A ‘performance’ may be defined as all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants.
This quote outlines the essentials of the author’s primary point: the presentation of the self is largely—if not entirely—a performance. This performance is, furthermore, put on largely—but not exclusively—for the benefit of others as a means for fulfilling private desires.
Thus, when the individual presents himself before others, his performance will tend to incorporate and exemplify the officially accredited values of the society, more so, in fact, than does his behaviour as a whole.
Here we have a fairly fancy and long-winded way of saying something much simpler and, frankly, broadly assumed: in performance people present themselves as better than they really are. But, beneath that, this quote says something much more profound: what we mean by “better” is not necessarily our own opinion, but one shaped by society.
A back region or backstage may be defined as a place, relative to a given performance, where the impression fostered by the performance is knowingly contradicted as a matter of course.
It will become apparent to the careful reader very early on (and to the less careful reader only slightly later) that the entire metaphor that the author is creating here is that the presentation of the self is like a performance on the stage. Just in case a reader might miss the subtleties of the comparison, the author make is abundantly clear with his delineation of how a performance includes both the stage area and the backstage area. Putting it plainly: strangers may think your story about being friends with someone famous is totally amazing, but your best friend works backstage and knows all the secrets.
Many women, it seems, go to beauty parlours to be fussed over and called madam and not merely because they need to have their hair done.
Disregarding the obvious dating of the content of this quote, it is significant to understand the meaning here. A performance—the presentation of the self—is not to be confused with being melodramatic. Everyday life is about the little things, not the big things: even going to the grocery store can turn into a performance and not a simple one, either. Think about how you might act in front of a cute cashier rather than one posing no aesthetic interest. Now, consider how you act if you see a friend in the grocery store. Now, how that that performance differ if you are alone when you see them on a weekend day compared to running into them on a Friday night. Everything is an act.
