Psychology traits in The Late Mattia Pascal
Luingi Pirandello is a Nobel Prize winning Italian dramatist and novelist who lived between 1867 and 1936. Pirandello’s works explored the psychological traits of personality, art, illusion and realism (Umberto 7). In The Late Mattia Pascal, one of his best-known novels, the author explores these traits in philosophical, metaphysical and social levels (Biasin 127).
Pirandello was fascinated by the Freudian psychology theory of the subconscious. He uses its principles to discuss human ignorance about identity. Psychological traits are of different levels. These levels could be similar or clash thus emphasizing the fluidity of identity (Gerald 30). Mattia, the lead character in the novel, is not satisfied with the relationship he has with himself. He takes advantage of an error of mistaken suicide to change his identity. Mattia changes his name to Meis Adriano and settles in Rome (Pirandello 66). He, however, gets tired of his new persona and decides to fake another suicide to return to his old life.
The subconscious thoughts determine the actions we take and the traits we develop (Andrezej 42). Mattia is unable to adopt brand-new traits and finally goes back to his patriarchal self. Meis tries to be free from Mattia by “pushing his shadow under the footsteps of passersby” while living in Rome but to no avail (Pirandello 23). Tito Lenzi, an acquaintance of Meis, points out that there is no such thing as being independent because our conscience is not a fortress but a square open to others (Douglas 208). The creates the realism that it may be impossible to flee an identity and even hard to go to an old one.
Anselmo Paleari, a character in the novel, uses the imagery of a lantern in our heads as a symbol of the human being’s limited perceptions (Caeser 5). This relativity of perception is tackled in a chronological and