Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Reversibility in Henry IV
While Pirandello seems to commend the mad for their ability to speak the truth, madness in Henry IV also has an element of reversibility to it. In Act II, Henry exclaims "How terrible it is, how terrible if you do not hold on very tight to what seems true to you today and to what will seem true to you tomorrow, even if it is the opposite of what seemed true to you yesterday" (122). Henry criticizes the actors for hiding from truth, as he himself avoids reality. By the end of the play, Henry's struggle amounts to nothing more than a grand attempt to avoid reality--the passage of time. Pirandello introduces reversibility by making Henry untouchable in a way--he is not subject to time, which means he is not subject to reality. Which is the more truthful?
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In this particular quote, Pirandello challenges what we believe to be true and what is actually true. He attempts to show that the world in which we live is not always what it seems. To say that he is not subject to time is interesting because he believes to be the same person after all these years. However, I think he is still a subject to reality and in his reality he appears to be mad. This notion of instability, or madness, is introduced as a means to further define reality.
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