Towards the conclusion of The Late Mattia Pascal, after Mattia returns from his two-year absence and reclaims his name, he wonders what the purpose of his life was extraordinary. Mattia's librarian colleague, Don Eligo, argues: "this shows that outside the law, and without those individual characteristics which, whether happy or sad, make us ourselves, we cannot live" (243). Interestingly, Mattia begs to differ, arguing that, far from regaining his individuality, he has become a social free floater, a position which ironically gives him peace and stability. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Through the rest of Luigi Pirandello's novel, Mattia's multiple lives lead him on a journey of discovery, beginning with his feelings of stubbornness and ignorance and concluding with his more mature conception of the limits and options imposed on him by its 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 control the entire past , present and future context of his life. However, by realizing and accepting his own powerlessness, Mattia acquires a greater degree of freedom in deciding his own destiny. As such, this is a story about growing up and reevaluating one's priorities and aspirations. The late Mattia Pascal demonstrates the truism that “ignorance is bliss” and “knowledge is power.” The novel demonstrates that truly knowing oneself and understanding the extent of one's influence on the environment (according to Anthony Caputi, "the matrix within which experience, art and the world are composed and decomposed", and in this case it is determinant) factor of destiny) is a powerful and degrading quality (48). Throughout the text, Mattia attempts to resolve what Jonathan Druker calls the “crisis of modern consciousness,” unconsciously seeking “explicit recognition of the radical rupture 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 identity", which occasionally "involves a greater awareness of the gap between the Self and the world" (57). Meanwhile, the meaning of "identity" will be developed by exploring the connotations of collective and individual identity, independent and dependent identity, and productive and sterile identity. At the beginning of Mattia's adventures, he is in full escape mode, disgusted by his domestic situation. , trying to ignore the cause-and-effect reality of his life. He doesn't want to acknowledge the cruel twists of circumstance - youthful idleness and promiscuity, adult inertia - that result in the deaths of his daughters and his mother, leaving him with a dead-end job, a harpy stepmother and an unhappy marriage . . Matthias blames fate, as if he were "the actor of a tragedy" guided by an invisible director, destined for "new chains" (38, 49). He complains: "the immobility of my existence has inspired sudden, strange thoughts" but not actions, and for some reason he feels that he cannot correct his situation and can only scream in anger, shaking his fists at the sea (45) . Strangely, even though his daughter and mother took control post-mortem and "chose to die" or "rushed into the other world," Matthias is unable to replicate that level of activity and initiative (46-7 ). In the end he leaves Miragno not by conscious decision, but "acting almost on impulse" (48). But this little spark of protest, which eventually blossomsin Mattia's experimentation with this whole identity, it is evidence of his first attempts. to self-examination. He realizes the level of his dependence on the status quo; his name is inexorably intertwined with mundane and intimidated life "with almost no hope" and he is driven to action, even if it is only a tiny effort at denial rather than mechanical acceptance (33). This is also the the reader's first encounter with the Pirandellian mirror, which according to Druker, "reveals the socialized individual in the process of escaping from society. Many of Pirandello's protagonists effectively isolate themselves from the world" (59). For Mattia every possibility of isolation exists far from Miragno, so he leaves for Monte Carlo. There, especially in contrast with the suffocating previous existence, even the disappointing misery of casino excites him. His unlikely winning spree gives Mattia the false impression of freedom from the misfortune of his past and convinces him that "he could fascinate and dominate the case, tie it to my whim" (58). to finally take control of his life, he doesn't know that the forces of fate and fortune seem to silently clench tighter around him, tying him to a pre-existing destiny despite mockingly looking at a roulette brochure, he still can't resist the temptation to buy it (49). After the first pot is stolen, he continues to play because "Luck, for some secret reason, has chosen to contradict me...". "gambling fever," gripped by "a strange, brilliant state of intoxication" in which he acts "almost automatically" as if controlled by an external force (54-5). In retrospect, he attributes his winnings to a power beyond his control, reflecting that "unfortunately, I know what Fortune was preparing for me, favoring me first in that way" (63). Perhaps most significantly, Mattia feels uncomfortable making autonomous decisions that have not already been made brash by his immediate environment: previously, he gave up his youth and married Romilda because it was the most obvious step to take. Here, on the cusp of a promising new life, he is reluctant to flee to America, to forget his obligations to his wife, to start over until another man's suicide makes change too easy to give up. At that point, Mattia successfully passes to Adriano Meis only because he fails to take the initiative to return to Miragno to clear up the confusion. Douglas Radcliff-Umstead writes that The Late Mattia Pascal is immersed in the "tragic dichotomy between an individual's desire for complete freedom and the forms of life that society imposes on him" (16). While our protagonist tries to shake off the his Matthias-like characteristics to transform into Hadrian, he reaches the pinnacle where he feels most independent but is also most betrayed by the ever-changing demands of his environment and, by extension, of his destiny continuity: he invents a plausible backstory (87), adopts a random, untraceable name with no connection to his previous life (83), and emerges from the barbershop as a "monster" of a German philosopher born in the "necessary, radical alteration of the features of Matthias Pascal" (80-1). Matthias/Hadrian is satisfied with having deceived fate by generating an isolated and sovereign being and having "erased every memory of my previous existence" (83). By associating destiny with identity and assuming that it is just loosely connected coincidences rather than an intricate network of causality, Mattia deludes himself into thinking that he can easily eliminate all the flaws and constraints that have defined his life in Miragno once he also he will have abandoned Mattia. name. And yet, indeedas Mattia is thrilled by his "unique and boundless freedom" to be "Alone! Alone! Alone! My master!" he is still unintentionally a pawn of a bigger picture (89). For example, the nebulous figure of Chance/Fortune of Monte Carlo still plays a role in Matthias's conversion: "Fortune had suddenly freed me from every entanglement, had severed me from ordinary life, had transformed me into a spectator..." ( 83). Mattia does not realize the threatening undertones of his statement until he realizes that, at the height of his independence, his hands are tied and he has become a social disaster, a sterile clone who cannot interact in the community he aspires to because he cannot afford to be exposed as an impostor. As Radcliff-Umstead writes, "Pirandello sees Hamlet as the modern hero paralyzed by superior forces. The Pirandellian hero will be forced into the helplessness of a puppet" (16). Mattia is the Frankenstein who fears buying a puppy, who stoops to talk to the birds, who despairs "that in my unlimited freedom, I found it somehow difficult to start living. When I was about to decide, I felt held back , I seemed to see all kinds 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 steps to integrate into After his new Roman existence, he slowly understands the complex labyrinth of previous associations, ingrained neuroses and distinctions physical conditions that prevent him from fully embracing life like Adriano. Mattia knows that he cannot avoid his surroundings and his past and cannot live out of context. At first he is reluctant to throw away the wedding ring and then unconsciously caresses the exposed ring on his finger, leading Mrs. Caporale to pry into his mysterious past (which he claimed, even from himself, to have kept hidden) (84, 128 ). He is also traumatized by "that poor wretch buried in the Miragno cemetery under my name... And was he still there in the silence, present and invisible at my side?" (178). Thus, as Mattia's consciousness of the network to which he is connected expands, he accepts that there is something residual, essential that Mattia has left inside Hadrian and in every other reincarnation of himself that cannot be repaired with surgery to the eyes or a beard cut. "It's true that in reality you can't invent anything without some kind of root, whether deep or superficial," he thinks. "How many threads bind our invention to the complicated tangle of life, threads that we have severed to make our creation something apart!" (88). Furthermore, even if Mattia could somehow control every aspect of his actions, decisions, clothing, etc. (which he attempts to do), fate and environment would still maintain the upper hand by displacing the rest of Matthias' surroundings. out of his control. As AMI Fiskin points out, Matthias must play within the boundaries established by the past or be exiled outside those boundaries and "take on the role of spectator of life" (48). No pretense can stop Papiano from robbing Mattia, initiating 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 equally true that the realization of this fact is a consequence and cause of the tragic pain of the characters", notes Fiskin, while identifying another "social or socio-real" psychological reality that it is a very important element..." (50). Mattia actually does not want solitude; his search is for a better and more rewarding version of his previous life. To achieve this goal, he must exist withina series of socially preordained roles, which, paradoxically, prevent him from realizing his true desires. Although he is once again like a puppet manipulated by circumstances, Mattia is now different from the others. mannequins. He has developed a bitter self-consciousness, which Druker describes as "not merely living, but observing oneself living with an objectifying detachment, as if with an eye not quite one's own", as having access to the puppeteer's vantage point, and the puppet but he had no control (64). Mattia recognizes the social constraints that prevent him from being happy in his reincarnation of Hadrian and knows that there is not much he can do because he has turned into an outsider looking in. In fact, he wishes to be like a real puppet, ignorant or complacent towards her. dependence on destiny rather than being painfully aware of it, without "no anguish or perplexity, no hesitation, obstacle, shadow, pity, nothing!" (140).But Mattia has these emotions and he has a story, and he has to deal with both, unlike these puppets. Despite the constant references to rebellion in the final part of the novel, Matthias admits that there are too many aspects of his internal 'Self' from which he can never escape, that "instead of freedom, they might have been better called loneliness and boredom" (212, 180). -1). Thus, at the end of the story, Matthias learned his lesson, accepted his relative immobility and helplessness, agreed that "my determination to avoid tying together, even weakly, the cut threads, had achieved what purpose? This: the threads had tied themselves back together." alone; and life, despite my caution, my opposition, despite everything, life had overwhelmed me with its irresistible force" (181). But ironically, after announcing defeat to the higher forces of destiny following his anguished 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, being aware of the futility of tempting fate, Mattia actually achieves greater obstinacy because he now knows the game (41). Seeing more options, the latter Matthias is willing to take risks that the former Matthias would have run from, knowing that fate will make what is meant to happen happen. "Now," writes Fiskin, "he deliberately plays the part that chance had already imposed on him once; out of fairness to the girl he feigns suicide, and Mattia Pascal returns to life" (48). Now he can do what he wants: Thinking "I should kill that crazy, absurd fiction that tormented and tortured me for two years, that Adriano Meis, condemned to be a coward, a liar, a wretch...", Mattia does not he belies himself, and with a "All right! Away with that hateful puppet!", he takes the initiative to shed his despised disguise and become a happier and stronger Matthias (213). He then faces his old demons for the first time in his life, threatening Pomino and Romilda with legal restraint but exulting in his ability to decide not to carry it out: "I wanted to get revenge and I won't" (237). And so the story ends with Mattia re-inhabiting his original place in the city, safer and more available than he was the first time. Having lived the entire span of existence - from disinterest in his surroundings to the wise awareness of the robust fabric of cause and effect and history - Mattia is happier to understand why certain things happen to him and to know what events he can avoid. However, Druker points out, “Matthias's self-knowledge does not lead to closure” (65). Adriano was not a failed experiment, but rather an embarrassing growth phase for Mattia. Druker continues: «Clearly the journey of./>