Pirandello: Six Characters in Search of an Author -- analysis, dramatic elements, dramatis personae, themes (with textual reference), genre, synopsis, setting

Six Characters in Search of an Author By: Luigi Pirandello GENRE: Italian Drama - theatre of the grotesque SETTING: Daytime, the present, the stage of a theatre THEMES: How does one define reality/truth? "At least admit that the actress who will play her will be less true than what you see before your very eyes" (Father, II) DRAMATIS PERSONAE: THE CHARACTERSTHE COMPANY FatherDirector MotherLeading Man StepdaughterLeading Lady SonSecond Female Lead Boy (mute role)Ingenue …

…to life the story that was created by the Author. Perhaps Pirandello is drawing a subtle connection between the Characters' quest, and our own search for "truth." In the end of the play, the Characters vanish after completing their demonstration. Through their quest for self-definition, the Characters actually achieve self-definition. Perhaps Pirandello is trying to say that, in a circular fashion, it is our human quest to define ourselves that, in the end, defines us.