Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello pg. 17
"THE FATHER. But don’t
you see that the whole trouble lies here.
In words, words. Each one of us
has within him a whole world of things, each man of us his own special world. And how can we ever come to an understanding
if I put in the words I utter the sense and value of things as I see them;
while you who listen to me must inevitably translate them according to the
conception of things each one of you has within himself. We think we understand each other, but we
never really do."
This quote exhibits the romantic time period ideals. The romantic time period was characterized by
expressing feeling within the piece of work, but rather than putting words to
it, just feeling that feeling. Jacques
Lacan, a French psychoanalyst says that there are two different worlds. The Real world is associated with mothers and
nature and emotions/feeling whereas the Symbolic world is associated with
fathers, language development, and labeling.
For the most part we live in the Symbolic world and try to put words to
feelings, we label everything and there is no returning to the Real world. During the romantic period (and still today) artists
and musicians and authors constantly tried to escape the Symbolic world and
penetrate the Real world just as the Father in the play is doing. The Father is trying to live in the moment
and feel the emotions of the moment without trying to give it meaning because
as soon as he gives it meaning he leaves the Real world and finds himself once
again in the Symbolic world. The Father
also alludes to the idea that the Real world is different for each person. What is the point for him to put his world into
intelligible terms that make sense in the Symbolic world when everyone else has
already placed their own words and meanings there?
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