Right You Are (If You Think So): Analysis of Major Characters
"Right You Are (If You Think So)" is a play that explores themes of perception, truth, and the complexities of human relationships through its intriguing characters. At the center of the drama are Signora Frola and Ponza, whose unconventional living arrangements spark gossip and speculation among their neighbors. Signora Frola, the mother-in-law of Ponza, lives alone and maintains a façade regarding her daughter's supposed presence in Ponza’s life, which she claims must be upheld to protect Ponza’s fragile mental state. Conversely, Ponza contends that Signora Frola is delusional, insisting that her daughter is deceased and that his second wife is merely playing along to comfort the old woman.
The play also features characters such as the Agazzi family and Centuri, who are eager to unravel the mystery behind this peculiar domestic situation. Lamberto Laudisi, the brother-in-law of Commendatore Agazzi, offers a contrasting viewpoint, suggesting that the private affairs of the Ponza-Frola household should remain undisturbed. The interplay of these characters highlights the central conflict between subjective truths and objective reality, raising questions about the nature of identity and the validity of individual perspectives. The play ultimately invites the audience to reflect on the complexities of truth as perceived by different characters within a tightly-knit community.
Right You Are (If You Think So): Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Luigi Pirandello
First published: 1918 (English translation, 1922)
Genre: Play
Locale: A small Italian town, the capital of a province
Plot: Parable
Time: Early twentieth century
Signora Frola (FROH-lah), an old woman and the mother-in-law of Ponza. She causes talk by living alone in a fine apartment rather than with Ponza and her daughter, by never exchanging visits with her daughter, and by not allowing the neighbors to pay a social call. When she finally confronts the neighbors, she explains that Ponza is mad and must be humored into believing that his wife is, indeed, a second wife taking the place of the one he is convinced he has lost.
Ponza (POHN-zah), the secretary to the provincial councilor. He causes talk by living with his wife, whom no one ever sees, in a fifth floor tenement, and by visiting Signora Frola every day, alone. When he finally confronts the neighbors, he explains that Signora Frola is mad, that her daughter is dead but that she refuses to believe it, and that his second wife humors her in this belief by pretending to be her daughter and fostering the illusion by communicating with the old lady from the fifth floor balcony.
Signora Ponza, who, veiled, confronts the gossiping neighbors and informs them that she is the daughter of Signora Frola, that she is the second wife of Ponza, and that, for herself, she is nothing. She is, in short, the person she is believed to be.
Commendatore Agazzi (ah-GAHZ-zee), the provincial councilor.
Amalia Agazzi (ah-MAH-lee-ah), his wife.
Dina Agazzi (DEE-nah), his daughter.
Centuri (chehn-TEW-ree), a police commissioner. The Agazzis and Centuri are gossiping fellow townsmen bent on solving the mystery of the Ponza-Frola domestic arrangements.
Lamberto Laudisi (low-DEE-see), Commendatore Agazzi's brother-in-law, who insists that the Ponza-Frola domestic arrangements are their own business. When Signora Ponza gives the solution to the mystery, he laughs and says that now everybody knows the truth.