Six Characters in Search of an Author
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An overtly non-realistic portrayal of society is offered in a play by Luigi Pirandello, yet this is also a play with a political analysis at its heart. Appearance versus reality is a theme that infuses Pirandello's play Six Characters in Search of an Author. The technique used by the playwright is extremely theatrical and has a long history--the play-within-a-play was used often by Shakespeare and can be found in the works of other major dramatists. The playwright often uses such a device to comment on the process of playwriting itself, showing within a performance of a play the act of creating and presenting some vision of reality in dramatic form. Pirandello's work makes this self-reflective structure the basic substance of the play and uses it to raise questions as to how we can tell when reality ends and illusion begins, or the other way round. The selfhood of his characters is less an issue given that they are types and are also actors assuming selves not their own. Their examination of their selfhood is itself a political act because it takes place in a social setting and relies on determining each individual's relationship to others in that social setting. The following will consider whether the play reflects Pirandello's political ideals as a fascist and how this might be the case. While Pirandello's political ideals may have been inherent in all his work, as might be expected, his real issues in this play are theatrical, creating an ongoing critique of the r
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ficient for the attainment of that homogeneity which would have enabled her to take prompt measures and overcome local difficulties and upheavals. Socially Italy was still less well fitted to solve in peace these profound disturbances in her national life (Ebenstein 7).
Mussolini turned his nation towards Nationalism but also made a claim to be the champion of the working classes. He denounced the official leaders among the workers as reactionary and called for the working class to throw off the bonds of these false prophets. Mussolini developed a program that was sufficiently radical to appeal to the workers. He demanded the dissolution of the monarchy and the senate, the confiscation of ecclesiastical property, the control of industries and factories by the workers, and minimum wages (Ebenstein 12).
Fascism and National Socialism shared the essentially fascist trust in the leader as the core of the ideology and as the symbol holding the society together around fascist principles. Mussolini used the myth of the Duce at the level of ideology as he developed a regime based on simplified and ritualized thought and behavior, with Mussolini being Il Duce. Mussolini also imitated the Germans:
The impact of war and the exampl
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2619
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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