The title of Six Characters in Search of an Author is a great example of situational irony. Situational irony comes from a contradiction between expectation and reality. In this story, the characters claim to be searching for an unknown author despite the fact that they already have an author—Pirandello! Nonetheless, the entire plot of this play revolves around six people who claim they need an author in order to exist in the world of a story. The Father says in Act 1: "As a manner of fact [...] we have come here in search of an author," and he insists that the Manager help them create their "comedy":
Look here! look here! The comedy has to be made. (to the manager:) But if you and your actors are willing, we can soon concert it among ourselves.
Throughout the play, each character reinforces his insistence on the creation of the family's story. However, the viewer gradually realizes the story's irony: the very same characters who claim to search for an author would not exist unless an author had created them. This idea creates many questions, both about theater and about life. In the world of theater, how do characters take shape in an author's mind? What makes them seem so real in the greatest stories? In the realm of human life, how can people be sure of their own realities? Isn't everything, to an extent, a performance? The seeming paradox of Pirandello's title reveals itself to be an ironic scenario that provokes some weighty questions in a playful manner.
