The Most Intense Sensations Come from a Deficiency

– I find it much more interesting to play negative characters. They touch me more, while the positive ones turn out boring. Since these roles influence us so much, how should we treat them?

– Negative images, sad music, and tragic events are always more vivid than positive ones, which seem flat to us. This is clear because a person is the desire to enjoy. As a result, our most intense sensations come from a lack of something. When pleasure comes to a person, he considers it obvious: “As an egoist, this is what I deserve, so I don’t feel the pleasure that intensely. But a lack of something, which I deserve but don’t have, is something I feel very intensely.” This is how egoism evaluates itself—one-sidedly, with a slant toward the sensation of a deficiency.

Which roles should children play, positive or negative? Questions about this should not arise. I have to play the role however it is. A person must first dissect the entire character into fragments, and then try to analyze them as objectively as possible, choosing the most indicative ones and learning to reproduce them, to create these situations within him, to become a stage director, and then to express them.

For example, I am asked to play Johnny. That means I have to remember what circumstances I met him in, recall his personality traits, how he moves, and everything that is typical of Johnny. I have to understand what appeals to me and what I don’t like. I have to discern all of this in relation to my egoism.

– What if I don’t like something? Do I have to try to justify these qualities and agree with them?

– The most important thing is to act them out. It’s very important to recall the character very distinctly, what it’s like, and what it is. When a person starts to play the role and enters the character, he feels his new attitude to what is happening. Then a person involuntarily agrees with how his prototype behaved in this situation. By playing any role, I come closer to the person I play.

– There’s even an expression, “falling in love with your character.”