preview

How Does The Six Characters In Search Of An Author

Decent Essays

Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author begins with a stage manager creating an illusion of reality with actors on a stage to play the part of characters. Theater is known to create an illusion of reality, but Pirandello twists this by introducing “actual” characters. These “characters” oppose the idea of illusion of reality, as their illusion is their reality. The characters persistently try to convince the stage manager and cast that they are just as real; their reality however, does not change. The characters are sentenced to a life of repeating and reliving scenes for eternity. In Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello suggests that the illusion and reality of the characters is something for the audience to determine. I believe that the characters are just as real as the actors because they don’t exist outside of their illusion, their reality is fixed for eternity and they are forced to live their illusion of reality. The sheer fact that the characters do not exist outside their reality makes them more real. The Father says to the Manager, “One is born to life in many forms, in many shapes, as tree, or as stone, as water, as butterfly, or as woman. So one may also be born a character in a play” (Pirandello, 5). This makes perfect sense, a character is “born” knowing his or her exact purpose. An actor’s purpose consistently changes to adapt to a new role. The Father also says, “We have no other reality beyond this illusion, you too

Get Access