Luigi Pirandello in Six Characters in Search of an Author and William Shakespeare in the Twelfth Night portray their characters as disconnected beings who question the notion of self-consciousness within themselves as well as other characters. Pirandello does this by questioning the limits of conventional staging and the mystery of human personality. Shakespeare uses disguises to challenge perception of characters within each other. As a result, both plays fundamentally deal with concerns such as human identity and the concept of reality and illusion. In this paper I will use Six Characters in Search of an Author as a foundation to discuss characters in both, this play and the Twelfth Night, as fragmented beings who question the concept of self-consciousness, identity, reality, and illusion.
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The distinction between what is real and what is imaginary is established in the very beginning of both plays. In Six Characters in Search of an Author, this distinction is developed when the characters enter the theatre and approach the Director and the Actors as fellow human beings. “Very well, let’s start. Someone missing? The Leading Lady. As usual! We’re ten minutes late already. Fine her for that, would you, please? Then she’ll learn to be on time. No, no for heaven’s sake! I’m here! I’m here!” (19-26) The set of the play is created to confuse the difference between stage illusion and real life, thus making the play more realistic; in essence, to make the play within the play seem more real, as Pirandello has no intention of making Six characters in search of an author a realistic play. Pirandello wants to challenge the audience view of reality and illusion, both inside and outside the theatre by presenting a performance which is both realistic and preposterous at the same time. Pirandello is experimenting with the connection between what people perceive to be reality, which, evidently turns out to be an illusion.
In Twelfth Night, reality from illusion is revealed clearly while discussing identity towards the beginning of the play. The distinction is presented in the dialogue between Viola and the Captain, after the Captains crew has rescued her from a shipwreck. “I pray thee and I’ll pay thee bounteously/ Conceal me what I am, and be my aid/ For such disguise as haply shall become/ The form of my intent. I’ll serve this duke./ Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him.” (I.II.48-52) Viola intentionally disguises herself, to fool her fellow characters, while the audience is still able to identify her as a character through the illusion of role reversal. Shakespeare establishes the distinction between reality and illusion in the beginning of the play to question the human-like characteristic behind Viola and her interactions with other characters. The distinction is a challenge where the audience must determine and understand the self-voyage which Viola will face directly in her new environment.
Pirandello further questions the conventions of solidity and human identity in his play. This notion is primarily conveyed through the Director and the Father. “Just that, ladies and gentlemen. How should we have any other reality? What for you is an illusion, to be created, it for us is our unique reality. But not for use alone of course think a moment. Can you tell me who you are?” (1198-1203). The Director is outraged by this simple yet ambiguous question. He replies with, “How do you mean, who I am? I am I.” (1204). Although a seemingly simple question, it is filled with complexities which confront truth. The Father’s logic is unquestionable on the surface when he suggests that the director’s identity is ever changing, that the Director does not see himself the same way as he had perceived during another time in the past. The Father continues to call the Director a ‘nobody’ because his reality is constantly changing, resulting in different perceptions and alternate realities in contrast to a character who has a life of his/her own which is distinguished by unique characteristics which do not change overtime, which makes the character a ‘somebody’ as opposed to a ‘nobody’. This notion presents an unlikely paradox in which Pirandello is ultimately outlining the absurd nature of truth; the search for meaning where there is no meaning. This is a representation of uncertainty because they are searching for the truth that does not exist because the notion of truth is relative in itself.
Shakespeare, like Pirandello, seeks to question the credibility of identity and reality in the Twelfth Night. This idea is articulated through Viola (Cesario) and Olivia. “Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay./ Husband? Ay, husband; can he that deny?/ Her husband, sirrah?/ No, my lord, not I.” (V.I.138-143) Compared to Pirandello’s play, the concept of mistaken identity and imitation of identity is not entirely similar in both plays. In our in-class discussions we have seen the device of mistaken identity and imitation of identity; where mistaken identity is misunderstanding of one or more characters for another, while, imitation of identity, is a character who is supposed to be someone other than himself by one or more of the other characters, can be of two different ways. Sometimes the error of mistaking someone for someone else is purely accidental, and sometimes it is the result of intentional disguise. In the Twelfth Night, Viola disguises herself as a man and takes the name Cesario. She also has a twin brother, Sebastian, who towards the end of the play is mistaken for Cesario. This represents reality for the audience, because they know the mistaken identities are all intentional disguises, while the characters are ignorant to the real identities.
The Six Characters in Search of an Author performance starts with actors imitating actors, imitating characters in a rehearsal. “We’re here in search of an author. An author? What author? Any author sir. There’s no author here at all. It’ not a new play we’re rehearsing. Then so much the better, sir! We can be your new play! Did you hear that? Certainly, but if the author’s not here…Unless you’d like to be the author?” (95-103) The unconventional approach to the play prepares the audience for further disbelief when fictional characters walk on the set and claim they are real. The audience is certain that this is all a part of the play and the characters are also actors who are playing characters. Pirandello develops a deliberate imitation of actors imitating actor, imitating characters. It is important to understand that this is not a case of mistaken identity, rather, a different approach of dramatizing the play. On one hand, this imitation is an illusion for the audience, as they do not have previous knowledge of this play resembling a rehearsal, while on the other, it can also represent reality in that the audience expected characters developed through pen and paper to come to life through human actors on stage.
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Comparable to Pirandello’s presentation of characters imitated by actors, Shakespeare, in the Twelfth Night, presents characters imitated by fellow characters. Further, Pirandello has an unconventional approach to his play, while, Shakespeare continues with his conventional approach of mistaken identity. ” What relish is in this? How runs the stream?/ Or I am mad, or else this is a dream./ Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep./ If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep.” (IV.I.59-62) Sebastian is questioning is his own identity when confronted by Olivia. Within minutes of interacting with Olivia, Sebastian’s identity is ambiguous and his future seems to be evolving with the same uncertainty. The error of mistaking Sebastian for Cesario by other characters in the play is purely accidental on the part of the characters. In addition, Sebastian redefining his own identity is also accidental, since he does not know that the confusion from those around him is a consequence of Viola’s action. It is no illusion, however, to the audience since they hold knowledge from Act I Scene II of Viola’s role reversal.
In both, Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author and Shakespeare in the Twelfth Night, the characters are represented as fragmented and disconnected beings. The characters are fragmented in Pirandello’s play because they are the result of an author’s creation who was responsible for bringing them to life. However, the author did not develop the characters further and thus, the characters are entangled in an imagination with no end. They are the result of an author’s vision and imagination; however, they are an incomplete work of art. However, the characters in Shakespeare’s play are also fragmented but in an alternative way. Through his use of disguises and role reversal, the characters in the Twelfth Night are disconnected internally within themselves, as some cannot express their love appropriately while others keep themselves from being happy due to death. The disconnectedness also affects characters externally with other characters, as for some the class system effects relationships while for others mockery leads to grudges. Characters from both plays are challenged by the idea of identity and the concept of reality and illusion.
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