Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author is a reflection of Pirandello’s view on humanity and life itself. Pirandello expresses his views through the interactions between the actors, characters and the director. The sharp contrasts and complex interaction of the three different sets of characters reveal Pirandello’s theory that life, as we know it, is not real due to constant change and continuation of time.

            When the Characters are introduced early on in the play, Pirandello has a specific set of instructions as to how the characters are supposed to appear. He says that the characters “should not appear to be unreal figures but rather created reality, the creations of immutable fantasy; therefore, more real and substantial than the changeable naturalness of the actors” (Pirandello 10). Additionally, Pirandello adds that the characters “realness” is a way of representing the profound meaning of the play.

            An author created the non-human Characters; therefore they have no control over their “destinies.” Theirs have been created, are constant, and never change. According to Pirandello, the Characters’ realities are as real as anything gets. The fates of the Characters have always been the same, and will always remain the same.  They are real. They are concrete.

            Unlike the Characters, the Actors and Director are human beings. As humans, the Actors and Directors are constantly changing with each new day. The humans have complete control over who they want to be. As the Father puts it, humans can become “nobody” if they wanted to. According to Pirandello, something (in this case humans) that is always changing is not real. Instead, they are just an imitation of reality. Just as the Actors in the play imitate the reality that the Characters possess.