Mistero Buffos Authoratative Society Essay, Research Paper

Dario Fo’s play Mistero Buffo is a series of short plays that seem to question authority as well as the Catholic Church. In each of the seven short plays that make up Mistero Buffo, Dario Fo tries to bring into question the ideas of the church, which is the center of authority in Italy. Because the Catholic Church is based in Rome, religion plays a major role in Italian culture. The Church is constantly preaching its doctrines to the proletariat of Rome and the rest of Italy. Some people follow the religion and its traditions, while others do not. These people detest the idea of conforming to the Catholic Church’s authoritative structure. It is not surprising then that Fo has problems with the church and it’s conventional beliefs. In Mistero Buffo, Dario Fo shows us how authority controls the proletariat and through injustices makes him suffer. He also demonstrates how we can and should stand up against these injustices no matter what the cost. Fo pokes fun at the Catholic Church, showing how it is also a cause of the many injustices of society. Throughout Mistero Buffo, Dario Fo is asking us to question this “authoritative society” in order to gain dignity and self-respect.

In Mistero Buffo, Dario Fo attempts to instill passionate dignity into the members of his audience. He accomplishes this by acting in a Jesus-like manner. When I say “Jesus-like manner” I mean that he questions authoritative society and all of its injustices. It is ironic that Fo is using parodies of Bible stories involving Jesus to symbolize many of the injustices that Jesus fought to overthrow. Jesus preached throughout the New Testament about having faith and dignity. He prompted people to question unjust actions as well as laws. He had many disagreements with the high priests about Jewish laws and practices, but this did not hamper his questioning. It was this questioning of authority that, in the end, brought about Jesus’ crucifixion. Fo is telling us that Jesus is the example to follow. He stood up often for injustices although he knew he would be punished for his actions. Fo wants us to realize that life may not be worth living if there is nothing to strive for.

In the “Birth of the Villeyn” a boss says to the peasant,

I want my little paradise here and now; it may be small, but I want it for all the time that I am here on earth. You are lucky, though! You will have everything. You will have Paradise! You will only get it after death, it’s true, but you will have it for all eternity (63).

This quote shows how society and the church use their authoritative structures and influences against those with no power. The contracts that existed between the peasants and the landlords during the Middle Ages were called angheria – in other words, “oppression.” Dario Fo is telling us that injustices occur as a result of the authoritative society that we live in. “Tax everything he does, tax him even when he shits. At carnival time allow him to dance?but not too much, because he must not forget that he exists in order to labor”(60). The villeyn in this short story represents the proletariat, while the boss represents authority. The boss treats the villeyn harshly with the notion that the villeyn will not rise up in rebellion. This is one of the greatest blackmails that the rich can use against the proletariat. They say to the proletariat that they will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven if they rebel, because that is where the true paradise lies. “I, for my part, am damned! I, for my misfortunes, am a boss”(63). The authority of society always configures distorted excuses in order to justify their unjust actions. Otherwise, there would be reason enough to evoke change. The authority of society oppresses the proletariat and justifies its actions through nominally reasoned excuses in order to continue their exploitation of the proletariat. Through “Birth of the Villeyn” Fo is showing us that unjust, authoritative societies are unfair to the poor and supportive of the rich.

Fo is telling us to stand up for our rights. If there is no one to question injustices then is nothing left to stop injustice from occurring? “Slaughter of the Innocents” from Mistero Buffo depicts soldiers killing all the male babies in Bethlehem. The soldiers are under orders to find baby Jesus and kill him. When one soldier questions this “slaughter of the innocents” he is told to follow orders, and tear the newborn males to shreds. The soldier replies, ” I shit on those orders”(22), informing his superior officer that he will not stand for what is happening. He questioned the authority of a person higher in command and stood up for what he thought was right. Was it worth the soldier’s life for dignity? Fo certainly agrees that dignity is worth dying for. He wants people to act in accordance with what they believe-and not to act how others tell them to. Society should refuse the efforts of authorities and organizations such as the church when they impose their unwanted doctrines on the people. Fo is not quite the anarchist he may seem. He is actually telling us to stand up for what is right and to not stop the injustices that oppress people.

The Catholic Church imposes itself on the people of Italy-even onto those who do not want it. The last play of this collection is entitled “Bonafice VIII.” Dario Fo’s anger is much fiercer for being in comic terms. “It is reserved for the Pope and all his magnificent vestments who spurns Jesus as a poor and worthless creature”(x). In this play, Fo is showing us how the Catholic Church is an unjust center of authority. Bonafice VIII, the Pope, represents authority and Jesus represents the proletariat. At the sight of Jesus carrying the cross, Bonafice says to one of his clerics, “Damn! Lets get moving! I don’t like looking at things like this”(82). Here Fo is showing us that the church is corrupt, like authority is to the proletariat. The Pope, in all his expensive vestments, was disgusted by the sight of Jesus who was poor. Fo would agree with the idea that “the dignity of the church should be founded on the dignity of the poor.”(Sagalello, 72). The Catholic Church, which is a very wealthy organization, and that has within it a large body of proletariat who are dying of hunger, should hand over its wealth to the poor. Fo is criticizing the church for its corruptness, which leads to the oppression of the people who belong to it. He wants us to see that the rich take advantage of the poor for their own gains. It is because of these injustices that the rich stay rich and the poor stay helpless. Fo has Bonafice refer to Jesus as the “donkey of all donkeys” in order to show the corruptness and hypocritical nature of the church and therefor the corruptness of society.

Dario Fo’s play Mistero Buffo is a very entertaining play with a strong central theme. This theme is to achieve dignity by standing up against oppressive forces. The Catholic Church is oppressive in Italy, pushing its ideas and doctrine onto almost every citizen. Mistero Buffo “reflects his (Dario Fo) subversive reading of Scriptures which is certainly anti-clerical but on another level reflects the view that the Christian tradition is capable in being interpreted in a radical, life-affirming way”(X). Dario Fo uses parables from the Bible to make his central point clear. This central point is to question authoritative society with the intention of achieving dignity for one’s self. Everyone in their life needs to quench the insatiable need to find and posses dignity, so that we are not all puppets of the ruling class.

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