Accidental Death Of An Anarchist

“SERGEANT. It’s always the same story. We’re always caught in-between. It’s only one week since that anarchist we were interrogating jumped out the window.”

This quotation introduces the audience to the inciting incident of the play, the anarchist’s death and the police department’s false explanation. In addition to sharing the inciting incident, the quote also explains the police’s perspective on their place in society, caught between the people and the government.

“FOOL. A sane person could, but I couldn’t. I am licensed to be crazy. See here, I have my complete clinical file with me. Sixteen times institutionalized—and always for the same reason: ‘histromania’; from the Latin ‘histrones’, which means, of course, ‘actor’. See, I can’t stop myself from playing roles.”

Here, The Fool is explaining his character background and why he won’t be charged and sent to prison for impersonating a psychiatrist. The psychiatric diagnosis may well be as fictitious as everything else he says about himself, but the compulsion to perform roles is real: a true description of his mode of protest and of existence in an unjust and dishonest social system.

“FOOL. But being a judge is the best of all occupations. First of all you hardly ever have to retire. In fact, at the precise moment when an ordinary man, any working person, reaches fifty-five or sixty years old and already has to be dumped because he’s beginning to get a little slow, a little late in his reflexes, the judge is just starting the high point of his career. […] the older and more feeble-minded they get, the higher ranks they’re promoted to. They’re given important, absolute powers! […] Well, these characters have the power to save or destroy however and whenever they will: they toss out certain life sentences just the way someone might say ‘hey, maybe it will rain tomorrow!’”

This quotation illustrates The Fool’s interest in playing the role of the judge. Through The Fool’s perspective, Fo satirizes judges and the double standard that elevates them to a position of authority over. He illustrates the terrifying randomness of a corrupt judicial system with limited checks and balances.

“FOOL. And if you react with force there’s article 122B: provocation and violence resulting in harm to a defenseless and disabled individual incapable of taking responsibility for his or her own actions. Six to nine years, and loss of your pension!”

As The Fool explains his legal protections, he explains that he cannot be held accountable for his actions, a trait that follows his character through the play, even as the roles he is interested in playing come with power to hold others judge and punish others. This quote also indicates the type of bureaucratic technicalities that he relies on to confuse others.

“FOOL. My clinical report...prescription list...hey, here’s my criminal citation! Oh well, let’s tear it up, out of sight, out of mind. Hm, wonder who this citation is for? (reads) ‘Armed Robbery.’ In a pharmacy, that makes sense! It’s all right, forget it, you’re pardoned. (tears up that citation also). And what have you done? (reads) “Unlawful appropriation...damage...’ Nonsense, nonsense. Go on my boy, you’re free! (tears it up) Everybody free! (he stops to examine one particular document) No, not you, you bastard! You’re staying right here where you are...going up the river.”

This quotation continues examining the corrupt and arbitrary nature of the justice system. The Fool destroys his criminal record and those that belong to those who he deems worthy, just as judges do on a daily basis, illustrating Fo’s commentary on the judicial system.

“FOOL. A supreme court judge? They’re sending him from Washington?—oops, sorry I mean Rome; once in a while I forget about theatrical transposition. Ah he’s supposed to be some kind of ‘auditor.’ Of course, apparently there’s some disagreement within the Ministry of Justice about the motivations of that judge who decided to have the investigation closed and filed away...Oh, it’s just hearsay; that what I figured.”

This quotation introduces the investigation into the anarchist’s death and illustrates the controversy surrounding it. The Fool also refers to the audience, acknowledging the fourth wall, informing the audience of the satirical awareness of Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

“FOOL. That’s just where we are, at the beginning. Later on—proceed in order: toward midnight, the anarchist seized by a fit of raptus—it’s still you, Chief, who are talking—seized by raptus, threw himself out of the window, crashing to the ground. Now, what is ‘raptus?’ Bandieu states that ‘raptus’ is an exasperated form of suicidal anguish which seizes even psychologically healthy individuals, if they are provoked to violent anxiety; to desperate suffering. Correct?”

The Fool questions the police’s explanation of “raptus,” and he defines what that term means and how it is being applied in the play. As he explores the police’s report, their poor excuses indicate to the audience what part of the report is most questionable.

“Fool. Eh, eh, it’s not nice to throw the responsibility onto your own staff members; in fact, it’s rather naughty. Come on, get yourself together and play your part...

CAPTAIN. But, judge, it was one of those expedients that’s often used, in every police department...just a normal procedure to make the suspect confess. […]

FOOL. Now, Chief please play the entrance scene for me, in first person. Go ahead, and give it all you got.”

The Fool is always acting and devising plays in the real world. This quotation exemplifies the personality trait: At this point in the play he is playing the role of a judge and uses his authority to chastise The Chief, speaking to him as a director would speak to an actor.

“CHIEF. Don’t give me the innocent act! You know exactly what bombs I’m talking about: the once you people planted in the railway cars at the central station, eight months ago.

FOOL. But did you really have the proof?

CHIEF. No, but just like the Captain was trying to explain before, it was one of the usual tricks we police officers apply pretty often.”

The quotation is one of the first times The Chief openly admits he did not have any actual evidence indicating the anarchist’s involvement in bombing a railroad track. Instead, The Chief admits to misleading the suspect in order to get a confession. He admits that the technique is commonplace among the police, illustrating a pattern of Corruption and Abuse of Power.

“FOOL. […]you tell an anarchist: ‘things don’t look so hot for you; when we tell the railroad managers you’re an anarchist, they’ll throw you out in the street—canned!’ And he gets depressed...The truth is that an anarchist cares about his job more than anything else. Basically, they’re petty bourgeois...attached to their small comforts: fixed salary every month, benefits, bonus, retirement pension, health insurance, a tranquil old age...believe me, nobody thinks about his own retirement more than an anarchist.”

This quotation is an example of Fo’s satire. In lending support to the officers’ claim that threatening the anarchist’s job drove him to suicide, he emphasizes the mild-mannered and ordinary nature of most anarchists. Far from the bomb-throwing terrorists the police portray them as, anarchists are in fact ordinary, bourgeois citizens whose radical rhetoric belies their real desire to keep their jobs and pensions.

“FOOL. And in conclusion, you added that the anarchist’s suicidal act was ‘an obvious gesture of self-accusation.’

CHIEF. Yes, I said so.

FOOL. And you, Inspector, shouted that during his life the man had been a had been a delinquent, a troublemaker. But after only a few weeks, you, Chief declared—here’s the document—that ‘naturally,’ I repeat ‘naturally,’ there was no concrete evidence against the poor guy. Correct? Therefore, he was entirely innocent. You yourself even commented, Captain, ‘that anarchist was a good kid.’”

The police have rewritten their report to obscure their personal feelings about the anarchist, distancing themselves from culpability in his death. If they thought the anarchist was a “good kid,” then they wouldn’t have targeted or killed him. However, if they thought he was a troublemaker and suspicious, it would explain why they may have motive for killing the anarchist.

“FOOL. Good grief, anybody can make a mistake. But you boys, if you’ll pardon my saying so, really laid a big one. First of all you arbitrarily detain a free citizen, then abuse your authority by keeping him over the legal time limit, after you traumatize the poor signalman by telling you you’ve got proof […] then you more or less deliberately give him the psychosis that he’s going to lose his job […] I’m sorry, but in my opinion you are guilty, and how! You’re totally responsible for the anarchist’s death!”

The Fool has convinced The Chief and Captain Pissani that he is a both a judge and an ally of the police. However, in this moment he humiliates them, pointing out every corrupt thing they did and why they will be found guilty at court. He does this as part of a tactic to incite a feeling of “raptus” in The Chief and the captain, not only to give them a taste of their own medicine, but to also illustrate the level of control he has over the situation.

“FOOL. There’s an old English proverb that says: ‘the nobleman sets his hounds against the peasants, and if the peasants complain to the king, the nobleman seeks pardon by killing the hounds.’”

The proverb The Fool references in this quotation is made up. However, it is a metaphor for how the government will attack the police to save face in front of the public. The Fool intimates that by turning on the police who enforce the status quo on behalf of a corrupt government, that government will be able to distract the people from the greater systemic issue.

“OFFICER. What’s going on, sir?

FOOL. Oh, nothing, nothing happened. Right, Inspector? Right Chief? Go, ahead, put your officer’s mind at ease.”

The Fool is exercising his control over the scene and his fellow characters. Despite the police being authority figures, The Fool has convinced them to listen to him as he avoids being held accountable for his actions, alluding to the way the police and other authorities avoid accountability for their actions.

“FOOL. The whole government loves you! […] the English proverb about the nobleman killing his hounds is false, too. No lord ever killed a good hunting dog to satisfy a peasant! If anything, it’s been the other way around. And if the hound gets killed in the free-for-all, the King immediately sends a sympathy telegram to the nobleman.”

This quotation illustrates another manipulation technique of The Fool’s character. He explains that he was lying when he threatened the police and their jobs. As The Fool explains he was lying, Fo’s commentary comes to light, pointing out the coddling that the police receive from the government and the people in power, while the public is left to suffer without any intervention on their behalf.

“CHIEF. No, no, your honor; there’s been a misunderstanding...the officer was referring to the first version. We’re talking about the second one.

FOOL. Ah, that’s right...because at a later stage, there was a sort of retraction.

CHIEF. Well, I wouldn’t say exactly a retraction. A simple correction...”

The Chief directly references the revisions the police report has gone through, admitting that they have changed, retracted, and “corrected” the report to make themselves look as innocent as possible. This is an example of how the police manipulate the truth to justify their behavior.

“FOOL. Listen to me: at this point, if we want to find a coherent solution, the only way to figure out what’s going on is to throw everything up in the air and start all over again from the beginning.

CAPTAIN. Should we construct a third version?

FOOL. Good God, no! All we have to do is lend more plausibility to the two we already have. […] All right then, point one, first rule: what’s been said is said, and there’s no turning back.”

The Fool explains, in this quotation, how important it is to limit the number of drafts and revisions of the police report. He acknowledges that changing the facts is necessary to make the police’s excuses seem plausible, but there is a limited number of times they can change things before they begin to look even more suspicious to the public. This acknowledgment offers nuance to Fo’s exploration of truth as a primary theme in Accidental Death of an Anarchist.

“REPORTER. The Inspector from the fourth-floor office forced me to sit astride the window ledge with my legs hanging down, and then started poking and insulting me...‘jump; why don’t you jump...don’t have the guts, eh? Finish it off! What are you waiting for?’ I swear I had to clench my teeth so I wouldn’t give in, so I wouldn’t let myself go.”

As The Reporter reads a letter from a man who had been previously interrogated by Captain Pissani, the audience confirms that what happened to the anarchist was not unique. This quotation reaffirms Fo’s themes of corruption and abuse of power by showing Captain Pissani’s habit of setting his suspects up to fall out or jump from a window.

“CHIEF. I for one feel not the slightest embarrassment that we, the government, are using every tool we can think of.”

In this quotation, The Chief admits that he doesn’t feel ashamed of crossing lines between proper police procedure and corruption. His comfort with abusing his power to extend the reach of the police reinforces Fo’s belief that the police are inherently corrupt and have no reason to think they’ll be held accountable, so they do it without hesitation.

“FOOL. They want a revolution, and we’ll give them reforms. Or rather, we’ll drown them with the promise of reforms, because we’ll never give them real ones, either!!”

The Fool describes the process by which a successful corrupt government distracts the people through the promise of reforms. He acknowledges that nothing will ever change, but by the promise or hope of change, the public’s frustration with the way society works will be quelled enough to stop them from taking action.

“FOOL. Well, what did you expect, ma’am? That we would respond to your obvious provocations by admitting that if we in the police force had bothered to seriously follow up more reliable leads, like paramilitary and fascist organizations financed by big industrials, led and supported by military officers from Greece and surrounding territories, instead of going on a goose-chase after that handful of raggedy-ass anarchists, maybe we would have gotten to the bottom of the whole mess?”

In this quotation, The Fool is responding to The Reporter. By pretending to ridicule an eminently reasonable position, he makes the police look ridiculous. In reality, he recognizes that the corrupt police ignore the political groups they agree with in favor of framing groups that protest and disagree with the police.

“Like it or not, I will impose truth and justice; I will do everything humanly possible to make sure that scandals are clamorously exposed; and do not forget that, in the stench of scandal, all authority is submerged. Let scandal be welcomed, for upon it is based the most enduring power of the state!”

In the guise of a bishop, The Fool advances his most cynical critique of the relationship between government and media. In exposing scandals, the press pretends to work for justice, but the corrupt system only becomes stronger when scandals are exposed.

“FOOL. We’re still a developing nation, practically precapitalist. If you want to see what we have to look forward to, take a good look at a more developed country, like America. They have a President who falls asleep at press conferences and keeps forgetting which questions he’s answering […] The important thing is to convince people that everything is going fine. America is up to its ears in scandal: The President’s advisors are being indicted, but he stands behind them until they’re convicted. Right-wing dictators re-invest US aid in New York real estate, and we welcome our money back.”

This quotation is the heart of The Fool’s motivation. He explains that he wants to force Italy into the modern day, to be as corrupt as other capitalist societies like the United States, where scandals run rampant.

“FOOL. Scandals are the fertilizer of Western democracy.”

This quotation is important because it succinctly explains the theme of Scandal as a Means to Maintain the Status Quo. In The Fool’s view, scandals are integral to growing Western democracy, as they provide a pressure release valve, allowing the public to vent their anger at small, specific targets without disturbing the overall corrupt system.