# Performance and Artifice in Bertram Cope’s Year

> Theme guide for Bertram Cope’s Year by Henry Blake Fuller.

Theatricality pervades the novel, from Lemoyne's cross-dressing stage performance to the characters' social performances—posing as artists, poets, or lovers—highlighting the gap between authentic self and social facade.

## Where it surfaces

- [I: Cope at a College Tea](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/i-cope-at-a-college-tea): Cope consciously adopts a smiling, affable demeanor as a 'calculated expressiveness' to navigate social expectations, masking his true irritation.
- [II: Cope Makes a Sunday Afternoon Call](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/ii-cope-makes-a-sunday-afternoon-call): The conversation between Cope and Mrs. Phillips is a performative sparring match, with both adopting roles and testing each other.
- [III: Cope Is "Entertained"](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/iii-cope-is-entertained): The entire afternoon is a staged entertainment where the young women perform their arts (violin, painting, poetry) and Cope is expected to perform in return by singing.
- [IV: Cope Is Considered](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/iv-cope-is-considered): Cope's singing is described as 'cool and correct, but pleasant,' suggesting a performative aspect to his social interactions.
- [V: Cope Is Considered Further](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/v-cope-is-considered-further): Cope's singing is described as a cool, correct performance, and Foster's commentary highlights the artifice in social interactions.
- [VI: Cope Dines—and Tells About It](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/vi-cope-dines-and-tells-about-it): Cope hires a dress suit, recites poetry, and dances to perform his social role; the evening is a series of staged entertainments.
- [Cope Undertakes an Excursion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/viii-cope-undertakes-an-excursion): Cope's deliberate avoidance of direct address and his 'generalized manner' are seen as a performance to maintain social distance.
- [X: Cope at His House Party](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/x-cope-at-his-house-party): Cope performs admiration for the landscape under Randolph's coaching, and Mrs. Phillips curates the natural experience, naming trees after literary figures to create a cultured facade.
- [XI: Cope Enlivens the Country](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xi-cope-enlivens-the-country): Cope's singing is a deliberate performance that earns admiration, contrasting with the artificial gramophone record.
- [XIII: Cope Dines Again—and Stays After](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xiii-cope-dines-again-and-stays-after): Cope's careful demeanor at dinner and the planned musical performance highlight the artificiality of social expectations.
- [Cope Makes an Evasion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xiv-cope-makes-an-evasion): The women's dramatic reaction to Cope's fainting is compared to a religious festival, highlighting the performative nature of social interactions.
- [XV: Cope Entertains Several Ladies](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xv-cope-entertains-several-ladies): Cope puts on a brave front for his callers, using photographs as a diversion from his true condition.
- [XVI: Cope Goes A-Sailing](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xvi-cope-goes-a-sailing): Cope and Amy's accident becomes a public spectacle, with Cope trying to maintain composure ('Let's hold our heads high and walk straight') and Mrs. Phillips turning the event into a social opportunity.
- [XVII: Cope Among Crosscurrents](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xvii-cope-among-crosscurrents): Cope's sailing mishap becomes a public spectacle, with his class, the president's wife, and the newspaper treating it as a performance to be judged.
- [XVIII: Cope at the Call of Duty](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xviii-cope-at-the-call-of-duty): Cope is pressured to perform—first singing, then improvising a story—highlighting the social expectation of entertainment and the artifice involved.
- [XXI: Cope, Safeguarded, Calls Again](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxi-cope-safeguarded-calls-again): Lemoyne and Cope perform a song with elaborate expressiveness; Lemoyne consciously acts on the social stage.
- [XXIII: Cope Regains His Freedom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxiii-cope-regains-his-freedom): Lemoyne's theatrical mindset influences the breakup letter, and Amy's final note mirrors the draft, suggesting a scripted quality to their emotions.
- [XXIV: Cope in Danger Anew](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxiv-cope-in-danger-anew): Cope is presented as a spectacle at the opera, described as 'glittering' and 'scenically gratifying,' while Hortense's portrait project involves artistic manipulation of his image.
- [XXV: Cope in Double Danger](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxv-cope-in-double-danger): Cope and Lemoyne maintain a facade of domestic peace despite disputes; Cope's social attendance and the portrait sittings are performances of civility.
- [XXVII: Cope Escapes a Snare](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxvii-cope-escapes-a-snare): Cope's 'factitious vivacity' and 'stilted copybook talk' during the sitting underscore his performative demeanor and emotional evasion.
- [Cope Absent from a Wedding](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxviii-cope-absent-from-a-wedding): The wedding ceremony is described as a 'crude imitation of a time-hallowed form,' highlighting the artificiality of social rituals.
- [Cope Again in the Country](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxix-cope-again-in-the-country): Lemoyne's intense involvement in a musical comedy, including playing a female role, highlights the theme of performance both onstage and in social life.
- [Cope as a Hero](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxx-cope-as-a-hero): Medora Phillips performs a dramatic, exaggerated gratitude toward Cope, turning a minor incident into a heroic narrative.
- [XXXI: Cope Gets New Light on His Chum](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxxi-cope-gets-new-light-on-his-chum): Lemoyne's theatrical role blurs gender lines and exposes the tension between authentic self-expression and social acceptability; his 'art-structure collapses' when he carries the act too far offstage.
- [XXXII: Cope Takes His Degree](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/chapters/xxxii-cope-takes-his-degree): Cope's composed demeanor at convocation is described as a 'farewell performance,' highlighting the theatricality of social interactions.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/themes/performance_and_artifice
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/bertram_cope_s_year_se/themes