the life that lad macbeth wants him to live, through killing malcom. this will obviously soon blow out of the water, and his deed will surface to the public.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am impressed with the relevancy of your comments, including the allusion to the Madoff scandal from Jimmitti T.
ReplyDeleteThoreau, said that many people were 'living lives of quiet desperation'. If only it were that simple! His familiar saying implies that some people, perhaps a lot of them, are unhappy with the way their lives are now and want to change things for the better. I think it's worse than that. While they may look in the mirror and don't like what they see; while they may get up in the morning and don't like the work they have to go to or the school; while they see rich and successful people on their TV, in their newspapers, and in magazines; they don't just feel unhappy and unfulfilled. They also console themselves with daydreams about how they could be there too, out there, where they want to be.
What's wrong with that? Only one thing. It means you're leading a 'double life'. Just as 'mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent' was the alter ego of Superman, so there are plenty of other 'secret identities', in every school, every workplace. While they may seem harmless enough, and are going about their daily lives in a humdrum way, you might just catch them once in a while, staring out of the window and dreaming of how things could be, given – well, whatever you think is going to save you, a win on the Lottery perhaps, or just 'being 'discovered' by that talent scout, the photographer, that agent, whatever.
The main problem, of course, is that leading the "double life" takes up energy. It means you don't have a lot left for the roles you need to be playing – student, son/daughter, friend. When you should be here, doing those things, you're actually off in your head, somewhere else entirely, maybe the future, or some idealized present, where everything is not as it is, but is as you feel it should be for you. There's only one answer to this dilemma, and it isn't pleasant. It's to make a choice.
Enjoy
I definately agree that if you lead a double life, you ultimately have to make a decision which one you will follow. I think that you would inflict too much phusical and mental abuse on yourself if you kept it up for too long like Spider Man/Peter Parker. And lastly, I feel that you owe it to yourself to live just one life and devote all of your time and effort to make it the best life that it can be.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the last 2 posts..
ReplyDeleteBut, if we're to die anyways, does it matter if we follow a "dream" life or a real one? What is wrong with someone daydreaming about smth when he cannot achieve it, but the mere act fills him with happiness?
And daydreaming does not just put one into semi-isolation, but I think it is caused by isolation in te first place...
Dfinetly a tough choice.
I believe that no one can live a double life without it becoming messy. Living up to two standards or telling to different lies catches up with you because you can only stretch yourself so thin. Living a double life can only lead to tradgedy; in saying this i believe that it will inevitably catch up with you and if you are leading a double life you are for a reason meaning that if the other side figured you out it would end in tradgedy.
ReplyDeletecak 727 is ellen btw mr. dileo idk how that happend
ReplyDeleteleading a double life would probably get messy, yes. but in some situations, like with politicians or celebrities, they must portray themselves as people who always do the right thing, being role-models and such. but in all reality, when you see headlines telling about all the horrible things they've been caught doing, you can't say that you don't know someone who's done the same thing.
ReplyDeletesome people may lead double lives but not always necessarily for a bad reason, sometimes it's just because they feel like the pressure's on them to be this figure of perfection to the public eye.
I agree with Nicole, some people live double lives to help set themselves as a role model, but they could live their personal life different. At some point, the truth of the double life is revealed, and consequences follow.
ReplyDeleteLiving a double life only wastes time and energy. In most cases neither "life" totally embodies a person, making every moment lived unsatisfying and dull. However the simple solution of telling the truth, being yourself, or whatever it may be is often over looked. Why do almost all of these people dig themselves into such a hole that it is impossible to come out? What drives a person to live a double life may be motivated by selfish or unselfish reasons, but in the end it is that person standing alone. A double life is not efficient in any way, for it is one person who must live with the consequences, and one person who must bear the burden of being trapped in a life not their own.
ReplyDeleteall the posts have been really good and i agree with most of them. Latesia made a very good point that we all do in some ways live double lives. People have a tendency to fear being themselves around certain people, whether it be someone you just met or you just cant get comfortable with. we all have a person we want to be in the back of our minds but at times you get caught up in whats happening around you, be it stereotypes or "the norm" that you get steered off track. the whole double life can happen unintentionally at times where you just cant turn back but like everyone has said its too tiring to keep up with. the mess that occurs physically stems from what is jumbled in your mind. politicans are the perfect explain, trouble is only some get caught when the acts are selfish. its much more simple to just be yourself (whoever you choose that will be) then lead a double life.
ReplyDeletethere's no such thing as a double life simply different facets of one life. take yourself for instance mr. Dileo. in the class room your one person while on the ball field your another. this isn't leading a double life its just leading one's life in ways called for by the situation. now if one, say, leads a life where they have multiple spouses and children in different cities then that could lead to a serious mess. but for the majority "leading a double life" is simply living ones life.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Alysia fully.. There will never be a feeling of being completely satisfied if one decides to live a double life. You will never know what you are even living for. In the case of Macbeth, Lady Macbeth proves to be the one acting as both the (outward) strong, heroic (in a sense) female, while inside she is torn and indescribably fearful. This double life is required.. in the case that she were to show how she truly feels about what happened, Macbeth would crumble.. he depends on her for strength. Maybe that's why we all lead a double life, and that makes it so that this "lie" that we live is entirely unselfish.. we strive to please those around us to such an extent that we lose ourselves in the process. The danger in this is when one stops remembering who they are as an individual and begins to make the line between their double lives thinner and thinner, until they collide.. inevitably ending up in disaster. It is easy to look upon the subject of living a double life and say "just be yourself", but I do believe that we all, to a certain extent, put on a facade around our friends, family, teachers, etc.
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ReplyDeleteMAD heads be leading double lives no doubt. Like I heard dude the other day was showin my man around this house, right. Dude said to my man, like "ay, with this tanking market, you best hold your ends til it reach that bottom, ya heard?." My man was like, "Oh word? I'll get on that." Dude straight got on his phone, he wasn't really listenin, got off, then continued on about how that housing market was zooming! My man was like really?!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, my examples of people in the modern day leading double-lives are real estate agents. Much has been written about how these agents tactics when representing clients differ from those they employ while selling their own homes, often for a better price. While this discrepancy is understandable, it is still intruiging that their expertise cannot be fully expressed to their client.
I completely agree with Stephen. What, exactly, constitutes a “double life”? Clearly, for example, the tendency to act sophisticated when amongst our superiors and somewhat more lax with our peers can hardly be classified as living a “double life”, for (although this may be done intentionally, depending on situation) people subconsciously adjust to their surrounding environment and to external circumstance.
ReplyDeleteFor another example, why do authors create false names (pseudonyms) for themselves? Should Daniel Handler be accused of living a “double life” because he thinks Lemony Snicket sounds cooler? Or Because he doesn’t want fans knocking on his door 24/7? The fact of the matter is, the world is not filled with millions of Lady MacBeths or Peter Parkers, for they are nothing but fictional characters, made for nothing but our entertainment. People may act physiologically different (drugs, stress etc) but genetically, a person can only diverge from their “true selves” only so much. Why, then, do we create and enjoy fictional characters trapped between two separate lives? Like Jimmitti said, people enjoy watching others fall from power (it makes us feel better in knowing that one life is enough to deal with).
ReplyDeleteI completly agree with Stephen that there is a difference between a "double life" and acting differently amongst different groups of people. A "double life" would be keeping something from others, while acting differently comes from experience in different social situations. For example, if you went to talk to your grandmother at a nursing home you would certaintly act and speak differently than if you were with your friends. The same type of thing goes for the job and homelife. Living a "double life" usually refers to some sort of scandal, so it's one who lives a life of lies. Some are content with this while others feel guilty and confess their secrets, in the case of Macbeth, his guilt drives him crazy.
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