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Inspector Pissani
The Superintendent is the stern, sadistic head of the Milan security police and Bertozzo, Pissani, and the First and Second Constables’ boss. When he first appears, he is sweaty, furious, and brandishing a club because he has come straight from interrogating (torturing) a subject. He quickly establishes his ties to the old Fascist government, and throughout the rest of the play, he tries and fails to present the Maniac and Maria Feletti with a plausible explanation of the anarchist’s death. Eventually, it becomes clear that the Superintendent pushed the anarchist out the window himself. Fo uses the Supervisor’s behavior to show his audience something that activists like him had known for decades: Fascist forces at high levels of the Italian police and military used their positions to stop left-wing movements by any means necessary, including by torturing activists and staging terrorist attacks.
The Superintendent Quotes in Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist quotes below are all either spoken by The Superintendent or refer to The Superintendent. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
SUPERINTENDENT: Who is this dribbling cretin?
PISSANI: Professor Marco Maria Malipiero!
SUPERINTENDENT: What!
PISSANI: First Councillor to the High Court!
SUPERINTENDENT: What!
PISSANI: His honour, the judge is here to conduct the new enquiry…
SUPERINTENDENT: (To PISSANI) Why didn’t you warn me. (To MANIAC) We were expecting you, your Honour, but not so soon.
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Explanation and Analysis:
MANIAC: “Forth from the sterilising flame…
SUPERINTENDENT: …shall burst an instrument of steel.”
MANIAC and SUPERINTENDENT: Ssssh!
SUPERINTENDENT’s eyes fill with wonder and awe at, the MANIAC. Comes to attention and clicks his heels. The MANIAC winks knowingly. They sing a few bars of the fascist youth song and do a few salutes at each other, giggling.
PISSANI: The second version.
CONSTABLE: What second version do you want?
SUPERINTENDENT: That one.
CONSTABLE: No. That’s the second first version.
PISSANI: Well where’s the first second version?
CONSTABLE: Here.
All three give file to MANIAC
ALL THREE: The second version!
MANIAC: So there has been a re-writing of events.
SUPERINTENDENT: A slight correction.
MANIAC: Yes?
SUPERINTENDENT: We corrected the time of the original interrogation in which we employed the…
MANIAC: The lies?
SUPERINTENDENT: … Er deception strategy. The session ended at eight instead of nearly midnight as previously stated.
MANIAC: You moved everything forward four hours.
PISSANI: Except the fall from the window. There were witnesses to that.
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Explanation and Analysis:
PISSANI: We only behaved according to specific directives.
MANIAC: Exactly. “You must provoke the kind of atmosphere in which we can justifiably demand greater repressive powers.” That’s what they told you, right?
PISSANI: They were very persuasive.
SUPERINTENDENT: The subhuman filth are threatening to engulf our beloved country.
MANIAC: “Society is falling apart.”
SUPERINTENDENT: Action has to be taken. I appeal to your finer instincts, Kamerad.
MANIAC: “Strengthen the state.”
SUPERINTENDENT: Were we wrong?
MANIAC: “Crack down on hooligans, drop-outs, drunks addicts, squatters, demonstrators, infiltrate the union militants, round up activists, fatten up the files, polish your rubber bullets…”
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Explanation and Analysis:
PISSANI: He’s right!
He climbs onto the window sill.
PISSANI: I can’t bear the disgrace! Famiglia, pardona me!
SUPERINTENDENT: No! No! No! There has to be another way!
MANIAC: Can’t you feel the raptus boiling up inside you?
PISSANI: Oh oh oooh.
Swaying there, about to jump.
MANIAC: One great liberating leap!
SUPERINTENDENT: (Suddenly) I’ve got it! Don’t panic! I’ve got it!
PISSANI: If I want to panic, I’ll panic! I’m going!
As he leaps the SUPERINTENDENT grabs him and pulls him back in.
MANIAC: Besides being evident garbage your stories lack the tiniest vestige of humanity. No warmth. No laughter. No pain. No remorse. SING! (Guitars) For God’s sake. Show a human heart beating beyond the sordid tangle of lies you have left in your wake. Before it is too late, give the public something to believe in. SING! (Cast begin to sing) Sing and they may forgive the superficial facts. Three tortured human souls, albeit they are policemen, singing their suspect’s song with him to cheer him through his darkest hour. The song of anarchy itself. “Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, revolution in our hearts.”
Act 2, Scene 1
Quotes
PISSANI: I was just scaring him. You are the nutter!
SUPERINTENDENT: I’m a nutter!?
CONSTABLE: Please.
PISSANI: Well you bloody pushed him, chum!
SUPERINTENDENT: Did I? Did I? That is a laugh alright! All on my own, was I!
Suddenly all three realise at the same instant that the MANIAC is listening. They freeze. Slowly turn. The MANIAC has a beatific smile. Pause. No one speaks.
FELETTI: So! Notwithstanding knowing that to handle, let, alone make, bombs of this kind probably requires military skill, you completely ignored all other avenues of investigation and concentrated your entire effort on the most pathetic and disorganised group of anarchists in Italy.
SUPERINTENDENT: Pathetic they may look, but their disorganisation is only a cunning façade.
FELETTI: And what do we find behind this cunning façade. Superintendent? I’ll tell you. A group of ten, one of whom was a spy employed by this office, two detectives from the crime squad, and a fourth member turns out to be a notorious fascist well known to everyone except this feeble bunch of anarchists. How many more government employees have you got scattered amongst the far left?
MANIAC: (Getting carried away. To audience) How many more Russian spies are downing port at Buckingham Palace? Why did the Anthony Blunt cover-up happen? Why? Because class runs thicker than nationhood or ideology. But who gives a TINKER’S about that—what the scandal-mongering press cares about Blunt is whether he is knocking off Guy Burgess.
SUPERINTENDENT: (Name of actor who is playing the part) This isn’t Dario Fo.
MANIAC: I know, but I love bit of political gossip. What about the bastard politicians and businessmen mixed-up in busting Rhodesian oil sanctions? We all know who they are. Are there any arrests? Not fucking likely. Meanwhile innocent black kids can’t walk the streets for fear of getting picked up on SUS charges.
PISSANI: This is unheard of distortion of the author’s meaning!
MANIAC: He’ll get his royalties. Who’s moaning?
PISSANI: Get back to the script!
SUPERINTENDENT: This is an insult to Dario Fo!
Get the entire Accidental Death of an Anarchist LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Superintendent Quotes in Accidental Death of an Anarchist
The Accidental Death of an Anarchist quotes below are all either spoken by The Superintendent or refer to The Superintendent. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 2
Quotes
SUPERINTENDENT: Who is this dribbling cretin?
PISSANI: Professor Marco Maria Malipiero!
SUPERINTENDENT: What!
PISSANI: First Councillor to the High Court!
SUPERINTENDENT: What!
PISSANI: His honour, the judge is here to conduct the new enquiry…
SUPERINTENDENT: (To PISSANI) Why didn’t you warn me. (To MANIAC) We were expecting you, your Honour, but not so soon.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
MANIAC: “Forth from the sterilising flame…
SUPERINTENDENT: …shall burst an instrument of steel.”
MANIAC and SUPERINTENDENT: Ssssh!
SUPERINTENDENT’s eyes fill with wonder and awe at, the MANIAC. Comes to attention and clicks his heels. The MANIAC winks knowingly. They sing a few bars of the fascist youth song and do a few salutes at each other, giggling.
PISSANI: The second version.
CONSTABLE: What second version do you want?
SUPERINTENDENT: That one.
CONSTABLE: No. That’s the second first version.
PISSANI: Well where’s the first second version?
CONSTABLE: Here.
All three give file to MANIAC
ALL THREE: The second version!
MANIAC: So there has been a re-writing of events.
SUPERINTENDENT: A slight correction.
MANIAC: Yes?
SUPERINTENDENT: We corrected the time of the original interrogation in which we employed the…
MANIAC: The lies?
SUPERINTENDENT: … Er deception strategy. The session ended at eight instead of nearly midnight as previously stated.
MANIAC: You moved everything forward four hours.
PISSANI: Except the fall from the window. There were witnesses to that.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
PISSANI: We only behaved according to specific directives.
MANIAC: Exactly. “You must provoke the kind of atmosphere in which we can justifiably demand greater repressive powers.” That’s what they told you, right?
PISSANI: They were very persuasive.
SUPERINTENDENT: The subhuman filth are threatening to engulf our beloved country.
MANIAC: “Society is falling apart.”
SUPERINTENDENT: Action has to be taken. I appeal to your finer instincts, Kamerad.
MANIAC: “Strengthen the state.”
SUPERINTENDENT: Were we wrong?
MANIAC: “Crack down on hooligans, drop-outs, drunks addicts, squatters, demonstrators, infiltrate the union militants, round up activists, fatten up the files, polish your rubber bullets…”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
PISSANI: He’s right!
He climbs onto the window sill.
PISSANI: I can’t bear the disgrace! Famiglia, pardona me!
SUPERINTENDENT: No! No! No! There has to be another way!
MANIAC: Can’t you feel the raptus boiling up inside you?
PISSANI: Oh oh oooh.
Swaying there, about to jump.
MANIAC: One great liberating leap!
SUPERINTENDENT: (Suddenly) I’ve got it! Don’t panic! I’ve got it!
PISSANI: If I want to panic, I’ll panic! I’m going!
As he leaps the SUPERINTENDENT grabs him and pulls him back in.
MANIAC: Besides being evident garbage your stories lack the tiniest vestige of humanity. No warmth. No laughter. No pain. No remorse. SING! (Guitars) For God’s sake. Show a human heart beating beyond the sordid tangle of lies you have left in your wake. Before it is too late, give the public something to believe in. SING! (Cast begin to sing) Sing and they may forgive the superficial facts. Three tortured human souls, albeit they are policemen, singing their suspect’s song with him to cheer him through his darkest hour. The song of anarchy itself. “Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, revolution in our hearts.”
Act 2, Scene 1
Quotes
PISSANI: I was just scaring him. You are the nutter!
SUPERINTENDENT: I’m a nutter!?
CONSTABLE: Please.
PISSANI: Well you bloody pushed him, chum!
SUPERINTENDENT: Did I? Did I? That is a laugh alright! All on my own, was I!
Suddenly all three realise at the same instant that the MANIAC is listening. They freeze. Slowly turn. The MANIAC has a beatific smile. Pause. No one speaks.
FELETTI: So! Notwithstanding knowing that to handle, let, alone make, bombs of this kind probably requires military skill, you completely ignored all other avenues of investigation and concentrated your entire effort on the most pathetic and disorganised group of anarchists in Italy.
SUPERINTENDENT: Pathetic they may look, but their disorganisation is only a cunning façade.
FELETTI: And what do we find behind this cunning façade. Superintendent? I’ll tell you. A group of ten, one of whom was a spy employed by this office, two detectives from the crime squad, and a fourth member turns out to be a notorious fascist well known to everyone except this feeble bunch of anarchists. How many more government employees have you got scattered amongst the far left?
MANIAC: (Getting carried away. To audience) How many more Russian spies are downing port at Buckingham Palace? Why did the Anthony Blunt cover-up happen? Why? Because class runs thicker than nationhood or ideology. But who gives a TINKER’S about that—what the scandal-mongering press cares about Blunt is whether he is knocking off Guy Burgess.
SUPERINTENDENT: (Name of actor who is playing the part) This isn’t Dario Fo.
MANIAC: I know, but I love bit of political gossip. What about the bastard politicians and businessmen mixed-up in busting Rhodesian oil sanctions? We all know who they are. Are there any arrests? Not fucking likely. Meanwhile innocent black kids can’t walk the streets for fear of getting picked up on SUS charges.
PISSANI: This is unheard of distortion of the author’s meaning!
MANIAC: He’ll get his royalties. Who’s moaning?
PISSANI: Get back to the script!
SUPERINTENDENT: This is an insult to Dario Fo!
