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Essay / The Paradox of Consciousness in the Late Mattia Pascal extraordinary life. Mattia's fellow librarian, Don Eligo, states: "This proves that apart from the law and without those individual characteristics which, however happy or sad, make us ourselves, we cannot live" (243 ). Interestingly, Mattia disagrees, saying that far from regaining his individuality, he has become a social floater, a position that ironically brings him peace and stability. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayThroughout the remainder of Luigi Pirandello's novel, Mattia's multiple lives lead him on a journey of discovery, beginning with his feeling of bewilderment and ignorance and concluding with his more mature conception of the limits and options imposed on him by his environment. His experiences are a paradox of self-awareness: as Mattia becomes more aware of the elements of his identity that make him who he is, he also begins to understand the futility of trying to change his identity because he cannot can't control all the past, the present. and the future context of his life. However, by realizing and accepting his powerlessness, Mattia gains greater freedom to decide his own fate. As such, it is a story about growing up and re-evaluating one's priorities and aspirations. The late Mattia Pascal proves the truisms that “ignorance is bliss” and “knowledge is power.” The novel demonstrates that to truly know oneself and understand the extent of one's influence on the environment (according to Anthony Caputi, "the matrix within which experience, art, and the world have been composed and broken down ”, and in this case, it is the determining factor (factor of destiny) is a quality that is both powerful and demeaning (48). Throughout the text, Mattia attempts to resolve what Jonathan Druker calls the “crisis of modern consciousness,” unwittingly seeking “explicit recognition of the radical split between consciousness and the unconscious in the human psyche” (57). Here, the "Self" will be defined in Druker's language, as "the consciousness of one's being or one's own identity", which sometimes implies "a greater awareness of the gap between the Self and the world" (57). At the same time, the meaning of the term “identity” will be developed by exploring the connotations of collective and individual identity, independent and dependent identity, and productive and sterile identity. At the start of Mattia's adventures, he is in the middle of an escape, disgusted by his domestic situation. , trying to ignore the cause and effect reality of his life. He does not want to recognize the cruel vagaries of circumstances - his youthful idleness and promiscuity, his adult inertia - which lead to the deaths of his daughters and his mother, leaving him with a dead-end job, a harpy stepmother and an unhappy marriage. . Mattia blames fate, as if he were “an actor in a tragedy” directed by an invisible director, doomed to “new chains” (38, 49). He complains, "the stillness of my existence has inspired in me sudden and strange thoughts", but no action, and for some reason he feels that he cannot rectify his own situation and can only shouting in anger, waving his fists towards the sea (45). . Strangely, even though his daughter and mother took control post-mortem and "chose to die" or "rushed into the other world", Mattia is unable to reproduce this level of activity and initiative ( 46-7). He ends up leaving Miragno not byconscious decision, but “acting almost on the spur of the moment” (48). But this little spark of protest, which eventually blossoms in Mattia's experimentation with this whole identity, is the evidence of his first attempts. to self-examination. He realizes how much he depends on the status quo; his name is inexorably linked to the mundane and cowed "almost hopeless" life and is spurred to action, even if it is only a tiny effort of denial rather than rote acceptance (33). It is also the reader's first encounter with the Pirandellian mirror which, according to Druker, "reveals the individual socialized in the process" of fleeing society. Many of Pirandello's protagonists effectively isolate themselves from the world" (59). For Mattia, any possibility of isolation exists far from Miragno, which is why he heads to Monte Carlo. There, unlike his former stifling existence, even the disappointing misery of the casino fascinates him. His improbable frenzy of victories gives Mattia the false impression of freeing himself from the bad luck of his past and convinces him that he “could charm and master chance, link it to my caprice.” (58) Mattia is seduced by the apparent possibilities of finally taking control of his life, he is unaware that the forces of fate and luck seem to be closing tighter around him, linking him to a pre-existing destiny despite a mocking look. on a roulette pamphlet, he still cannot resist the urge to buy it (49) After stealing his first pot, he continues to play because “Luck, for a secret motive, chose me. contradict...". "the fever of the game", seized by "a strange and brilliant state of intoxication" in which he acts "almost automatically" as if controlled by an external force (54-5). In retrospect, he attributes his gains to a power beyond his control, thinking that "unfortunately, I know what Fortune had in store for me, by first favoring me in this way" (63). Perhaps most telling is that Mattia is uncomfortable making autonomous decisions that are not already evident in his immediate environment. Previously, he had given up his youth and married Romilda because it was the most obvious decision to make. Here, at the dawn of a promising new life, he hesitates to flee to America, to forget his obligations to his wife, to start again from scratch until the suicide of another man makes change too easy to pass up. At this point, Mattia only succeeds in his transition to Adriano Meis because he fails to take the initiative to return to Miragno to clear up the confusion. Douglass Radcliff-Umstead writes that the late Mattia Pascal is immersed in the "tragic dichotomy between an individual's desire for freedom and the forms of life that society imposes on him" (16). As our protagonist attempts to ignore his Mattia characteristics to metamorphose into Adriano, he reaches the peak where he feels most independent but is also most cuckolded by the ever-changing demands of his environment and, by extension, his destiny . . At first, the transformation goes smoothly: he fabricates a plausible story (87), adopts a random and untraceable name with no connection to his previous life (83) and emerges from the barbershop like a philosopher's "monster." German born from the "necessary and radical modification of Mattia Pascal's features" (80-1). Mattia/Adriano is convinced of having deceived destiny by generating an isolated and sovereign being and of having “cut off all memory of my previous existence” (83). By associating fate with identity and assuming that these are just loosely related coincidences instead of a complex web of causality, Mattia deludes himself into believing that he can easily get rid of all flaws and constraints that defined his life in Miragno once healso abandoned the Mattia. name. And yet, even though Mattia is delighted by his “unique and unlimited freedom” to be “Alone!” Alone ! Alone ! My own master! he is still unwittingly a pawn in a larger design (89). For example, the nebulous figure of Chance/Luck of Monte Carlo still plays a role in Mattia's conversion: "Fortune had suddenly freed me from all entanglement, had separated me from ordinary life, had transformed me into spectator..." (83). Mattia does not realize the disturbing connotations of his statement until he realizes that, at the height of his state of independence, his hands are tied and he has become a failure of the society, a sterile clone who cannot interact in the community he aspires to because he cannot afford to be exposed as an imposter. As Radcliff-Umstead writes, “Pirandello sees Hamlet as the modern hero paralyzed by superior forces. The Pirandellian hero will be forced into the impotence of a puppet” (16). Mattia is the Frankenstein who is afraid to buy a puppy, who bends down to talk to the birds, who despairs "that in my unlimited freedom I found it difficult somehow to begin to live." When I was about to make a decision, I felt restrained, I seemed to see all sorts of obstacles, shadows and obstacles ”(102). As Mattia begins to notice old characteristics resurfacing and finds his new life falling into familiar patterns even as he takes increasingly drastic measures to fit into his new Roman existence, he slowly understands the complex labyrinth of old associations, ingrained neuroses, and physical distinctions that prevent him from fully embracing Adriano's life. Mattia knows that he cannot avoid his environment or his past and that he cannot live outside of its context. At first, he hesitates to throw away his wedding ring, then unconsciously caresses the exposed curl of his finger, leading Signora Caporale to delve into his mysterious background (which he claimed, even to himself, to have locked away ) (84, 128). . He is also traumatized by "this poor wretch buried in the Miragno cemetery under my name... And was he always there in silence, present and invisible at my side?" (178). Thus, as Mattia's awareness of the network to which he is connected expands, he accepts that there remains some residual and essential Mattia left behind within Adriano and any other reincarnation of himself that does not cannot be repaired by eye surgery or beard trimming. “It’s true that nothing can be invented without some sort of roots, deep or superficial, in reality,” he thinks. “How many threads tie our invention to the complex tangle of life, threads that we have cut to make our creation something apart!” (88). Furthermore, even if Mattia could somehow control every aspect of his own actions, decisions, clothing, etc. (which he tries to do), fate and environment would always have the upper hand in displacing the rest of Mattia's environment. beyond his control. As AMI Fiskin points out, Mattia must play within previously predefined limits or be exiled outside those limits and “assume the role of a spectator of life” (48). No amount of imagination can stop Papiano from stealing Mattia, thus triggering his second "suicide", and no amount of pretentious skill can win Adriana's lifelong love. “It is true that in Pirandello there is no metaphysical reality, and it is also true that the awareness of this fact is a consequence and a cause of tragic pain in the characters,” notes Fiskin, while identifying another "social orsocio- psychological reality which is a very important element..." (50). Mattia does not really want solitude; his search is a better and more enriching version of his previous life. To achieve this, he must exist in a whole of socially predetermined roles which, paradoxically, prevent him from realizing his true desires Although he is again like a puppet manipulated by circumstances, Mattia is now different from the other models. which Druker describes as "not only living, but watching oneself live with an objectifying detachment, as if with an eye not quite one's own", as having access to the point of view of the puppeteer and the puppet but had no control (64) Mattia recognizes the societal constraints that prevent him from being happy in his reincarnation of Adriano and knows that he cannot do much because he has become an outsider looking inward. . In fact, he aspires to be like a veritable puppet, ignorant or complacent about his dependence on fate rather than being excruciatingly aware of it, without "any anguish or perplexity, no hesitation, no obstacles, no shadows, no pity - Nothing ! (140).But Mattia has these emotions and he has a story, and he has to deal with both, unlike these puppets. Despite constant references to rebellion towards the end of the novel, Mattia admits that there are too many aspects of his inner "Self" that he can never escape, that "instead of freedom, one could have better 'call loneliness and boredom' (212, 180). -1). So, by the end of the story, Mattia has learned his lesson, accepted his relative immobility and helplessness, agreed that in "my determination to avoid tying the cut threads together, however weakly, I had arrived at what END ? This: the threads were tied together again. by themselves; and life, despite my prudence, my opposition, despite everything, life had carried me away with its irresistible force” (181). But ironically, after announcing his defeat to the higher forces of destiny after his painful journey of self-discovery, Mattia becomes more active than ever. Caputi's theory that Pirandello's characters find "no solution but recognition and acquiescence" suggests that, in being aware of the futility of defying fate, Mattia actually achieves greater personal will because he knows now the game (41). Seeing more options, the last Mattia is willing to take risks that the first Mattia would have run away from, knowing that fate will ensure that what should happen happens. “Now,” writes Fiskin, “he deliberately plays the role that chance once imposed on him; out of concern for fairness to the young girl, he pretends to commit suicide and Mattia Pascal comes back to life” (48). He can do what he wants now: thinking "I should kill this crazy and absurd fiction that tormented and tortured me for two years, this Adriano Meis, condemned to be a coward, a liar, a wretch..." , Mattia does it. does not deny himself, and with a "Very good! Down with the disgusting puppet!", he takes the initiative to shed his despised disguise and become a happier and stronger Mattia (213). He then confronts his old demons for the first time in his life, threatening Pomino and Romilda with legal constraints but exulting in his ability to decide not to implement it: "I wanted revenge, and I'm not going to do it" (237).And so the story ends with Mattia re-inhabiting his original place in the city, safer and more willing than the first time. Having experienced the full arc of existence - from disinterest in his surroundings to wise awareness of the robust web of cause, effect and history - Mattia is happiest in understanding why certain things happen to him../>
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