“The greatness of Eduardo lies in his not believing himself to be better than his characters. He neither condemns nor absolves, he simply represents the world matter- of -factly without censoring and without anger. His gaze does not fear compassion. Here, he seems to identify with Pasquale, or at least to recognize himself as a visionary dreamer who never admits defeat, not even when others see him as a failure. Why else would the wife stay with him? For cowardice? What if she had seen something poignant in him? What if she had followed that urge to lift his head from out of the sand? “
Marco Tullio Giordana
