Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Accidental Death of an Anarchist, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
State Repression and Violence
Revolution vs. Reform
Theater, Truth, and Political Consciousness
Labor, Identity, and Humanity
Summary
Analysis
Inspector Bertozzo walks into his drab office and introduces himself to the audience. He explains that the Milan police headquarters where he works has been surrounded by protestors for several weeks, ever since an anarchist whom the police were interrogating upstairs conveniently fell out the window and died. The (First) Constable brings in the Maniac, a disheveled beatnik prisoner, who carries four plastic bags with him. Bertozzo declares that the playwright Dario Fo hates the police, like most “narrow-minded left-wingers,” and will probably make fun of them throughout the play.
Fo’s audiences in 1970 Italy would have immediately recognized the play’s subject: the “accidental” death of Giuseppe Pinelli in police custody. But other audiences may not be familiar with this background, and they may wonder to what extent the play is based on true events. In fact, Fo based his account of the bombing and the anarchist’s death on the best information available—including many sources that that the Italian government stopped the press from publishing. But the events in the play are pure fiction. By focusing on the investigation into the anarchist’s death, Fo satirizes not just the police’s brutality, but also its stupidity, corruption, impunity, and complicity with fascism. Moreover, when he investigates the investigators, Fo’s protagonist (the Maniac) acts as a stand-in for the audience and the whole Italian public, who yearned to learn the truth about Pinelli. Lastly, Fo cleverly makes himself the butt of Bertozzo’s first joke in order to show the audience that there will be no “fourth wall” in this play. Rather, Fo and his actors actively engage the audience and remind them that they are watching a play, both for comic effect and to reinforce the play’s connection to real life. After all, while this is a work of fiction, its purpose is to go where the published facts could not—to provide a truer account of Pinelli’s death than the police and the media gave the public.
Themes
Reading through some documents, Bertozzo explains that the Maniac has been arrested 11 times for impersonating professionals like surgeons, bishops, and even a tennis umpire. The Maniac protests that he has never been convicted, and Bertozzo promises that things will be different this time. The Maniac has been impersonating a psychiatrist and is charged with fraud, but the Maniac protests that this charge is invalid because he’s actually psychotic. He produces a crumpled-up medical report about his “histrionic mania” and describes himself as an actor in “the theatre of reality.” While he was charging patients a small fortune for appointments, this is only fair given that he did “twenty years of intensive training” with the nation’s best psychiatrists.
Like most literary fools, the Maniac’s true purpose is to expose the foolishness of the people around him. For instance, his absurd history of fraud really reflects the absurdity of modern life and work (or “the theatre of reality”). He suggests that we trust experts like surgeons and bishops because they have power, and not necessarily because they are competent. Of course, the same principle underlies Fo’s political criticism: politicians, policemen, and the rich have power not because they are righteous and deserve it, but because they are corrupt and seize it. Indeed, by the end of this play, the policemen will turn out to be far more insane than the Maniac. When the Maniac describes himself as an actor, he is not only making fun of the fact that he is in a play and foreshadowing the many identities he will adopt over the course of it—he is also commenting on theater’s unusual power to capture the truth about society. Indeed, by calling life “the theatre of reality,” Fo again suggests that the line between fact and fiction is not as clear as we would like it to be in everyday life, especially when dealing with government corruption and cover-ups.
Themes
Bertozzo reads out the Maniac’s business card: “Professor Antonio Rabbia, Psychiatrist. Formerly, lecturer at the University of Padua.” The Maniac objects that the police don’t know punctuation: he isn’t claiming to be a psychiatrist who used to teach at the university; he’s listing four separate, unrelated ideas. He starts giving a rambling lecture about Italian grammar, until Bertozzo slams on his desk and yells that he needs to take the Maniac’s statement. As a “qualified secretary,” the Maniac offers to type up the statement or take it down by shorthand.
The Maniac’s grammar lesson is totally confusing and meaningless, but no less so than the tall tales that the police will tell throughout the rest of the play to try and justify the anarchist’s death. Indeed, the real joke in this scene isn’t that the Maniac spouts nonsense: it’s that, despite spouting nonsense, he remains completely in control of the situation. The police can’t stop him because he refuses to cooperate.
Themes
At Bertozzo’s orders, the Constable pulls out his handcuffs. But the Maniac quotes the penal code and declares that the police can only restrain mentally disturbed people in a straitjacket, lest they lose their pensions. Frightened, the Constable freezes. The Maniac confirms that he took law classes from “a paranoid registrar” at the mental hospital and says that he would love to impersonate a judge because, while people in most professions just retire, judges actually get more power and status when they grow old.
Fo leaves it ambiguous whether the Maniac is actually quoting the penal code, or just making up a quote that gets him what he wants. Either way, his clever acting shows that the police officers don’t know the laws they are supposed to enforce. In fact, even a madman knows more about their jobs than they do, which is powerful evidence of their corruption. Moreover, the Constable’s concern for his pension suggests that the police care primarily about self-interest, not about law or justice. Finally, the Maniac’s comments about impersonating the judge foreshadow the rest of the play (in which he actually impersonates a judge).
Themes
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Holding the handcuffs, the Constable starts chasing the Maniac around the stage, but the Maniac threatens to bite him and claims to have gotten rabies from a dog. Horrified, the Constable freezes. Bertozzo orders him to arrest the Maniac, who is now crawling around on all fours like a dog. Bertozzo and the Constable try to grab the Maniac but miss, and the Maniac runs to the windowsill and threatens to throw himself out. The Constable points out that, after the anarchist’s recent death, the Milan police “can’t afford another one.” He and Bertozzo promise not to hurt the Maniac, then they help him come down from the windowsill.
The Maniac continues to easily outmaneuver the cowardly, gullible policemen. While the public might view the police as confident, dignified defenders of justice, Fo suggests that they are actually selfish, shortsighted fools who have secured power through loyalty and corruption. When the Maniac rushes to the window, this is just the first of many times that the characters will reenact the anarchist’s death—and mock the absurd notion that an activist would commit suicide just to make a fake accusation of police brutality.
Themes
Bertozzo sends the Constable to lock the window. Then the Maniac threatens to jump down the stairs, so Bertozzo has the Constable lock the office door, too. The Maniac tells the Constable to throw the key out the window, and he starts to do it until Bertozzo stops him; the Maniac then tells the Constable to swallow the key, and the same thing happens again.
The play descends further into madness as the Constable struggles to distinguish the Maniac’s directives from Bertozzo’s. This suggests that he is so used to just following orders that he is all but incapable of critical thought. He seems to have no sense of right and wrong, or of whose side he is supposed to be on.
Themes
Exasperated, Bertozzo admits that the Maniac has even driven him crazy. Bertozzo grabs the Maniac, has the Constable open the door, and declares that the Maniac is free to jump down the stairs if he wants. The Maniac asks to stay and lists ways he can help Bertozzo interrogate other prisoners. But Bertozzo and the Constable push the Maniac out the door and then leave for a meeting.
Fo’s humor depends on inverting the audience’s expectations: the Maniac ends up begging to stay in police custody, while the police beg him to leave. Of course, this is all part of his strategy to convince the police that he isn’t worth their time. Ironically, Bertozzo endangers the public by setting the Maniac free and enabling him to keep running his scams.
Themes
The Maniac returns to Bertozzo’s empty office and starts flipping through his own police file. When he finds files on people accused of petty crimes like loitering, shoplifting, and car theft, he throws them out the window. But he leaves the files for “big fish” criminals in Bertozzo’s desk. Then he pulls out more files on “little people” from the bottom drawer and throws them out the window a few at a time.
When he gets ahold of the files, the Maniac turns the tables on the police, taking over their power over people’s lives and freedom. In a way, throwing the files out the window is symbolic retaliation for the anarchist’s death: the Maniac is preventing the predatory police from targeting more innocent, ordinary people. And as they singlehandedly revoke people’s freedom, the files also capture the cruelty and inhumanity of modern bureaucracy. Fo’s political message is clear: the police and legal system serve primarily to control and oppress ordinary people, while letting the “big fish”—the true criminals—go free.
Themes
The phone rings. The Maniac answers and tells the caller (Pissani) to guess who he is. He pretends to be another policeman and acts as though Bertozzo is with him. All the while, he keeps throwing files out the window. He repeats the caller’s message for the audience: the government is sending a new judge, Professor Marco Maria Malipiero, to open a new inquiry into the anarchist’s death. The Maniac laughs deliriously and blows a raspberry into the phone but claims that this is all Bertozzo. He finds the file on the anarchist’s interrogation and torture, then he yells “Heil Himmler!” into the phone and hangs up.
The Maniac’s acting ability once again enables him to fool and manipulate people with power. This underlines theater’s ability to illuminate the truth through fiction and create real social change. Indeed, the audience doesn’t yet know whom the Maniac is calling—and he may not even know, either. This only makes his antics seem even more ingenious as the play goes on. His jarring cry of “Heil Himmler!” is a mocking reference to the Italian police and military’s deep links to Fascism. Many of the officers working in the 1970s had joined the force under Mussolini’s regime, fought alongside the Nazis in World War II, and secretly maintained their Fascist ideology afterwards.
Themes
The Maniac takes off his psychiatrist disguise and pulls new clothes out of the plastic bags that he brought to the station. He rejoices that he will finally get the chance to impersonate a judge and tries on a series of disguises and voices. He acts out sentencing people to prison and fighting in the war.
In this scene, as throughout the rest of the play, it’s unclear whether the Maniac is following a plan or just being opportunistic. But regardless, he isn’t just clowning around: he wants to infiltrate the police, and it has something to do with the anarchist’s death. Of course, by having the Maniac appear as a judge, Fo mocks the Italian legal system as unserious. And in a way, the Maniac has already been acting the part of a judge by throwing suspects’ files out the window.
Themes
Bertozzo returns to his office and is surprised to see the Maniac. He yells at the Maniac to leave, but the Maniac declares that he has “valuable information”—Inspector Pissani is coming after Bertozzo. After Bertozzo manages to push the Maniac out the door, he realizes that his coat is missing and yells for someone to stop the Maniac. Then, Inspector Pissani stops by Bertozzo’s office and punches him in the face, knocking him out.
The Maniac outsmarts Bertozzo once again—and this time, his mad ravings turn out to be prophetic. After all, at the beginning of this scene, Bertozzo seemed serious and menacing, but the Maniac has reduced him to a fool. The feud between the Inspectors again shows that, far from being noble guarantors of justice and order, the police are actually volatile, self-interested, and vicious.
Themes
