Slate recently interviewed Vincent Kartheiser (aka Pete Campbell on Mad Men). In case we needed any reminders that human beings need love, not love-based-on-achievement, there’s this:

Slate: [Your character’s] a man of ambition, but he seems to get more unhappy the more he achieves. He’s achieved many of his goals—Trudy had the baby, he got a bigger office, he’s dominating Roger—but he seems to get crabbier by the week. Do you understand why he’s so unhappy?

Kartheiser: With success comes a level of sadness. You think, “I’ll reach this goal, and then I’ll feel a sense of completeness, of wholeness. I’ll feel that I have accomplished something. I will see myself as a worthy man.” And it doesn’t really exist.

COMMENTS

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5 responses to “Pete Campbell: With Success Comes Sadness”

1. R-J Heijmen says:

   04/25/2012 at 4:26 pm

   Great post AZ. This season so far is off.the.hook. My wife laughed our donkeys off during that fight scene. Still the best show on TV…

   Reply
2. Bror Erickson says:

   04/25/2012 at 5:40 pm

   Eccles. 1:18 (ESV)
   For in much wisdom is much vexation,
   and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

   That verse haunts my life…. The flip side is, ignorance is bliss.

   Reply
3. Andrea says:

   04/26/2012 at 8:03 am

   I believe Madonna said the same thing back in the 90’s. Madonna.

   Reply