Six Characters in Search of an Author

by

Luigi Pirandello

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The Curtain Symbol Analysis

The Curtain Symbol Icon

In most normal plays, the curtain is an unremarkable piece of equipment, useful only to mark the opening and closing of dramatic action to which it is irrelevant. The curtain between the audience and the actors clearly demarcates the line between fiction and reality—when it raises at the beginning of a performance, it invites the audience into a fantasy world, and when it lowers at a show’s conclusion, it dismisses the audience to return to their lives.

But, given his interest in upending dramatic norms and challenging the conventional division between life and fiction, Pirandello does away with this normal use of the curtain for staging, and instead turns the curtain into an integral part of the play itself. The audience can first sense something is awry when they enter the theater and encounter the curtain raised, revealing “the stage as it usually is during the day time.” The world of the audience and the world of the play start out merged, and remain that way throughout the show. During the 20-minute intermission after the First Act, the curtain also remains up and the audience’s time merges with the play’s.

The curtain becomes even more significant after the Step-Daughter and Father act out their sexual liaison at Madame Pace’s atelier for the Manager and the Actors. Delighted with the Characters’ scene, the Manager yells out “curtain here, curtain” in order to suggest that the scene would be the end of his future play’s Act One. But the Machinist misunderstands the Manager and actually lowers the curtain. This abruptly ends the Second Act of Six Characters in Search of an Author, which flows directly into the third. Here, through the Manager, Pirandello explicitly points out the conventional use of the curtain and then defies it, having the curtain fall in his own play—and separate the audience’s world from the drama’s—only by accident. Overall, then, the curtain in Six Characters represents Pirandello’s exploration of metatheatrical elements in the play, and his attempts to tear down the divide between actors and audience, between theater and “real life.”

The Curtain Quotes in Six Characters in Search of an Author

The Six Characters in Search of an Author quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Curtain. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Act 2 Quotes

The darned idiot! I said “curtain” to show the act should end there, and he goes and lets it down in earnest (to the Father, while he pulls the curtain back to go on to the stage again). Yes, yes, it’s all right. Effect certain! That’s the right ending. I’ll guarantee the first act at any rate.

Related Characters: The Manager (speaker), The Father, The Machinist
Related Symbols: The Curtain
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 40
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3 Quotes

SOME ACTORS. He’s dead! dead!
OTHER ACTORS. No, no, it’s only make believe, it’s only pretence!
The FATHER (with a terrible cry). Pretence? Reality, sir, reality!
The MANAGER. Pretence? Reality? To Hell with it all! Never in my life has such a thing happened to me. I’ve lost a whole day over these people, a whole day!
Curtain.

Related Characters: The Manager (speaker), The Father (speaker), The Boy, The Child
Related Symbols: The Curtain
Page Number: 52
Explanation and Analysis:
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The Curtain Symbol Timeline in Six Characters in Search of an Author

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Curtain appears in Six Characters in Search of an Author. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
Authorship and Meaning Theme Icon
...the text is divided into three acts, separated by natural pauses in the texts. The curtain is raised from the beginning, with “the stage as it usually is during the day... (full context)
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
Authorship and Meaning Theme Icon
...that this must all be some kind of “madness” or “joke.” They leave, and the curtain remains up for a 20-minute intermission. (full context)
Act 2
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
Authorship and Meaning Theme Icon
Pleased, the Manager calls the scene “damned good” and declares “curtain here, curtain,” meaning that he would stop the action in his play at this point.... (full context)
Act 3
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
Authorship and Meaning Theme Icon
The curtain goes back up and reveals a changed stage, with “a drop, with some trees, and... (full context)
Reality, Illusion, and Identity Theme Icon
Action, Fate, and Absurdity Theme Icon
The Nuclear Family Theme Icon
...that he has “lost a whole day over these people, a whole day!” and the curtain falls, ending the play. (full context)