If you are going to be an actor, you must be good at pretence. Your true self must for a short period of time be replaced by a new self. At present Sir Ian McKellen is, in his eighties, taking on the role of Hamlet. A black actress is appearing as Anne Boleyn. A woman has played the part of Henry the Fifth. To varying degrees a role taken on the stage or before cameras is either close to the true self of an actor, or far from it. Some actors enjoy being a baddie or a goodie or a mixed-up picaresque anti-hero. Some actors enjoy being type-cast and making a good living out of it.
And what is true of actors is in some measure and with some qualifications true of us all. We do not appear in our raw unvarnished state. We play a part. A barrister, a teacher, a doctor puts on a character first thing in the morning and preserves that style as long as is necessary. What is conspicuous about some such people is true of the rest of us in different degrees. We commit ourselves to being certain types of people doing certain distinctive jobs and we fit the specification.
The observation that no man is a hero to his valet reminds us that when we know the person outside the court of law or the class-room or the surgery we find ourselves in a different presence. The true self is to be seen. But even then the whole truth is protected. Even with our friends we are not wholly transparent.
There are interesting slants on this in the New Testament. ‘If any man is in Christ, there is a new creation,’ said St Paul (2 Corinthians 5.17). We see this being played out in Romans 7 and 8. The old nature is replaced by the life of the spirit. The writer of 1 John3.9 puts this in stark and uncompromising terms. But godly behaviour, godly instincts, a godly character do not take effect overnight. We do not become saints the moment we believe. A process of sanctification is usually recognised as the growth pattern for those who have turned to Christ.
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