Phrases Meaning – ‘Don’t Break Character’ Definition
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I wanted to know the meaning of this phrase in the music of “be still” from “killers”:
“ Don't break character
Best Answer
"Break character" is a term used by actors. It means when an actor on the stage (or in a film etc) stops pretending to be a character and is just the actor.
The school play was going well until Tim, who was playing Macbeth, broke character and said "I need to go to the toilet". Unfortunately, most of the audience started laughing.
Breaking character is usually a failure for the actor, but occasionally it is done for comic effect. And of course if there is a real emergency, actors will break character.
When her leading man collapsed, she broke character and asked the audience "Is there a doctor in the house?"
In the context of the song, it means "continue to pretend to be who you pretend to be (or else your lover might leave you)". (or something like that)
It is a clever pun that plays on the idea of "the face that launched a thousand ships". This phrase is a reference to the launching of a fleet of ships to rescue Helen of Troy, a woman of the most astounding beauty who eloped/was abducted by Paris. The launching of the ships to bring her back sparked the start of the Trojan war (the Iliad).
It is such a poetic phrase that it is in common usage in English to describe someone of exceptional beauty ("she is beautiful enough to launch a thousand ships") .
The phrase "has a voice that bored a thousand ships into sinking themselves" plays with this idea to suggest that Stan's voice has a level of boredom that is as exceptional as Helen of Troy is beautiful, and does it in a clever way.
Rather than launching a thousand ships to rescue the most beautiful woman ever, this guys voice is so dull that a thousand captains would rather sink their own ships than listen to it.
Best Answer
"Break character" is a term used by actors. It means when an actor on the stage (or in a film etc) stops pretending to be a character and is just the actor.
Breaking character is usually a failure for the actor, but occasionally it is done for comic effect. And of course if there is a real emergency, actors will break character.
In the context of the song, it means "continue to pretend to be who you pretend to be (or else your lover might leave you)". (or something like that)