Sunday, February 2, 2014
While reading Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author, several passages reminded me of Andrea's character in D'Annunzio's Pleasure. The theme that I find both novels to have in common is the concept of a scripted reality. Andrea is constantly mentioning that he knows how his interactions with women will go, as if his relationships are scripted. He thinks about his life as though his fate is inevitable and he has no say when it comes to his own happiness. Andrea has accepted that he is in a perpetual state of unrest and dissatisfaction, and he therefore uses his "fate" as an excuse for his inappropriate intentions and fleeting emotions for Elena and Maria. Likewise, the characters in Six Characters in Search of an Author "carry a drama full of pain" (13). Each character has a role that they must play for the drama to be performed correctly. The Mother will forever be in mourning because that is the character that she plays. At the surface level, the characters in the play appear to be similar to Andrea in the sense that they are living a painful, scripted existences from which they are unable to escape. The reader is left confused at the end of the play (as is the Director), questioning whether or not the characters' realities are illusions. This conclusion is also similar to Pleasure because the reader is left wondering what void Andrea is attempting to fill and whether or not he could have had the willpower to change his "inevitable" downfall.
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I agree. In"Six Character's in Search of an Author" these six characters reflect aspects of Andrea’s character in “Pleasure” like you said with “the concept of a scripted reality.” Pirandello states these characters are to be presented as "created realities, unchanging constructs of the imagination, and therefore more solidly real than the Actors with their fluid naturalness,” (9). Characters are born of free will where as the actor plays his role without living it. Andrea in “Pleasure” is the leading character of his life. He is not just an actor acting out his illusions for what he imagines with Elena or Maria. He is putting truth into the scripts he produces. Another point that I found important in reading this play was how these characters are art and how this parallels Andrea’s love for art. Andrea in a sense is a living piece of artwork living a tragedy love story. Pirandello writes, “you have created living beings – more alive than those that breathe and wear clothes! Less real, perhaps; but more true!” (12). Characters differ from actors as I explained above, but it is especially true in the sense of art they become. Characters come alive and are born on stage where as an actor stays mundane in his role. Andrea became art because he began to jump off the page and become truth. A truth that becomes and is interpreted through the art that is created.
ReplyDeleteI found what you said about the Character's needing their roles to be performed correctly. The concept of being "performed correctly" causes a lot of confusion between the Actors, Director, and Characters. The Character's have unrealistic expectations of how the actors are supposed to perform their roles. The Character's struggle with minute details such as volume, stage placement, and the Director's additions to the story. In most cases, the Characters find the Actors renditions of them very comical, especially the Stepdaughter. Overall, the Character's expectations of the Actor's and Director's performance is a major source of confusion allowing the play to progress, and the ongoing debate to continue.
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