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California Sta.te University, Northridge
A DRAMATURGICAL APPROACH TO LUIGI PIRANDELLO'S
THF. VISE
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
Theatre Arts
by
Marlene D. Abramson
May 1987 C2 Lifornin :"t['.te Uni versi t;{, northr ide;e
ii Dedic a ted to
Sally Abramson,
Robert Abramson
and
Elden Griswold
iii Table of Contents
Dedication iii
Abstract • • • v
Preface 1
Research Approach 1
Pirandello's Precepts, A Brief Overview 1
Thesis Description 2
Chapter
1 Pirandello's Life and Reflections of His Life in The Vise ..•..•.. 4
2 Pirandello' s Views on Dramatic Form . 20
Concept of Humor 26
Application to The Vise • 30
3 Hypothetical Production Concept of The Vise . . . . ••... 39
Production Concept .. 42
Approach to Acting/Directing . 45
Conclusion • 50
Bibliography . 53
iv ABSTRACT
A DRAMATURGICAL APPROACH TO LUIGI PIRANDELLO'S
THE VISE
by
Marlene D. Abramson
Master of Arts in Theatre Arts
I propose to develop a dramaturgical concept of
Pirandello's one-act play, The Vise. The scope of this paper includes the survey of his personal experiences and philosophical precepts, how they affect his art in general and a dramaturgy for The Vise, in particular. Pirandello viewed life in a manner which was reflected in his work.
In addition there will be a hypothetical production concept of The Vise.
v {.l '
Preface
Pirandello was concerned with the human condition. He questioned a one-dimensional life of the human being
and realized that people have many facets that they act
on throughout their life; thus, behavior is based on what
can best suit the individual for a particular objective.
Later, I refer to this concept as "trials of behavior."
Also, Pirandello believed that the human being is multi
faceted and functions on different levels of reality.
For example, Pirandello's wife, who had a paranoid
disorder, constantly accused Pirandello of seeing other women. She created her own reality, contrary to her
husband's experience. This is where Pirandello's ideas
can be formulated into one approach to his art. If people are multi-faceted, each person functions in a different
reality. Each person shares common denominators such as
being trapped within the human form, but we all have
different and multi-faceted personalities. In addition, Pirandello believed that a person's passion and intellect
are in conflict. When passion is a predominate emotion,
1 2
governing the intellect, the person may have trouble with a situation with which he or she must deal. When this process occurs in one of Pirandello's plays, each of his characters has a different perception of the situation.
This idea is prevalent in The Vise.
Pirandello, it seems, had a methodical approach to his plays, and his structural patterns were labeled Life vs. Form, by Adriano Tilgher, a major contemporary critic.
This is ironic, for Pirandello denied that he approached a plot with a contrived idea or an Aristolian applica tion. Pirandello's concentration was on the situation, and the characters could freely exist in another state of circumstances. The structural patterns and philosophical concepts such as the multi-faceted human being, and the theatricality of life, seen both in Henry IV and Six
Characters in Search of an Author, (his two major successes), are evident early in The Vise, his first drama tic effort.
Chapter one examines Pirandello's past experiences by means of his biography. It also studies Pirandello's political beliefs and how they are part of his philosophy of art. In addition, the first chapter focuses on his main concerns. Chapter two explains why Pirandello was interested in perception, reality and truth. Also men tioned is Pirandello's concept of humor, which is a key element in his work. Next is his dramatic theory which explores the s true ture of his play, particularly Th_~'{_Ls~. 3
Chapter three approaches Pirandello's theories on acting and directing. Chapter three also contains the production concept of The Vise. CHAPTER 1
Pirandello's Life and Reflections of
his Life in The Vise
Luigi Pirandello was born to Stefano Pirandello and
Caterina Ricci Gramitto, in Grigenti, Sicily in 1867.
Pirandello had two younger brothers 1 two younger sisters and one elder sister. Pirandello's father was a well-off miner. It was his father's success that gave Pirandello the opportunity to study and work where his interest in literature could be explored.
Pirandello attended the University of Bonn, Germany.
While in his early twenties, he wrote a dissertation in
German about his native Sicilian dialect. During this period, Pirandello read the works of poets such as Tasso's dialogues, Benvenito, and others. Before his decision to become a writer, Pirandello had the chance to become a lawyer and decided against the idea. While in Rome, he focused solely on literature. He worked in journalism and business, before he began writing short stories. In 1897, he accepted a position as Professor of Italian
Literature at the Roman Normal College for Homen. Pi ran della's father arranged Pirandello's marriage to the daughter of his business associate. After the birth of two sons and a daughter to Pirandcllo, trouble struck the
4 5
family as a mining disaster bankrupt Pirandello•s father
and partner. Prior to the tragedy, Pirandello had many opportunities open to him to write, as finances were stable. However, he was then forced to take a position as a professor which he detested. His wife became men tally ill (after miscarriages), which caused her to persecute Pirandello with delusions of jealousy. This created bitterness and misery in Pirandello•s life.
Thomas Bishop notes that Pirandello 1 s "misery was reflected in his writings with a pessimistic aura."l
Pirandello was influenced by his wife•s perception of reality that did not exist. His wife•s illness contributed to Pirandello•s own introspection and his interest in the human soul. She had inspired him, and had forced him, "by continual onslaught, to enclose himself still more in himself."2 Prior to Pirandello•s wife being institutionalized, he observed her living in her reality. Perhaps he saw her illness as just another way of living, one which had multiple levels of reality, which did rtot necessarily correspond with the reality experienced by others. As it is stated earlier, the perception of reality must be questioned as it is par tially self-evident truth.
During his last years, Pirandello struggled against the cinema and supported the theatre. A year before
Pirandello died, he wrote: "It is enough for me to know in my heart . . that I have been a pure instrument in 6
the hands of someone above me and above everybody. The rest is of no importance."3 Before Pirandello's death in
1936, he had been recognized by Mussolini for he identi- fied with his politics, and had many literary successes in both short novels, short stories and plays. Pirandellc became ill with heart pains and deterioration in general.
One of Pirandello's large concerns was his interest in politics, and he met with Mussolini in 1923. Piran- dello insisted on keeping his politics separate from his art form, but did not succeed. Pirandello was disgusted with pre-meditated reasoning as a beginning to art forms.
Pirandello's philosophy of art could also be found in his political views as fascist: "He was fascinated by the repeated declarations of Mussolini who claimed the doc- trine of the fascist was action and preconceived organic ideology was to be rejected."4 This ideology is also an expression of Pirandello's philosophy of art. Pirandello wrote a tribute to the Italian dictator:
Mussolini can receive only blessings from somebody who has always felt the imminent tragedy of life which . . requires a form, but senses death in every form it assumes. For, since life is subject to continual change and motion it feels itself imprisoned by form: it rages and storms and finally escapes from it. Mussolini has shown that he is aware of this double and tragic law of movement and form and hopes to conciliate the two. Form must not be in vain and empty idol. It must receive life, pulsating and grieving. So that it should be forever recreated .•• 5 7
Pirandello paid tribute to Mussolini. He related
to Mussolini's ideology in the same manner as he views his own art:
I have always had the greatest admiration for Mussolini and I think I am one of the few people capable of understanding the beauty of his con tinuous creation of reality: a stationary and fascist reality which does not submit itself to any one else's reality. Mussolini is one of the few people who knows that reality exists in man's power to create it, and that one created it only through the activity of the mind.6
Pirandello said that he kept politics separate from his art; however, it seems that Pirandello's philosophies of art parallel Mussolini's concepts of politics.
Pirandello had a difficult home life as an adult. Some of his ideas, which may have been developed in adulthood, can be traced in his plays and can be noted in the essay,
"Life Versus Form." When Pirandello speaks of the trag- edy of life, he is identifying with the pessimism in his own life and man's fate, death, which is inevitable.
When he speaks of life as being volatile--he is talking about man's trial of behaviors and multi-faceted aspects of the personality which human beings endure. Passion surfaces and there is a struggle for it to be unleashed in spite of the intellect, or in spite of the trap of the human form. Finally, Pirandello speaks of form receiving life as if to say that the form is born first and then it is endowed with life. 8 p •
Summary of The Vise
The Vise, which was Pirandello's first play (1898),
was originally produced in Rome in 1910. The play con
cerns a conflict regarding an affair between the wife,
Guilia, and her husband Andrea's business associate,
Antonio. Guilia and Antonio experience guilt over their
affair because they fear that they are suspected by
Andrea. Andrea slowly reveals that he knows about the
affair, by telling a story about a man they know who was
beaten by his wife's lover. Pirandello employs a mir
roring technique when Andrea tells his wife the story, while Andrea is in fact reflecting upon his own life.
Guilia pleads with Andrea to kill her, but Andrea re
sponds indifferently. Guilia goes into the bedroom and
a gunshot is heard. As the gunshot is heard and the men argue as to who is responsible, the question remains about whether Guilia's death was suicide, or murder.
Torn Dtiver, in The History of the Modern Theatre:
Romantic Quest and Query, notes one of the elements such as reflecting, to be found in the typical Pirandello play: "The theatrical is man's fate. He is condemned to it by consciousness."? In Pirandello's critical essay,
'Spoken Action,' he called this "The act of living."O
This writer believes that the intellect controls the mind, and refers to it as the conscious mind. When the conscious mind is not active, the unconscious mind takes over in order to solve problems. When the unconscious is 9
at work it can yield to the emotional, rather than the
intellectual facultie~. In the Pirandello play, the
situation is more important than the plot. According to
Pirandcllo, the situation is "the representation of the
passion of human experience, the pathos of existence."9
This is very apparent in :rhe '{_~_?e. The relationship
among the throe characters in the play will become tur- bulent and end in a passionate crime of murder or sui- cide--depending on how one may perceive the action and situation.
It is the circumstances in The Vise in which the' characters reflect upon using the conscious mind. The issue is the conscious mind versus the passionate emotion, or duty versus will, and the situation becomes a process of management for the character; the characters are conscious of their circumstances and they are forced to deal with it as prisoners of their consciousness.
Pirandello addresses the consciousness as separate from the self, but believes that there are four "souls" causing conflict: instinctive, moral, emotional and social. Any one of these may be dominant at a given time, and may thus give rise to a spurious interpretation of ourselves--of our inner being that we know nothing of, because it never reveals itself in its entirety, but sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, as life's events unfold.10
This is the idea of the multi-faceted person who is unable to be seen in his/her entirety, but rather using parts of the self to work with external roles and situa- 10
tions--those are the trials of behavior which may or may
not be helpful to the individual. "The prison of con
sciousness, once it has been formed in the individual
by the necessities of social life, it is not easily
escaped."ll Pirandello observed "that in 'real life'
people tend to turn themselves into character stereotypes.
They hope in this way to ensure their respectability, but
the price they pay is self-alienation."12
Pirandello's plays functioned on multiple levels as
he had many ideas about art~ he was particularly sensitive
to the human condition, believing that personal identity
is shaped by the roles and situations with which we have
to deal, as opposed to being internal or individual. Here I disagree with Pirandello.
Pirandello did not acknowledge things inherent to
the individual, including temperament, gender and class.
It is the individual who tries to control his environment.
Man responds within a certain predicament in the attempt
to control his environment, therefore, man often traps
himself within a certain predicament and responds to it
internally and individually. Perception, which is one of
Pirandello's great concerns, also originates internally
or individually, and through the process of cognitive
functioning. These concepts are significant and permeate
his plays. Pirandello's work has a standard form seen in
the structural patterns in his plays, which suggests some premeditated reasoning, to which he is against, particu- 11
larly in tho plot. In addition, each person has his own passion, and he or she responds with this emotion for
different reasons. For example, two people would not
respond with the same intensity of passion, but rather,
the passion originates as part of an internal process,
and it is an individual expression.
Pirandello' s ~1ajor Concepts
Pirandello was concerned with the clash of multi
faceted conditions of humans and the idea of a distinct
identity. He was pre-occupied with the idea that people
wear masks in order to cope with being multi-faceted.
People try to adapt and adjust to the circumstances they
encounter by engaging in different roles. This can be
traced to infancy. Hhen an infant has a certain need, he
or she will test behavior until his or her needs are met.
This type of behavior can be compared with Darwin's theory
of Natural Selectivity, i.e., those that survive chose
the correct trial of behavior; the role that allows the
individual to survive. In The Vise, Guilia's guilt over whelmed her and she could not successfully play the three
roles of mother, lover and wife. Pirandello was also
concerned with "the impossibility of determining absolute
truth because of the layers of illusion with which man protects himself."l3
The mask is a crucial part of the construct of the
inner self: 12
A mask can be a [iction created as part of a construzionc, of which a person using it is con s-ta-n"tfY-::-1wa-re. It can also be a fiction that comes to be believed in by the individual as his true reality. A mask can also be a construct that is forced upon the person by society in order to protect itself, especially if that person's behav ior threatens to endanger the established order.l 4
Among Pirandcllo's other major concepts is the notion
that each person has to deal with intellect and passion,
which arc in conflict. This idea is present in The Vise.
It can be assumed that both Antonio and Guilia were aware
intellectually of their duties as wife and business
associate: however, it was passion which was in control
of their behavior. Their conscious, intellectual aware-
ness of their social position and reflection about the
affair created guilt. Pirandello wrote: "One of the
novelties that I have given to modern drama consists in
converting the intellect into passion."l5 According to
Walter Starkie, in the Pirandello play, "the intellect is
the fundamental cause of drama."l6 This is manifested when the characters reflect upon their circumstances and
have an awareness about "the act of living, suffering, and tormenting themselves."l7
Oliver, in Dreams of Passion, summarizes Pirandello's
interests as: "1) illusion versus reality, 2) the difficulty of establishing one truth, 3) one personality, or one vision of life, and 4) the process of perception
that is at the basis of his dramaturgy."l8 I agree with
this assessment and believe that each one of these ideas 13
can be found in The Vise. I have found that there is a
general consensus regarding the philosophical ideas in
Pirandello's plays. I have arranged them in to two
categories: 1) the human situation is the dilemma of
man being trapped in his human form; unlike insects and
other creatures, he cannot function on instinct or the
subconsci.ous in order to survive. 2) Cognitive function-
ing is how man experiences the world and his experiences
arc reduced to empirical factual knowledge; therefore,
appearance and reality become questionable.
The first category defines the human condition, and
it can be discerned that this is a univeral condition--a
universal dilemma signifying an unescapable plight. Man
chooses to adapt to this plight with trials of behavior
and with the use of the masks in order to survive. This
dilemma is inherent in every person, but every person is
uniquely multi-faceted, wearing different masks. Every
person has multiple layers of illusion, and this is uni-
versal, but each person must adhere to his/her empirical
factual knowledge. Although the dilemma is to be trapped
inside the human form, we are flexible and this is what
gives us the ability to perceive things differently from
each other. This leads to another problem; it is because we usc cognitive functioning to perceive the world that
appearance and reality become an issue.
Oliver expresses this in Dreams of Passion: "Inher- ent in Pirandello's use of theatrical concepts of 'build- 14
j~~~~~sel~-~· is the assumption that many of the 'fictions' in which men choose to clothe themselves are
theatrical illusion."l9 Of course the mirror he is using
to communicate this insight is also an illusion, with actors pretending to be people other than themselves.
People are caught in living in a web of theatricality.
The mask is a key element in Pirandello's work. The mask is a construct of one's personality. "The mask is used to create an image of a cohesive persona, disguising multiplicity. The mask is a projected person created so that a consistent image is present, one that is effic!ent or safe to expose at that time."20 Guilia wears a mask of lover when she is with Antonio. This mask allows her to deal in the circumstances of romance, intrigue and desire. When discussing the mirror and mask, Roger Oliver focuses on an integral part of Pirandello's dramaturgy:
By structuring the characters' relationship with each other through those devices, Pirandello attempts to present his audience with a vision of itself that will generate awareness of the presence of these 'theatrical' devices in non-theatrical circumstances; that is, in every day life.21
Pirandello felt that art is life, and the phrase "non- theatrical circumstances," I believe, is used to mean life itself.
According to Pirandello: "Art is life, not a reason- ing process."22 The layers of illusion become the layers of reality to the person wearing the mask. There are various levels of existence; the actor who is a person 15
creates a character who creates or "builds oneself up"
to the mask that he must wear. The mask is an object
reflecting reality and that reality becomes life.
Andrea wears a mask projecting the persona of husband.
When Guilia's affair interferes with Andrea's persona,
his reality is disturbed. Pirandello was interested in human behavior and
perceptions of truth. According to Pirandello's 'Spoken
Action,' he liked to look into the inner self:
Any fDsition of relativism, based on the suggestion that an individual personality is multi-faceted and everchanging, is then presented, not as an abstract generalization, but as a perception into human nature dramatized for an audience through characters. 2 3
Pirandello was impressed with the critical essay of
Tilgher. His essay contains Pirandello's concepts: the masks, multi-faceted personality, and the abberation of the truth. Tilgher discusses Pirandello's concept of the "life form":
The ideas has no value in art until it acquires feeling, until in entire ~ossession of the spirit, it becomes strong enough to arouse the images capable of endowing it with a living expression. Art is short, is life, not a reasoning process.24
Pirandello meant to display life and look into human behavior rather than concentrate on form. Tilgher's
'Life Versus Form' addresses Pirandello's concerns:
First, there is a definition of nature, which alienates man from other creatures~ the primary message is that man feels himself live and he cannot escape this 16
theatricality, while nature does not feel oneself live.
Another concept is what is terms by Tilgher as the "flux" which means continuing life and while life is a form that continues onward and the life that know form and limits, and all living things are condemned to death.
Tilgher speculates about life as if it were energy, and it is separate from "fixed form" (i.e., tradition, convention, etc.).
Pirandcllo and Tilghcr shared mutual admiration for each other, and Pirandello agreed with Tilgher's concepts of Pirandello's art. Tilgher sees antithesis as the key concept into Pirandello's art. Another concept in the essay is the "Dualism of life and form."25 Life finds a way into a form and confines itself to that form. This concept reflects human nature and trials of behavior or consciousness, which Tilgher comments upon: "the essence of drama lying in the struggle between life's primal nakedness and the garments or masks with which men must by all means insists on clothing it."26 Tilgher also raises the thought of living life, and believes this to be impossible. He considers controlling the construc tions, and advocates participating in the forms but not becoming a mold in any one form. I believe that Tilgher has insight into the essence of Pirandello's work and that in "Life versus Form" has expressed the concepts of
Pirandello' s art. Tilgher has touched on the dichotomy of a "life-form system" where the dialectic, the anti- 17
thesis, illusion, feeling oneself live, theatricality, masks, and trials of behavior exist throughout Piran dcllo's work. Next, these concepts will be discussed in relationship to dramatic theory. 18
Endnotes - Chapter 1
lThomas Bishop, Pirandello and the French Theatre (New York: New York Univers1ty Press, 1964), p. 3.
2Gasparc Guidice, Pirandello: A Biography (New Jersey: Oxford Univers1ty Press, 1975), p. 101.
3Guidice, P• 102. 4Guidice, p. 101.
5Guidice, p. 101.
6Guidice, P· 101. 7Tom Driver, The History of the Modern Theatre: Modern Quest and Query (New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1970), p. 392.
BDriver, p. 392.
9Driver, p. 394.
10Driver, p. 394.
11Driver, p. 403.
12Driver, p. 407.
13susan McQuire, Luigi Pirande1lo (New York: Grove Press, 1983), p. 72.
14 ~kQu1re,. p. 73 .
15walter Starkle, Luigi Pirandello 1867-1936. (Cal- ifornia: University of California Press, 1965, p. 33.
16starkie, p. 33.
17 stark ie, p. 3 3.
18Roger Oliver, Dreams of Passion (New York: New York University Press, 1979), p. 20.
19oliver, p. 17.
2 Oo 1 i v e r, p. 12. 19
2lolivcr, pp. 12-13.
22 0.1ver,] . p. 5.
23 0.1ver,1' P· 5. 24Eric Bentley, The Genius of the Italian Theatre (New York: New American-Llbrary, 1964), p. 145.
25starkie, p. 23.
26 Star k'.1e, p. 2 3. CHAPTER 2
Pirandello's Views on Dramatic Form
Oscar Budel observes: "Relativism is indeed the
basic, fundamental category which informs all other
dimensions of Pirandello's work."1 "Relativism" is the
equivalent of "perception" in Pirandello's work. In the human race perception requires a process known as empir
ical knowledge and cognition. The metaphysical is also
involved. Essentially these three processes can be
considered as self-evident truths. Empirical knowledge
is an intellectual process which doesn't employ a scien
tific system. Cognition involves perceptions or ideas,
which are gained by an intellectual process. The meta~
physical involves perception of outside circumstances (as opposed to inner life) and the perception only relates to the extent of the problem and its outside circumstances.
Pirandello's work has been described generally as feeling
and reflecting; in the case of the metaphysical, one
reflects upon the manifestations of reality, perceives
and feels. With these processes everyone functions on
self-evident truths. In Pirandello, Budel relates Nietzche's concept:
"that what we called the truth was nothing but illusions and fictions that made human life possible."2 Pirandello
20 21
addresses this statement throughout this work. It is the
"illusions" and "fictions" what may be termed "masks" and
"trials of behavior." Self-evident truths (hereafter,
truths will be referred to as perceptions) are the truths
of masks and all views arc equal, which causes the
relativity of truth to become an issue. Because of the
individual perceptions there can be an abberation of the
truth, and the concept of reality versus appearance
becomes a concern.
The relativity of truth is illustrated in The Vise.
One wonders who is at fault for the death of Guilia. All
three characters played a part in Guilia's death, and
they share responsibility equally. Andrea helped to
escalate Guilia's guilt. Antonio was the wedge between
husband and wife. All perceptions of the characters are
tempered by disillusionment. Andrea was disillusioned over their romance when he first suspected his wife and
Antonio were having an affair. The relationship between
Guilia and Antonio failed as they were caught in a social and moral wrong. The characters were forced to play multiple roles and this too contributed to their d isi llus ionmen t.
According to Antonio Illiano, in Pirandello: On
Humor, "the human soul is troubled, volatile, multiple, and cannot be lessened to one dimension."3 It is this fact that causes the plight of humans, and the characters were obviously going to fail with their relationships. 22 p •
! !10 charac tors did not use reason in order to justify or
solve the problem, but rather, acted out of passion.
Andrea supplied the impetus to Guilia which caused her to
kill herself.
Budel believes, "that human reason is active in
playing the role in developing illusions and fiction."4
This is similar to saying that the illusions arc created
out of the conscious mind, which is what Pirandello
himself contends. Budel observes Pirandello "unmasking
and destroying these illusions."5 According to Budel,
one character experiences a realization of the "Absolute
relativity of his beliefs."6
In The Vise, Andrea realizes that his wife is not only a lover to him, but she is also a lover to his
business associate. It is not evident in the script as
to how this is discovered. Apparently, before he received
information, he believed that he was under the illusion
that he was the only one in her life. If he did not find out the truth he would have carried on the illusion. It can be said that Pirandello set out to unmask the illu sions. In The Vise, Pirandello explored the circumstances and conditions of the characters by trying to get to the
truth. They were trapped in mul tiplc layers of reality.
Budel observes: "Their relentless search for the
truth of their proper identity harrasses the characters.
The suspicion of making uncomfortable discoveries lurks behind every thought."7 This idea is evident in The 23 Q '
Vise. Both Antonio and Guilia did not easily accept the fact that they were lovers and they were very concerned with being exposed by Andrea. When the husband discovers the truth he uses a story about another couple experien cing disloyalty. When he tells tho story to Guilia, he is reflecting upon their own reality, thereby, breaking the illusions that they have about their identities. The mirroring effect occurs when Andrea tells a story of what is happening in his own life, and attaches the event to another couple. Guilia hears of the events in her own life, while it is reflected to her by the circumstances of another couple. This mirroring effect adds another layer of reality to the play, and the truth is "unmasked." There is another dimension in the Pirandello plays, in which the audience becomes part of the process. They project a persona onto the characters, and the audience becomes part of the mask. In Pirandello Theatre: The
Recovery, Ann Paolucci notes the elements in Pirandello's plays w~th which the audience has to confront: "shifting relationships, juxtapos~tion of roles, and masks."B
Six Characters in Search of an Author contains some of the same elements found in The Vise, and that Tilgher once defined. The audience becomes involved in the process of theatre; in this case, the "actors" become the
"characters." The play demands that the characters have multiple roles: there is the audience, the "actors," and the characters. The "actors" who become the audience 24
also have the roles of leading lady, leading man, and twelve others with theatrical positions as their names.
The Father's comment on life-forms supports
Pirandello' s concern: "One is born to life in many forms, in many shapes, as tree or as stone, as water, as butterfly, or as woman."9 In this play, Pirandello had the "characters" alive and independent: "The author who created us alive no longer wished, or was no longer able, materially to put us into a work of art."lO The most significant element of Pirandello's plays are the char- ac ters, and the Father proclaims: "The drama is in us, and we are the drama."ll
In the same speech is another of Pirandello's interests: "Passion drives us on to this."12 This idea is present in The Vise, as it is passion which drives the characters to ruin. Another important concept is the different ways in which people perceive things and this is made clear by the Father's speech:
Each one of us has within him a whole world of things, each one of us his own special world, and how can we ever come to an understanding if I put in the words I utter the sense and values of things as I see them: while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand people, but never really do.l3 The question of perception is an important issue in The
Vise~ one wonders who is responsible for Guilia's death. Pirandello has the Father discuss multi-faceted consciences and the trouble one has because we do not 25
have one personality, and because of this dilemma we should not be judged for one action. Six Characters in Search of an Author contains Pirandello's artistic and philosophical beliefs, which are also found in The
Vise. Andrea becomes a vicious, jealous husband and he lures Guilia into her death. The plot is set so that all the characters can be considered correct or incorrect in their views as to who killed Guilia. The ways in which people perceive the truth or what they believe to be the truth differs among individuals. The truth is relative to one's perceptions and the audience's resulting feel ings are based on metaphysics and the cognitive--the metaphysical relating only to external nature and exten ding to the real only as far as that problem is related to the reflective and cognitive. "Pirandello destroys the opposition between the 'reality' of life and the
'illusion' of the stage, each becomes, in turn, the image and the reflection of the other in a continuous spiral~ng toward identity."l4
Life being a continuous "flux" of constant moving energy, the relativity of truth must be as volatile as life itself, and this becomes a prime issue in Piran dello's work. At one time in their lives, the couple in The Vis~, must have been happy together. They had decent living conditione and children whom they loved.
However, at some later period in time there was a change. Life took on a new form for the married couple. 26
Obviously, what was once the truth no longer applied and there became a new truth that was relevant. The charac- ters as well as the audience·relates to the external nature of the situation and its manifestations. The audience and the characters rely on experiences which can be reduced to empirical factual knowledge. This is the metaphysical aspect in the Pirandello play.
One of Pirandello's most significant philosophies is the nature of identity; he sought interest in the inner core of the human soul and Paolucci states this reality as:
We zigzag to the center of being and move through paradoxes into what is not organic but is fragmented moments of existence. The Pirandellian dialectic is not a simple opposition leading to statement but a kaleidoscopic suggestion of purpose and consistency. The Pirandellian protagonist is a stratification of attitudes, emotions, states of being, often contradictory intentions, not a consistent whole. Between his appearance on stage and his retreat from it, he himself, becomes his fellow protagonist on stage, and most important--the activated audience must all unlearn what was taken for granted and trace the internal pattern in that external frag mented mosaic.l5
It is impossible to red~ce an identity to singular form.
The complex and multi-faceted characters become part of
the matters of relativism of truth by providing different ways of perceiving a situation.
Concept of Humor
Pirandello's "L'urmorismo" is an essay about the concept of humor which is a key element to his work. 27
This is best explained by Roger Oliver who notes as an often quoted passage of Pirandello's:
I see an old woman, with her hair dyed, greasy all over with who knows what kind of horrible concoxtion, awkwardly made up with rouge and dressed in youthful clothes. I begin to laugh. I become aware that this old woman is the opposite of what a respectable old woman should be. I can thus, after this superficial encounter, stop myself at this comic impression. The comic is exactly this, an awareness of the opposite. But now, if reflection intervenes and suggests to me that this old woman probably does not experience any pleasure in dressing up this way, like a parrot, but that perhaps she suffers and does this only because she is pitifully deceiving herself that, dressed as she is, hiding her wrinkles and white hairs, she will succeed in keeping the love of a husband much younger than herself, then after realizing this I am no longer able to laugh, as I did before, because this reflection has worked on me and made me look more deeply within myself. From the first awareness of the opposite I have made myself pass to this sentiment of feeling of the opposite.l6
The viewer has perceived the old woman in two very different ways. The viewer becomes aware of the picture visually, and on an intellectual level, this causes laughter. Secondly, the laughter ceases as thought and feeling.are combined. The picture becomes more profound as the viewer begins to'look beyond the first impression, and becomes sad about a woman who is trying to hide her age. The viewer's perception has changed and the picture of the old woman is. no longer humorous, but rather, serious. The audience does not know beyond that which is shown on stage and the perceiver often supplies the details, during reflection, as in the story with the old woman. She has created an illusion with the use of make- 28
up and costume. She is a character and she is an act ress. However, the observer becomes aware of her as an actress because of the poor make-up job and she is laughed at. She has not intended to provoke the laugh ter, and felt that the make-up and costume were appro priate for the part. The audience perceives the make-up and attire as exaggerated and becomes aware of this grotesque display. This is the observer's perception regardless of the old woman's intentions. Obviously, The
Vis~, has the most significant issue of perception as one element of Pirandello's drama, and this issue is also crucial to the concept of humor. In the old woman's example of humor, the observer's perception remains, re gardless of the old woman's intentions. Oliver explains the method of Pirandello's "L'umorismo": "The complexity of ability to extend beyond one kind of perception to another perception, reality and appearance, are also part of his concept of humor."l7 Oliver explains humor as
"feelin9 or sentiment of an opposite, and involves a comparison of two persohal reactions."l8 According to
Oliver, the audience is confident that the playwright meant an action or character to be humorous, and the perceivers break through the comic surface to the pain that may be beneath the surface. When the pain is touched, a compassionate response occurs. Oliver further observes: "Since the feeling of the second response is built on the previous comic awareness of incongruity, 29 ..
that comic remains important, not only as the catalyst of Umorismo, but as an integral part of it."l9 The humorous foundation is appearance and more pro
found realities. As in the play's motifs there is the question of the abberation of truth, i.e., appearance versus reality and self-evident truth. In the concept of humor there is also self-evident truth in which the ob server perceives first from intellect, then from thought and feeling combined. These are the two personal reac
tions, and obviously the third party included in the
dramatic technique (the audience) also perceives the play with these personal reactions.
The Vise can be analyzed according to this concept of humor. The first idea is that the "comic is based on the awareness of an opposite.n20 In the beginning of the play, Antonio and Guilia were afraid that Andrea has
found out about the affair. There is no evidence of this
in the beginning. The scene builds as Guilia and Antonio
carry on almost into hysterics. There are no motivations
or history about why they were carrying on with this rela tionship. The awareness of the opposite is the absence
of the husband at this time. Next, there is a "feeling
of sentiment of an opposite.n21 From the incongruous scene between Guilia and Antonio, a comic response is expected, but reflecting more profoundly, there is pain when feelings of sentiment surface, initial comic response still remains, and the observer experiences compassion. 30 0 •
Pirandello's Dramatic Theory and Its ~pplication to The Vise In consideration of the title of Chapter 2, I have decided to use a format in comparing Pirandello's dramatic form to that of the more traditional form of
Aristotle. This is done in order to show how Pirandello at times follows such a form, even though he denies he uses any such form.
In Poetics, Aristotle describes the conventional elements of a play. By examining Pirandello's own theory given to his essay and Aristotle's conventional drama, it can be seen how Pirandello conforms and deviates in relation to Poetics.
Aristotle has stated that "The structure of events, the plot is the goal of tragedy, and the goal is the greatest thing of all."22 In his critical essay "Spoken
Action," Pirandello disagrees:
Shakespeare, it is true, drew the plots of some of his plays from Italian novella, but what playwright has more consistently translated plot into action without sacrificing anything to those foolish technical requirements that can only control a work's surface?23 ·
Pirandello gives his characters priority over plot: "Characters should detach themselves alive and indepen dent, from the written pages of a play."24 Aristotle further states that "tragedy is an imitation not of men but of life, an action,· and they have moral quality in accordance with their characters but are happy or unhappy in accordance with their actions."25 31
In The Vise, there is moral judgment in accordance with Aristotle's beliefs. Antonio and Guilia behave as
though they do not want their relationship to be dis
covered. This behavior apears to exist because of the moral beliefs of the characters. Also, The Vise is not
an imitation of either life or men, but The Vise becomes
life when it is presented. It is part of reality that
the characters and audience experience.
The characters in The Vise are in accordance with Aristotle's beliefs of the tragedy--they are unhappy with
their actions. When they are forced to face their actions, all of the characters experience guilt. In The
Vise, Pirandello does not have the plot coincide with
Aristotle's belief; the characters hold the power of the
play and the plot is secondary.
However, The Vise yields to Aristotle's description
of comedy: 11 Comedy is as we said it was, an imitation of persons who are inferior; not however, going all the way
to vill~iny, but imitating the ugly of which the ludi crous is one part.n26 1he characters do have some
villain in them as each character has verbally attacked the other, with the discussion of Guilia and Antonio over their affair, and with Andrea's story of the other couple (mirroring the married couple's life).
The play does contain ugliness and the ludicrous;
therefore, it may produce some comedic effects. The Vise does not entirely fit into the tragic or comedic 32 categories of Aristotle's system, but it does have the elements of structure noted by Aristotle. This is
important as Pirandello professes that he does not have a systematic way of writing the plot and is against contrivance in his work.
The Vise possesses elements of Aristotle's tragedy. 1) Plot--the plot is direct and uncomplicated, but nevertheless it tells a story of characters which are in a predicament. 2) Character--the characters are most important to The Vise, and could not exist outside of the plot. 3) Thought--the characters relate to one another and express their feelings. 4) Diction--this may be a directorial choice, but the play is written in a contem porary manner and it would call for the characters to speak in an "every day manner." Music and spectacle for
this contemporary production will be discussed under my hypothetical production concept.
In Pirandello's essay he discussed his methods for
the dra~atic style. Pirandello believed that the char acter's importance dominated the plot. The characters speak the dialogue--dialogue that is as Pirandello terms it "Spoken Action." Pirandello did not care for the narrative and the subject matter of novels and short stories as dramatic works. According to Pirandello,
the narrative did not belong on the stage. The charac ter's strength allows him/her to live beyond the script. The characters are adaptable to the script, but the 33
"narrative and descriptive props should be banished from the stage. "27
Pirandello replaces the narrative with "Spoken
Action"; he refers to characters that are lively enough to escape the plot and live onward as illustrated in the following •
Now this artistic miracle can only occur if the playwright finds words that are spoken action, living words that move, immediate expressions inseparable from action, unique phrases that cannot be changed to any other and belong to a definite character in a definite situation: in short, words, expressions, phrases impossible to invent but born when the author has identified himself with his creature to the point of seeing it only as it sees itself.28
The Vise conforms to this type of dialogue. The beginning segment between Antonio and Guilia exemplify the belief of spoken action. Antonio and Guilia mani- fest nervousness, as they are worried about being dis- covered by Andrea. During their dialogue they connect emotionally and detach from each other -v1hile their feelings are in turmoil. This dialogue occurs directly from the immediate position of the two characters. The action fits the characters and their multiple roles, and the words denote movement and actions which occur because of their guilt--all three of the main characters attach and detach, connect and disconnect.
Pirandello feels that playwrights who follow the classical tradition of Aristotle have their faults. 34
Today's playwright, if he has or thinks he has an original observation on some feeling or event, believes that a play can be drawn from it. For him a play is built like a logical chain of reasoning, to a few skillfully selected frills can be applied. Once the situation is established, he turns to the characters and looks for those most suited to i 11us tr a te i t. 2 9
Pirandello is opposed to this process.
Proportionally, the playwright considers stock characters and distributes the dialogue to the number of characters in the play. Pirandello feels that play- wrights of his day put together a contrived piece of work, creating a play from something his contemporaries might have seen, and then developing the dialogue which suits the characters of the time. The dialogue is pressed out to suit the plot. Pirandello feels that this approach is superficial. He also feels that art ceases to exist when the playwright presses it out of a mold.
Pirandello's approach is as follows:
So first of all one must have people--free, living, active people. With them and through them the idea of· the play will be born, its shape and destiny enclosed in this first seed; in every seed there already quivers a living bed, the oak and all its branches already exist in an acorn.30
It is the characters which endow the new-born play with life.
Pirandello raises the question of the playwright's distance from the play. It is difficult to leave out of the play the playwright's own personality and personal expression; the personality can be found in the methods 35
used to create the play. During the action, the dialogue will be executed by the different characters, not the playwright. The plays that appear to be written by more
than one playwright because the individual characters are
different from one another, are called "living plays, not written ones,"31 by Pirandello. When we recall that
Pirandello believes that the work must be endowed by living expression, and that the piece flourishes with this expression, we truly see his art. He wants the
theatre to be rid of a narrative literary style and subject matter of short stories or novels. He wants "plays for acting not for reading."32
Pirandello finds fault with the methods that some
playwrights use to design a play:
The basic fabric they use to patch together their dialogue is the slovenly conversational style of French boulevard theatre; for past glitter they sew on jokes overheard at parties or on the street, while some law-court rhetoric provides a bit of crumpled lace.33
These playwrights adhere to a Scribean form of writing,
and Pirandello is adverse to this contrived method of
writing. The characters must be free and independent, rather
than identical and from the same mold. The actions and
ideas of each character are the expressions of a "human personality."34 "The characters have obstacles without their freedom and must be able to reach beyond the
playwright's intention and style which they have been so 36 p • often hampered."35 Pirandello offers the solution, "and since characters with all their complexity must, after all, be connected to a plot, it is important that they possess essential features which will always stand out, and which drive them to specific actions."36 Pirandello believes that our actions are a result of our entire personality. Pirandello assesses the situation:
The greatest difficulty an author has to overcome is fusing the subjective individuality of a character with his function in the plot or finding the word which expresses the whole of a charactet•s being while answering the needs of an immediate stage situation. 3 7 37
Endnotes - Chapter 2
loscar Budel, Luigi Pirandello (London: Bowes and Bowes, 1969), p. 35.
2 Bude 1 1 p • 3 5 • 3Antonio Lilliano, Pirandello: On Humor (North Carolina: University of Carolina Press, 1974) 1 p. 11.
4 Bude 1, p. 3 6 •
5Budel, p. 37.
6Budel, p. 37.
7Budel, p. 37.
8Ann Paolucci, Pirandello's Theatre: The Recovery of the Modern Stage for Dramatic Art (London: Peffer and Simons, Inc., 1974), p. 103.
9Luigi Pirandello, Naked Masks, Eric Bentley, ed. (New York: E. F. Dutton & Co., 1922/52), p. 217.
10pirandel1o, p. 218.
1lpirandello, p. 219.
12pirandello, p. 219.
13p~randel1o, p. 224.
14pao1ucci, p. 103. 15paolucci, p. 104.
16oliver, P• 2. 17oliver, p. 3.
18oliver, P• 3.
19oliver 1 P• 4.
20c.n :iV!'il't', tl• 3" 2loliver, p. 3. 38
22Aristotle, Poetics, Gerald Else, trans. (Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 1967/76), pp. 26-27. 23Luigi Pirandello, "Spoken Action," Theory of the Modern Stage, Fabrizio Melano, trans. (Fabrizio Melano, 1968), p. 153. 24pirandello, "Spoken Action."
25Else, pp. 26-27.
26Else, p. 24.
27E1se, p. 154. 28E1se, P· 154. 29Else, p. 154.
30Else, P· 155. 31E1se, P· 155. 32E1se, p. 156.
33E1se, p. 156. 34Else, P• 156. 35E1se, P· 156. 36Else, p. 156.
37E1se, P· 157. CHAPTER 3
Hypothetical Production Concept of the Vise
The plot of The Vise is contained within itself; there are no theatrical devices (which Pirandello detested) and there are no outside complications.
The first part of the plot is simple and self contained. Antonio projects guilt, as he wondered about a double meaning in Andrea's words. Antonio had to remind himself that it was his own fear. Here the characters connect through feelings and events. There is a connection with the idea of the affair; actually we find out that all of the characters suffer from guilt. Antonio is afraid that his business associate will find out about the affair.
Based on Pirandello's "Spoken Action," there are four methods to be found: 1) the characters' intellect have converted to passion, 2) the characters think about the events in their lives, 3) the characters are trapped in the form of their bodies, and must deal in the "trials of behavior", 4) the dialogue is spoken action related to the immediacy of the state of the triangle of "lovers."
I do want to note that the universal dilemma is the experiences of the three characters, and that the freedom
39 40
of the characters is hampered by their own actions. At one time Pirandello says that the characters must live independently from the script, and keep living and en dowing the art with life. Pirandello also advocated that the characters must have distinctively different person alities, but not those of the author. The main charac ters in The Vise all experience the same thing. They have been caught in the universal dilemma, but as free agents they ironically all respond the same--intellect versus passion, multiple roles, aware and reflecting upon the circumstances in a theatrical manner. So it must be true that although the characters are in this position, they are uniformly trapped inside the human form, and perceive within their inherent limits.
As the play continues, Antonio and Guilia are con sumed with guilt, while they exchange about both hatred and love. Guilia is convinced that what they did is mad ness. It is interesting that Guilia has turned against her mul~iple role. It seems she does possess some morals as she feels profound guilt regarding her present situa tion. This is because she is trapped in a form, i.e., a human being. Her intellect was most likely used for rationalization, however, it was overpowered by passion.
Pirandello advocated that actors remain with the script and not look for any outside histories. Within the "spoken dialogue" there are motives, but the plot's action requires characters to connect and disconnect, due 41
to their relationships. It allows them to express their guilt, and to reflect. In keeping with the classical tradition, Pirandello foreshadows Guilia's fate: "I seem to see the shadow of my blame fall across their innocent faces, No! No! Would he kill me? I'd do it myself, if he didn't."l
When the husband appears, the dialogue indicates that something is wrong between the married couple as
Andrea returns and says he's ill with a headache. Guilia does not attempt to nurse him and the scene builds with tension. Finally Andrea tells the same story of their predicament, using a facade that it was another couple's troubles. Andrea accuses her of having an affair and she denies it. Passion has no logic. Guilia admits that she was crazy for what she had done. Andrea brings up the children and vows that she will never see them again.
Tho heated argument and the "spoken action" are powerful and again, the connection between the characters now becomes a disconnection.
When Guilia does kill herself, one of Pirandello's greatest philosophies is realized. All of the characters perceive the event in different ways; they may all be correct or (incorrect). They all had some fault, but since people perceive things differently while trapped in
their form; there may be a different between appearance and reality. In the case of The Vise, the audience per ceives as the characters allow them to perceive; the 42
audience will have different opinions as to who is at fault. So as one might discern, this play is not about
a mere domestic struggle, but rather, a play about an individual's illusions and the relativity of truth.
Production Concept
The Vise is a significant piece which will address
today's audiences. The play encompasses issues which
are as fresh in the 1980s as they were when the play was
first produced. The directorial choices must reflect the
following concerns: 1) intellect vs. passion, 2) trapped
in bodies, 3) trials of behavior, 4) love triangle, 5) creation of own reality and perception abberation, 6) multiple roles, and the morals of today and yesterday. It is not my intention to visually outline each of
Pirandello's philosophies, but rather to put together a
cohesive production in a visual treatment of today's
technological society. I became convinced that Robert
Wilson and Philip Glass could enhance the playwright's
style with their work in directing by studying their past productions.
However, there are no set changes as all the main action takes place in one room. This poses a concern of not cluttering the production for the sake of the visual
style. There'must be a balance between Pirandello's work, the acting, and the set. It can be said that I have mildly applied the visual style of Wilson to the production. I have chosen to evoke a production of 43
spectacle through symbolism and a surrealistic quality on the set.
Elements of symbolism may be incorporated into both the movement of characters in order to support Piran dello's philosophy and crystallize the play's main action of connecting and disconnecting between the characters.
This production concept of The Vise will profit with a three-quarter stage setting, in an intimate house, since the elements of symbolism are going to be subtle in this domestic quarrel.
There will be a chess board large enough to accom modate two feet high chess pieces, in order to reflect the intellect at work. There will be three chess pieces, representing the three main characters. In addition, there will be a partial set of a bedroom up stage left.
In this corner, there will be a dimly lit room, with a scrim, and a bed with a red bedspread in order to symbo lize "fire and passion." There will also be a headboard with a red curtain draped around the bed, but open in the places that the audience can see. There will also be dry ice out of the view of the audience, in order to have fog coming out of the bedroom. The bedroom will be slightly off the ground. The rest of the lighting on the stage will be standard.
The characters will be in realistic costume. Tho main action of the play is the alteration and disconnec tion of the characters. This is made clear by having the 44
characters freeze at various points in the play, e.g., Guilia freezes after the lines: "What can I tell you?
In this kind of situation the most casual remark seems significant--every look, every movement--the tone of his voice even."2 This is done is order to emphasize her guilty feelings. Finally, all three chess pieces will stand alone, as they illustrate the misery of the event.
In the beginning of the play, the maid moves two chess pieces together. Upon the departure of Antonio, one chess piece is removed, and the other one is replaced by the missing one. During Andrea's story of the other couple who were cheating on each other Guilia begins to show her guilt, under the pressure applied by Andrea.
The maid gradually moves their chess pieces apart.
Ultimately, the game of chess "forces" one to lose. At the end of the play they are all separate on the stage, and it becomes apparent that they all lost something.
Each time the chess pieces are moved there will be a drum roll coming from off stage. This is done to underscore the daring connections and disconnections that the char acters experience. There will also be classical music, Antonio Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons," at the beinning and end of the play. This music will add flavor in support of the play's origin. This is done to bridge a gap between yesterday and today.
The set itself will be slightly distorted as very often one's perception is also distorted. The stage 45
floor will be uneven, there will be a large clock with
the round shape impaired. There will be six large bars placed arbitrarily about the stage, but not to hinder the audience's view.
Approach to Acting/Directing
Pirandello saw the actor as an artist, and believed
that "there was ~ sudden fusion of actor and character"3 when performing. The actor feels and reflects, and he is aware of the difference between his character's emotions and his own. The actor deals with the script
itself and does not invent any outside history. This is in opposition with Stanislavski's method. A breakdown of the characters in terms of his philosophy will include--1) what the masks are that these characters wear, 2) the ways in which the characters are
troubled in terms of passion and the intellect, and 3) how each character perceives his situation and his reality.
Andrea wears a mas~ of business person, and he is a father and husband. Therfore, it can be said that his role in life is multiple. To trace his actions in The Vise will help to see his entrapment in the human form. Andrea walks in with the immediate knowledge about
the affair while he exclaims he wants the children to stay at his mother's until he unpacks. However, the angry husband is setting up his wife for confrontation. 46
Andrea learns that Antonio came back last night. Hos tility is already breeding in Andrea as he speaks of getting away to the city. His entire attitude is marked by tension. In his speech he is very displeased at the moment. He is both passive and aggressive and tries to drain Guilia, by creating stories which cause her guilt to surface. I think his main objective in the play is to get Guilia to admit her guilt. His mask does not only pertain to his roles of business person, father or hus band. He causes Guilia to keep dwelling upon her guilt, by saying he wants to get away. He says he is tired and has a headache. He makes it clear to Guilia that he knows Antonio came back and saw Guilia before he returned home. Andrea's main goal in the play is to get revenge by causing Guilia's guilt to escalate. When he tells the story of the other couple with the same predicament, the story becomes confrontational, and they have an argument. Guilia tries to wear a mask of innocence and the situa
tion is. reduced to a heated argument where each character
tries to overpower the other character. Andrea succeeds
in his main objective, to have power over her by telling her she has to leave.
We have gained knowledge of the character, com pletely from the script without the character inventing histories which are not in the script. We have learned
that besides his multiple masks of father, business person, and husband, that he was hostile, and even cruel 47 regarding the children. His main objective was apparent, the character wanted revenge. These elements were alive in the script and I feel that the actor does not need to look beyond the script.
Guilia wears a mask of mother, wife and lover.
There is no explanation for the affair between Antonio and Guilia. They both have moral values, and human consciousness. Here, both the intellect and passion are in operation. They rationalize about being caught but the intellect loses to passionate action. It seems that
Guilia's mask of lover is more powerful than her reason ing and the intellect converts to passion.
Antonio's human conscience and Guilia's conscience are at work. They cause themselves to be nervous by wondering about every movement, sentence, and gesture among the three of them. Guilia is actually playing the good wife as she is worried that Andrea might find out about the affair. Antonio wears the mask of multiple roles of lover and Andrea's business associate. His main goal is to keep information away from Andrea regarding the affair. These characters are troubled by their reasoning power and passion •. The intellect and moral values could not stop the affair; it is the passion stemming from their mental capacity which wins.
Guilia's current intellectual capacity was dimin ished when she alluded to the passion. Andrea became 48
vicious and hostile, learning of the affair. He forgot about their home life, or at least wanted to when he
talked about moving away. Andrea's calming force would have been his rationalizing capabilities, but again, it was overpowered by his emotions. Antonio's reasoning power and conscious were working full force in order to
keep the affair silent. It can be discerned from this character analysis that it contained Pirandello's philosophy of the intellect turning to passion, and the multiple roles.
The greatest multiple role was carried by the hus
band. He loved his wife and children. He was hurt to
find out about the affair, and his anger escalated. His
intellect was not active, and his feelings of passion
took control. He squeezed information out of her to make her give away her guilt. He showed indifference when Guilia asked to be killed. All three characters
played a part in Guilia's death, and they share respon
sibility equally. Andrea helped to escalate Guilia's
guilt. Antonio was the wedge between husband and wife.
The views of all three characters can be considered to
be equal. Andrea was disillusioned over their romance
when he first suspected his wife and Antonio were
having an affair. All three characters had human needs
which they were trying to meet. The three characters
experienced the intellect converting to passion. 49
With each multiple role, the characters were forced to deal with the different circumstances--the different realities. For example, Guilia was a wife who had to contend with a husband and children. This is a large portion of her life--this is her reality. She also had another reality; the reality of lover to Antonio. In
The Vise, each relationship marks a different reality for the individual. At points in The Vise, the couples connect and disconnect in accordance with the operation of their passion and intellect. Andrea supplied the impetus to Guilia for her to kill herself. Here, there is a contradiction between his love for her and his passionate crime.
Pirandello gives the actor the necessary material for him to be able to create a role by "living the script." Outside histories as a method of acting are not supported by Pirandello. It is not told why Guilia and Antonio have the affair, or how the couple got togethe~. It is also surprising that Andrea found out about the affair and one wonders how he did find the truth. This does not only pertain to the acting, but rather, it also relates to the writing style. The audience and actors walk into a situation already in progress. This can be equated with real life as we often walk into a conversation already in progress. Again, it is the situation of the characters which hold the most significance to the Pirandello play. When the play 50
Q • begins, the affair is in progress, and we have joined
in seeing the "flux" of life, an ever-changing energy.
Conclusion
The application of a hypothetical production concept was made possible by Pirandello's strong ideas about the human condition. One can see these ideas just sprouting in The Vise. The disillusionment that the characters experienced were a part of removing their masks when they no longer worked in favor of the characters. The charac
ters unleashed their passion and succumbed to doom. This is similar to Greek Tragedy, and especially apparent in
The Bacchae, when the characters are driven by passion and are forced to confront their mishap.
One problem that I dealt with in Pirandello's work were contradictions between his philosophy and his theory and practice. It would seem that when the character's behavior is operating by passion, they are punished. Pirandello demonstrates that there must be a balance between the intellect a~d passion, yet he feels that they are in constant conflict, and this is one issue of
the human condition. Pirandello is not totally pessi mistic because he does believe that an individual can pursue his/her objective through "trials of behavior," and it is the individual who creates part of his reality.
This is somewhat contradictory in his literature as the characters become "self-indulgent" in creating their 51 own reality. When they pursue their objective they fail and become disillusioned as they strip themselves of their masks; thus, one must find fault with the
"trials of behavior" (building of oneself up) and stripping themselves of their mask. This is a pessi mistic view if both of these behaviors fail and stop the individual from meeting his/her objectives. This is what Pirandello might have considered to be part of the life-form dichotomy.
This particular philosophy of having a form to life is also contradictory to his literature. As we have learned, Pirandello believed that life needed to be breathed into form as an expression of art. This is an abstract idea and difficult to translate into a hypo thetical production concept. It was the contradiction between this philosophy and the functioning piece of work which aided me to deal with this concept. Tilgher outlined Pirandello's methodical approach to art.
Althoug~ Pirandello proclaimed that he did not believe in a contrived way of constructing his art, he did have a method to composing his plays. Tilgher outlined a form which illustrated that Pirandello did in fact have a pattern or form to his art which extended from his earliest play of The Vise to his later works such as
Henry IV and Six Characters in Search of an Author. This is what made my approach to his philosophy and a produc tion concept of The ~ise possible. 52
Endnotes - Chapter 3
lwilliam Murray, trans., Pirandello's One Act Plays (New York: Doubleday, 1964), p. 13. 2Murray, p. 13.
3Richard Sogliuzzo, Luigi Pirandello, Director: The Playwright in the Theatre (New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press, 1982), p. 7. Bibl iograph_y
Books
Bentley, Eric. The Genius of the Italian Theatre. New York: New American Library, 1964.
The Playwright as Thinker: A Study of Drama in Modern Times. Harcourt, Brace, and World, Inc., 1964/67.
Bishop, Thomas. Pirandello and the French Theatre. New York: University Press, 1964. Budel, Oscar. Pirandello. London: Bowes and Bowes, 1969. Driver, Tom. The History of the Modern Theatre: Romantic Quest and Query. New York: Dell Publish ing Co. , 19 7 0. Guidice, Gaspare. Pirandello: A Biography. New Jersey: Oxford University Press, 1975. Illiano, Antonio. Pirandello: On Humor. North Caro lina: University of Carolina Press, 1974. McQuire, Susan. Luigi Pirandello. New York: Grove Press, 1969. Moestru·p, Jorn. The Structural Patterns of Pirandello's Work. Odense: Odense University Press, 1972.
Oliver, Roger. Dreams of Passion. New York: New York University Press, 1979.
Paolucci, Ann. Pirandello's Theatre: The Reco2~~~ the Modern Stage for Dramatic Art. London: Peffer and Simons, 1974.
Pirandello, Luigi. Pirrandello's One Act Pla~. William Hurray, trans. New York: Doubleday, 1964. Naked Masks. Eric Bentley, ed. New York: Dutton and Co., 1952.
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11 Spoken Action." The Theory of the Modern Stage. Eric Bentley, ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1968/78.
Pirandello: A Collection of Critical Essays. Glauco Cambon, ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, n.d.
Sogliuzzo, Richard. Luigi Pirandello, Direc~or: The F-laywright in the Theatre. New Jersey: The Scare crow Press, 1982. Starkie, Walter. Luigi Pirandello- 1867-1936. Cali fornia: University of California Press, 1965. Vittorini, Domencio. The Drama of Luigi Pirandello •• New York: Russell and Russell, 1935/69.
Periodicals
Dombroski, R. s. 11 Functions of Humor and Paradox in Pirandel1o's Lesclusa: A Context for the Plays." Modern Drama, 20 (December 1977}, 393-41.
Il1iano, A. 11 Pirandello and Theosophy... Modern Drama, 20 (December 1977, 341-51.
Paolucci, A. "Comedy 'and Paradox in Pirandello's Plays (an He1elian Perspective} ... Modern Drama, 20 December 1977}.
Sinicropi, G. 11 Me taphysical Dimension and Pirandello' s Theatre ... Modern Drama, 20 (December 1977), 355-80.
Vincentini, c. 11 Pirandello, Stanislavsky, Brecht and the Opposition Principle... Modern Drama, 20 (December 1977), 381-92.