"I take it you think everybody is who they say they are."
Very few are truly who they appear to be. Evelyn Salt in Salt is the master of deception as she fools nearly everyone around her. She has multiple identities: government agent, Russian spy, beloved wife to an unsuspecting husband. But in the end her deception, her double life as a spy, no matter how good her intentions were, ended in disaster for the one she loved. Her husband was killed by the Russian spy leader she turned against because they wanted to launch a nuclear attack on the US. In the ending scene another US government agent is riding with her in a helicopter after she has killed a fellow US agent/Russian spy and he asked her, "Why'd you kill him?" She responds with, "Somebody had to," pointing out that everyone isn't who they appear to be and despite him seeming like a trusted government agent he was actually a bad Russian spy, one who was willing to launch the planned nuclear attack on the US (Noyce, Salt).
As I was viewing this film I realized some similarities between Salt and myself. I sent Reynaldo out to spy on my son to see “what company” (2.1.9) he has been keeping and how “they do know my son” (2.1.11). I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t being too promiscuous and damaging his reputation, and in effect, my reputation. I just want to make sure he hasn’t gone crazy with his new freedom and behaving in a manner that would reflect poorly of both of us. I understand Salt’s situation in the film as she is trying to do the right thing by keeping up the façade of being a loyal Russian spy when she really she is against their plan. It is truly a noble thing to do despite her having to deceive the ones closest to her, including her husband and co-workers.
I think a little deception and spying is sometimes excusable when good intentions are present and my thoughts were affirmed by most of the movie as Salt’s deception saved the Russian and US Presidents and saved both countries from an ugly war. But then Salt’s husband was murdered by the spy leaders after one of her colleagues, another undercover Russian spy told them that her husband, Mike, was making her soft and had to be killed. Salt’s perpetuation of her fake adherence to Russia inadvertently killed her innocent husband. It was foolish, even selfish in a way, to think that her fake lives could all mesh together without a problem and that she could carry out her plan without hurting any of the others around her. This forces me to wonder if I am going about dealing with my children, especially Ophelia, in an inappropriate manner. When Ophelia came running in saying she had “been so affrighted” (2.1.73) by Hamlet I felt I needed to protect her from the heartbreak of dealing with crazy Hamlet’s issues due to the psychological effects of his father’s death and the end of his relationship with Ophelia at my demand. Hamlet’s reaction was “the very ecstasy of love,” that I warned Ophelia about, “whose violent property fordoes itself/and leads the will to desperate undertakings” (2.1.100-102). Afterall what did love do for Mike in the movie? It killed him. But what was my first reaction to hearing the news about Hamlet’s erratic behavior toward Ophelia? Running to the king. I told him that “I hold my duty, as I hold my soul,” but I wonder if that was my true purpose for going to king (2.2.44). I must ask myself if I went for my daughter, for Hamlet, for the new king, or for myself in order to get closer to the king. Am I just the same as Salt in perpetuating a lie only to hurt my family as Salt too claimed hers was in the name of her duty and responsibility to her job? I read aloud Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia without flinching. I threw out her right to privacy as I have done so for my son. I have good intentions though, I really do. But Salt did too and that lead to her husband’s end. I must tread carefully in the future as I want to protect my children but not permanently damage them.
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