Acting in Money

One of Shakespeare's more famous quotes was, "All the world's a stage, And the men and women merely players". Shakespeare's plays often included characters disguising themselves as other people, similar to the characters in Money. John Self was manipulated by those around him, believing them to be friends when they were actually enemies. Fielding, Selina, and Barry all acted and pretended to be something they were not in order to get what they wanted from Self. Othello's titular character was tricked by his right-hand man into believed that Desdemona was cheating, and he believed it by giving in to his insecurities. Self is incredibly self-loathing, so he accepts whatever people tell him. Self even lied to himself and tried to believe that money was really the most important thing in the world. By "acting", Amis referring to the practice of pretending to be something different than one's true persona. At the end of the novel, Self is content with his life and it leads the reader to believe that money was not the only thing Self needed to be happy, no matter what he kept telling himself and whoever would listen. Selina did not really pretend to love Self, but she put up with him just because she was greedy for materials; when they reunited later, she pretended to want to sleep with him only so she could have Martina walk in and catch them in the act. Barry Self pretended to be Self's father for years, and Fat Vince had to play the role of a man watching his son grow up from afar. Lorne, Butch, Spunk, and Caduta were all literally actors, yet they insisted on making insane demands in an effort to hide their self-esteem issues. Lorne was ashamed of his age and his vanishing fame, yet he assumed the role of a pompous and highly regarded actor that expected no less than center stage. Butch wanted to be seen as intelligent and Spunk as pure. Fielding, perhaps the strongest example of a fake persona, lied to Self so often and hid his true nature so well that Self actually believed him to be three separate people. Fielding convinced Self that he was paying for all of the expenses and that they even had a company, Fielding & Self, together. Fielding also had an alter-persona as Frank and Phone and a ginger women that followed Self around all the time. The purpose of including all of these "actors" in Self's life was to show the false realities that can accumulate when you are obsessed with just one thing. Self was unobservant of his surroundings and allowed himself to be fooled as long as he thought it would inflate his bank account. Money is associated with superficiality and the characters in Money bought in to this lifestyle. People did anything just to make a quick dollar.