Ofelia Pirandella: rozważania nad kobiecym szaleństwem

Ophelia of Pirandello: reflections around female madness Abstract The article is devoted to an analysis of Luigi Pirandello’s drama As You Desire Me which drawsinspiration from an actual event connected with questions on the identity of a person sufferingfrom amnesia. Unlike the real incident, the main character of Pirandello’s is a woman knownonly by her alias Stranger, as the main theme of the drama is establishing her true identity. Thepresent article aims at proving that Pirandello’s drama is not a criminal mystery, but rathera deep reflection on the notion of human personality which in the case of a woman receivesnew, interesting meanings. One of them is spotting the correspondence between Pirandelli’sStranger and Shakespeare’s Ophelia, as madness of both characters appears to have similarroots: female’s insanity seen through the prism of both dramas appears as defiance againstthe culture of patriarchy, but also stems from the conviction of one’s own emptiness andundefinedness. In this context, referring to studies on feminist criticism (E. Shawalter,K. Kłosińska, K. Woźniak), including studies on female hysteria is of relevance. Even thoughthe structure of drama appears to lead to a finale in which the truth about the character isuncovered, Pirandello does not reveal her true identity. However, questions on female identityand female madness are worth reflecting upon, even if they remain unanswered. Keywords: Luigi Pirandello, As you desire me, impersonality, Ophelia, tarantism, Jean-MartinCharcot, Aleksandra Mianowska, female madness, female identity, Elaine Showalter, feministliterary criticis