Pirandello was a complex and bizarre man when it came to penning down personality narrations. His works on theatrical post-modern genres are not only mesmerizing but quite baffling at times.Henry IV is an engrossing masquerade about an actor/protagonist of a play who goes crazy after being knocked off his horse. The actor then wanders in a deluded world owing to the persona of Henry IV (a character he used to play before the ill-fated mishap) spanning over twelve years after the fall. Thus he then prefers to reside in his castle with his private counselors similar to the Henry IV of Germany. The entirety of the play consists of other characters trying to unmask the assumed persona to reveal the reality of a calamity. **Actors in session**Who are we? Why are we afraid of madmen? (To be noted that the term “madmen” restricts to exposing the genuineness of a character and not those preposterous junkies who play Nostradamus on street corners). When do authenticity of an individual halts and a façade is established which we perceive as reality? These questions are synonymous with Pirandello and his idea of existential artistry. Henry IV screams that he is not mad and argues as to why the world is afraid of “madmen”? Madness speaks the truth, exposes veracity that a conscious mind veils under the folds of obligatory societal façade; so asserts Pirandello. I do not know how legitimate the actor portraying Henry IV is in his actions, nevertheless I agree with Pirandello. As rational folks we premeditate our measures meticulously supervising our words and actions limiting inadvertent buffoonery. The slightest example would be people calling me a crazy bitch when my guttermouth precedes my mannerism. And that happens a lot. So am I a mad woman or is just that my courteous mask decides to shove up where it hurts the most. Am I reading way too much into this book? An interim story recounted by Henry about a priest justifies my quandary.An Irish priest who fell asleep in the sun one day on a park bench. He was dreaming, and when a young boy walked by and brushed his cheeks with a flower, the priest woke up, but still looked happy and forgetful around him. Suddenly he straightened up and the look of seriousness returned to his face. The priest who for couple of minutes had forgotten his “mask” dreamed blissfully until his conscious self took charge and resumed his duly disposition.At first, the book was pretty puzzling before I got the gist of the camouflaged dramatics, as his previous work Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays relayed the same sentiments of illusionary realism of theatre but later contradicted on the notion of immutability of characters. Here, Pirandello tries to let the audience understand the fact that stage “reality” can be more authentic in real world. Whereas in 'Six Characters.... 'he talks about the illusion of emotive reality for its validity is corrupted by monotonous rehearsals. Nonetheless, both of them confront the essence of reality encumbered by metaphoric chimeras giving madness a therapeutic denotation.
The clothes make the man. And in this case it is the 11th century robes of the German Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV. The plot in brief: At a costume party a man – whose real name is never told – falls from a horse and wakes up believing he is Henry IV. Twenty years later, his cousin and others come to his home to shock him out of his delusion. Identity, self and madness are all called in question in this brief play. The wonderfully tight plot pulls all these elements together in strange yet revealing setting. It is at once humorous and tragic.This is a great play – a true pleasure to read and I’m sure even better to watch. Stoppard’s version is extraordinary in catching the natural rhythms of speech. I have a few quibbles with him (lack of stage directions – who is talking to whom? – and some odd phrases like calling a woman a “skirt” – is it 1950?) but this is a fluid, fast moving translation.It’s a great play, but I can’t help but feel it could have been even better. From what I've read, Stoppard cut a good amount of language from the original Pirandello. It’s been years since I read the original, so I’m not sure of the effect of those cuts.While the overall theme – we are actors playing our part – is excellently and provocatively presented, it is a well-worn theme (all the world’s a stage, you know) and the play doesn’t seem to take the next step with it. The theme is to a great extent limited to these characters and this setting. All the world’s a stage and …?But don’t let this rather small quibble deter you. I strongly encourage anyone to read this oddly beautiful, perversely funny play.
What do You think about Henry IV (2005)?
HENRY IV. (1922). Luigi Pirandello. ****.tHere is another popular play by this Nobel Prize-winning Sicilian playwright that explores themes of reality and madness. After a confusing bit in the beginning, we finally learn that his protagonist has lost his mind after a fall from a horse while playing in a masquerade. He then believes that he is the medieval German emperor Henry IV. This delusion is fortified by a wealthy relative who surrounds him with a diverse costumed group of servants and courtiers that allow him to believe that he is indeed Henry IV. After a period of twelve years, however, the injured man begins to recover his sanity, but goes on pretending he is insane because he prefers this make-believe world to that of reality, where he lost the woman he loved. When his old love arrives on the scene with her new lover, Henry IV is overcome with rage and mortally wounds his new rival. He then realizes that he must continue to pretend to be Henry IV – that insane character – in order to avoid punishment for his crime. He is now Henry IV for the rest of his life. The theme of sanity vs. insanity is uppermost in the play, and has been attributed to the effects of Pirandello’s wife on him. He married this woman when he was in his late twenties, and she became mentally unbalanced. At the time, he couldn’t afford to place her in an appropriate institution, so had to care for her at home. The effect on his life was indelible. Recommended.
—Tony
Pirandello is an absolute master. His "Six Characters in Search of an Author" is one of my favorite dramas of all time. "Enrico IV" falls in the same line - reality and illusion are not necessarily distinguishable from each other, and are subject to the human characters choosing to participate. He takes the act of drama itself as the catalyst for this exploration, to stunning effects. The story never seems strained, and the language flies off the page. I have too many favorite lines to list them here - fantastic.
—Greg
Pirandello has a way of writing that feels as if the reader is intruding on his own personal turmoil (which, given the institutionalization of his wife and the extreme depression he suffered after his huge financial losses in the mining business, were numerous) -- sometimes the words on the page are so genuinely personal and true that Pirandello is Henry IV. Monologuing in the words of a half-crazy, half-lucid, and all tumultuously violent man stuck in the dichotomous realities of his mind and companions, Henry IV asks the essential questions for both existentialism and for anyone who has questioned the mind of the companion, leading up to one of the most intense tragic conclusions I've ever read.
—krystal
