“Be Yourself” is Horrible Dating Advice
Instead, wear your mask.
In “The Happy Hypocrite” by Max Beerbohm, the wanton Lord George Hell terrorizes Victorian London with his sinful ways. Described as “Caligula, with a dash of Sir John Falstaff,” he lies, swindles, and debauches. He is even brazen enough to look at ladies’ ankles as they pass him. What a cad!
Or, in today’s parlance, George is a grade-A jerk.
One day, Lord George Hell attends the opera and becomes transfixed with one of the actresses, Jenny Mere. A thousand and one arrows pierce his heart. He must marry Jenny.
But he has one problem. Jenny is not some vacuous hussy looking to score a sugar daddy. She wants a virtuous man. She tells George his face is like a “tarnished” mirror and she “can never be the wife of any man whose face is not saintly.”
Yep, Jenny tells George his jerkiness makes him ugly. Ouch.
George is crestfallen and debates drowning himself in a lake. Without Jenny’s love, “Life is a prison, without bars.” So, he decides to imprison himself in a mask. But not an “I am Instagram happy” mask. He wears a virtuous mask to win Jenny’s love.
When Jenny sees George concealed by his new saintly mask, she nearly drops an ovary and accepts his marriage proposal.
