Is Henry as made as we think?

Reading Pirandello’s Henry IV, the reader is faced with deciphering what is madness and sanity? The question of what is reality is also questioned through this play as it was in Six Character’s in Search of an Author.  Finally, the other big question Pirandello poses throughout this play is the concept of time and how a person can be free or confined throughout their lifetime depending on the situations they face. The situation in Henry IV is about Henry IV’s lost identity and his search for sanity or so the reader is told to think at the beginning of the play. In this response I will be focusing on the problem of identity and what characterizes a madman.

            The problem of this play is stated to the audience on page 3 when Harold says to Bertold, “the problem is we don’t know who you are,” (Pirandello). Even though this line does not refer to Henry IV’s lost identity it embodies one of the main themes. Every character in this play is trying to find who they are in Henry IV’s world. The characters in Henry’s life are being defined by his madness throughout the play and the characters are not individually able to make decisions about their lives. None of the characters understand at the beginning who they are and further more, who is making these decisions for them.

            Landolf states on page 4, “He’s Harold, he’s Ordulf, I’m Landolf, that’s what he calls us so that’s who we are, you get used to it, but it’s like a puppet show. Who are we really?” (Pirandello). The key phrase in this excerpt is “puppet show.” Henry IV is pulling the strings because he is the madman, which the audience learns later on that he is really just playing a madman but is in fact completely sane. Because Henry is really not mad he has the ability to control the reality around him so that it is not the true reality of all these characters lives. The question that arises from this is why Henry has decided to play this game.

            Towards the end around page 46 Henry finally tells everyone that he is tired of acting. Everyone is shocked, but Henry takes this opportunity to explain what characterizes a madman and what makes others fear him. The line that he says that sticks out to me is his definition of reality. “I believed everything I was told and was happy. Heaven help you if you don’t cling to your own reality, even if yesterday’s is contradicted by tomorrow’s. (Pirandello 51). This line is a segment from a large paragraph, but what this line says to me is that the reality that the individual wants to see is what is true. After all this is Henry’s life. He can make of it what he wants.   According to Henry a madman always speaks the truth because he is aware of what mask he is wearing and he is also aware that others wear masks. Henry defines madness as someone who is wearing a mask but does not know he/she is wearing that mask. This madman is really not a madman because he can look in the mirror and not see a representation but can see both the representation and himself.