The Late Mattia Pascal

The Late Mattia Pascal is a 1904 novel by Luigi Pirandello. It is tragicomic in nature, blending a dark macabre story with a humorous style. The novel is one of Pirandello’s earlier works. In it, he deals extensively with the theme of personal identity, a theme he would go on to explore in depth in many of his later novels and plays. The Late Mattia Pascal has been adapted into films several times. The first was a 1925 French silent movie, and the most recent was a 1985 Italian version.

Mattia and Roberto Pascal are carefree young brothers who live with their wealthy widowed mother. At first, life for the family is easy, but gradually the family steward Batty Malagna cheats the widow out of most of her fortune, plunging the family into poverty. The widow maintained steadfast confidence in Batty, even though everyone around her, including Mattia, knew that he was cheating her.

In his teens, Mattia falls in love with a beautiful young woman Romilda Pescatore. However, Batty also has designs on Romilda.  He has previously had two wives, neither of whom had been able to give him children, and he is ready to move on to a new woman. When Romilda becomes pregnant from Mattia, her mother advises her to make Batty her lover and convince him that the child is his so that he will improve the family’s position.



Romilda agrees to the plan but finds herself unable to keep the secret. She tells Batty the truth, but together they agree to keep the child’s real father a secret because it reflects well on Batty when people do not think he is unable to have a child. However, Batty’s wife finds out about the affair from Mattia, and as an act of revenge becomes pregnant with Mattia’s child as well. When Batty finds out about this, he refuses to help Romilda and wills all of his fortune to Mattia’s child by his own wife.

Mattia and Romilda are free to marry, but they are very poor. Romilda’s shrewish mother moves in with them in a tiny hovel, making Mattia’s life miserable. Mattia’s mother and child die suddenly. After their deaths, Roberto, who has married into a rich family, sends Mattia a large cash gift. Mattia decides to take the money to travel a bit, so he goes to Monte Carlo and wins an even larger sum gambling.

On the way home, he reads a newspaper account of his own death. Mattia has accidentally been declared dead in his hometown. Deciding to make the most of it, he runs away to start a new life with the money he has made gambling, which is enough for him to live comfortably for the rest of his life. He moves to Rome, calling himself Adriano Meis. At first, Mattia’s life in Rome is happy and carefree, but he soon finds that he can do very little without documents to prove he is who he says he is. He knows that if he reveals his true identity, he will be arrested for abandoning his wife and evading his debts.



Mattia falls in love with his landlord’s daughter Adriana, but he cannot marry her without first proving his existence. One day, the landlord’s son-in-law steals a large sum of money from Mattia, but he cannot go to the police for fear that they will ask him embarrassing questions and probe into his past. Everyone knows who stole the money from Mattia, and when he doesn’t go to the police, they become suspicious. Even Adriana begins to doubt and fear him.

Mattia then has the idea to return to his old life. First, he will have to die as Adriano so that he can become Mattia again. He leaves evidence on the riverbank to make it look as if he has drowned himself, and then goes into hiding. Soon after, the newspapers report that Adriano Meis is dead.

Feeling free, Mattia goes to visit his brother’s family. There he learns that Romilda has remarried in his absence, and if he goes back to her it will void the second marriage. Mattia will have to take Romilda and her mother-in-law back.



Mattia returns to his hometown to atone for abandoning his family. There he finds Romilda happily married with a child. His mother-in-law approves of the union much more than she ever approved of Mattia and even treats Romilda’s current husband well. Everyone involved decides that it’s best to leave things how they are. Romilda and her current husband stay married and Mattia retires to a house on the outskirts of town. He spends his time reading and writing his memoirs, which he desires to be published on the event of his third and final death.