Goffman’s dramaturgical theory posits that life is a play, with the world as the stage and people as the actors. Like an actual stage, life has a front stage and a backstage with different behaviors occurring in each place. As an active member of my church, my observations about my fellow Catholics corroborates Goffman’s theory. Devout people who volunteer or work as liturgical ministers attempt to portray a good impression of the church to the congregation. The congregation also tries to convince the liturgical ministers of their devotion to God. As a congregation member and as an altar server, I am aware of the front stage and backstage behavior for both groups. My transition between a congregation member and an altar server enhances my understanding of the shift in roles that Goffman refers to in the dramaturgical theory.
As part of a team of fellow liturgical ministers, it is my role to convey a sense of community and holiness in the church. I must adhere to the dress code by dressing modestly and wearing a white robe over my clothes, which essentially becomes my costume or team uniform according to the dramaturgical theory. Once I enter the front stage, I must exhibit a happy, welcoming facade that belies my personal emotions. I proceed to greet church members before mass and to ensure that the priest conducts mass efficiently. To achieve this, I must follow the priest’s cues during mass, so that I sit down, stand, sing, and prep the altar at the correct times. These guidelines serve as the script and stage directions for liturgical ministers. Although I prefer to sleep, I must smile at 8:30 mass each Sunday morning, mirroring the priest’s facade of joyfulness. The priest’s facade is important to note. Although the priest is a devout liturgical minister who dedicated his life to Christ, it does not mean that he always enjoys mass. Like everyone else, he has rough mornings where he becomes tired of his own sermon.
These sentiments become very obvious in the backstage, where the priest and liturgical ministers take a break from their roles. As a liturgical minister in the backstage, I can confirm that talks in the back rooms have nothing to do with God. Popular topics of discussion include sports, family issues, gossip, and complaints. Liturgical ministers complain about everything. from the early mass times to the ridiculous white robe that they must wear over their clothes even when it is ninety degrees inside the church. The backstage is where the liturgical ministers can release their negative feelings without offending or appalling the congregation.
Just as liturgical ministers portray their best assets to the congregation, congregation members seek to impress liturgical ministers with their faithfulness. Everyone, including myself, pretends to enjoy Sunday mass. Although this is occasionally true, I often prefer sleeping in on the weekends. However, as a member of the congregation, I must dress up, attend weekly mass, and pretend to enjoy the performance put on by the liturgical ministers. However, as Catholics in the backstage, away from the scrutiny of the liturgical ministers and fellow congregation members, church members, including myself, may act and talk in sinful ways that contradict the image of devoted Christians that we attempt to portray in church.
Although these roles require strict regulation, few people breach their role on the front stage, because when they do, they create chaos in the play. I recall a memorable moment when someone acted out of character and became the subject of church gossip for a week. This person was one of my fellow altar servers and a member of the congregation. Our parish had assigned him to altar serve for Christmas morning mass. As it turned out, he had partied on Christmas Eve, and he came to church exhausted and moody. He missed the cues from the priest and messed up his role, which led to a poorly conducted mass on the most important Christian holiday. By failing to carry out his role, he angered the priest and eamed a stern scolding after mass, a scolding that numerous members of the congregation inadvertently overheard. The scolding surprised the congregation since the priest and the boy strayed from their roles. As actors themselves, most members of the congregation maintained a facade of politeness, refraining from reacting visibly. No longer restricted by their roles after they left the church, the congregation members gossiped about the boy. However, as Goffman highlighted in his theory, the difference in power of the two actors leads the audience to treat them differently. In this case, the priest had more power than the boy. Therefore, the congregation gossipped about the boy’s misconduct but refrained from talking about the priest’s outburst of angry rhetoric.
Ultimately, “impression management”, a term coined by Goffman, explains the actions of liturgical ministers and congregation members. The priest and liturgical ministers attempt to maintain their image of perfection to earn respect from the congregation, while the congregation portrays their devotion to God to convince the priest and liturgical ministers that they live as good Christians. It is important to remember that these positive attributes represent the front stage for each of the groups. The backstage presents a different aspect that closely resembles the actual tendencies and sentiments of people since they do not feel like they have to impress an audience. However, chaos occurs if actions that occur backstage accidentally become evident on the front stage to a larger audience. For instance, drinking is a fairly common practice among teenagers, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike. This practice would have been socially acceptable if it had occurred backstage. However, once the altar serving boy portrayed this practice on the front stage, it automatically caused an uproar, thus verifying Goffman’s idea of the need for separation between the front stage and the backstage in the dramaturgical theory. I pledge my honor that this paper represents my own work in accordance with University regulation.
