[Vocabulary] What is the meaning of 'to'?

[constantinusphilo]

What is the meaning of 'to' in the following sentence: 'As the actor brings the character to life from the inside, the audience sees through the sayings and doings to the thoughts and feelings underneath.' Should it be taken with 'see' as a phrasal verb, or does it have the meaning as in 'to reach to', expressing the limit of the action?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

What is the meaning of 'to' in the following sentence: "As the actor brings the character to life from the inside, the audience sees through the sayings and doings to the thoughts and feelings underneath"? Should it be taken with "see" as a phrasal verb, or does it mean "to reach to", expressing the limit of the action?

Where did you find the sentence? Always tell us the source and, when it matters, the context.

 

[constantinusphilo]

Robert McKee, Story, p. 365.

 

[probus]

It has nothing to do with limits of action.

Joe could see through all the bluster and bravado to the insecure little man inside.

Because glass is transparent we can see through it to whatever lies beyond.

 

[jutfrank]

It has its basic sense here. The thoughts and feelings are a destination. The seeing goes from the seer to the object.