law 25 recreate yourself judgment do not accept the roles that Society foists on you recreate Yourself by forging a new identity one that commands attention and never bores the audience be the master of your own image rather than letting other others Define it for you incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life observance of the law in the year 1831 a young woman named auror dupat dudon left her husband and family in the provinces and moved to Paris she wanted to be a writer marriage she felt was worse than prison pron for it left her neither the time nor the freedom to pursue her passion in Paris she would establish her independence and make her living by writing soon after Davon arrived in the capital however she had to confront certain harsh realities to have any degree of freedom in Paris you had to have money for a woman money could only come through marriage or prostitution no woman had ever come close to making a living by writing women wrote as a hobby supported by their husbands or by an inheritance in fact when dudon first showed her writing to an editor he told her you should make babies Madam not literature clearly Davon had come to Paris to attempt The Impossible in the end though she came up with a strategy to do what no woman had ever done a strategy to recreate herself completely forging a public image of her own making women writers before her had been forced into a readymade role that of the second rate artist who wrote mostly for other women dudal decided that if she had to play a role she would turn the game around she would play the part of a Man In 1832 a publisher accepted dud de vault's first major novel Indiana she had chosen to publish it under a pseudo George sand and all of Paris assumed this impressive new writer was male davant had sometimes worn men's clothing before creating George sand she had always found men's shirts and riding breaches more comfortable now as a public figure she exaggerated the image she added long men's coats gray hats heavy boots and dandyish cats to her wardrobe she smoked cigars and incom conversation expressed herself like a man unafraid to dominate the conversation or to use a saucy word this strange male female writer fascinated the public and unlike other women writers s found herself accepted into the cleck of male artists she drank and smoked with them even carried on affairs with the most famous artists of Europe mus list chopan it was she who did the wooy and also the abandoning she moved on at her discretion those who knew sand well understood that her male Persona protected her from the Public's prying eyes out in the world she enjoyed playing the part to the extreme in private she remained herself she also realized that the character of George sand could grow stale or predictable and to avoid this she would every now and then dram atically altered the character she had created instead of conducting affairs with famous men she would begin meddling in politics leading demonstrations inspiring student rebellions no one would dictate to her the limits of the character she had created long after she died and after most people had stopped reading her novels the larger than life theatricality of that character has continued to Fascinate and Inspire interpretation the world wants to assign you a role in life and once you accept that role you are doomed your power is limited to the tiny amount allotted to the role you have selected or have been forced to assume an actor on the otherand plays many roles enjoy that protein power and if it is beyond you at least Forge a new identity one of your own making one that has had no boundaries assigned to it by an envious and resentful world this act of defiance is Promethean it makes you responsible for your own creation your new identity will protect you from the world precisely because it is not you it is a costume you put on and take off you need not take it personally and your new identity sets you apart gives you theatrical presence those in the back rows can see you and hear you those in the front row Marvel at your audacity keys to power the character you seem to have been born with is not necessarily who you are beyond the characteristics you have inherited your parents your friends and your peers have helped to shape your personality the Promethean task of the powerful is to take control of the process to stop allowing others that ability to limit and mold them remake yourself into into a character of power working on yourself like clay should be one of your greatest and most pleasurable life tasks it makes you in essence an artist an artist creating yourself the first step in the process of self-creation is self-consciousness being aware of yourself as an actor and taking control of your appearance and emotions the bad actor is the one who is always sincere people who wear their hearts on their sleeves out in society are tiresome and embarrassing their sincerity notwithstanding it is hard to take them seriously good actors control themselves better they can play sincere and heartfelt can affect a tear and a compassionate look at will but they don't have to feel it they externalize emotion in a form that others can understand method acting is fatal in the real world no ruler or leader could possibly play the part if all the emotions he showed had to be real so learn self-control adopt the plasticity of the actor who can mold his or her face to the emotion required the second step in the process of self-creation is a variation on the George sand strategy the creation of a memorable character one that compels attention that stands out above the other players on the stage this was the game Abraham Lincoln played the Homespun common Countryman he knew was a kind of president that America had never had but would Delight in electing although many of these qualities came naturally to him he played them up the hat and clothes the beard no president before him had worn a beard Lincoln was also the first president to use photographs to spread His Image helping to create the icon of the Homespun president you must appreciate the importance of stage entrances and exits when Cleopatra first met Caesar in Egypt she arrived rolled up in a carpet which she arranged to have unfurled At His Feet your own entrances and exits should be crafted and planned as carefully remember that overacting can be counterproductive it is another way of spending too much effort trying to attract attention the actor Richard Burton discovered early in his career that by standing totally still on stage he drew attention to himself and away from the other actors it is less what you do that matters clearly than how you do it your gracefulness and imposing Stillness on the social stage count for more than overdoing your part and moving around too much finally learn to play many roles to be whatever the moment requires adapt your mask to the situation be prodient in the faces you wear bismar played this game to Perfection to a liberal he was a liberal to a hawk he was a hawk he could not be grasped and what cannot be grasped cannot be [Music] consumed