# The Father — Six Characters in Search of an Author character guide

> The Father in Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** The Father Hurt, The Father Mad, Indicates The Father, The Father Amalia, Amalia, The Father Exactly

**First appearance:** 0000-dramatis-personae

## Snapshot

A mellifluous, desperate man who insists his family's unfinished tragedy is realer than the actors paid to imitate it.

## Who they are

He arrives at a rehearsal with six figures in mourning, claiming they were conceived by an author who abandoned them half-born and now demand the stage life they were denied. Alternately unctuous and violent, he argues that characters are more alive than the people who play them, and that his own features, voice, and gestures cannot be faked by a Leading Man. His insistence that the drama is 'in us' forces the Manager to attempt an impossible staging, and his guilt toward the Mother and Step-Daughter quietly fuels the story he is trying to tell.

## Relationships

### [The Manager](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_manager)

_professional_

The father desperately tries to convince the manager to stage their family drama, creating a tense author-character dynamic.

### [The Step-Daughter](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_step_daughter)

_psychological_

A deeply disturbing relationship of mutual obsession and shame, stemming from their near-incestuous encounter at Madame Pace's brothel.

### [The Mother](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_mother)

_family_

A broken marriage defined by the father's coldness, the mother's suffering, and their shared tragedy over the children.

### [The Son](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_son)

_family_

An estranged father-son relationship, with the son openly hostile and rejecting his father's attempts at connection.

### [The Actors](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_actors)

_professional_

The actors view the father as an unwelcome interloper disrupting their rehearsal.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters/the_father
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/six_characters_in_search_of_an_author_se/characters