“My happiness is in your hands.”1 This is the Countess’ plea as Susanna enters the Count’s study. She is about to accept the Count’s offer to meet after her wedding at her mistress’s request. This riveting scene in “The Marriage of Figaro” premiered on the stage of the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1st, 1986.2 With the music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, the Italian opera was an adaption of Pierre- Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais’ play “The Follies of a Day or, The Marriage of Figaro”. The play finally made it to the stage on April 27th, 1984, of the Comedie-Française after being banned by King Joseph II and being revised by a second censor board.3 “The Marriage of Figaro” takes place on the wedding day of …show more content…
She was intelligent and compassionate and insightful. This insight is clear to us from the beginning, as the curtains open on a bedroom, in which Figaro is measuring and Susanna is preparing her headdress for the ceremony later that day. Their duet begins and Figaro is measuring dimensions of furniture to a “bourree pattern”6 with strong beats, while Susanna sings a “gavotte”7 which is quick and lively, about her beautiful headdress. She calls to Figaro to admire it, and breaks his pattern. “The third-beat accent of her melody unsettles Figaro’s deliberate downbeat… interfere[ing] with the valet’s concentration… throwing his vocal tallying out of sync.”8 She fills in his space with a delicate melody that gets him back on tempo and turns his attention towards her, where he finally acknowledges her headdress and remarks about the practicality of the room, leading into the second duet. Here we draw the parallel between Figaro’s masculine rhythm and his rationality. His steady downbeats match the logic he uses to take the Count’s gift of the room as an advantage, because it is close to both the Count and Countess’s quarters. Similar to the way Susanna was able to “sing” Figaro back into place, she uses her global perspective of the situation to realize the Count wants her close to his room for easier access. Susanna leads Figaro to this realization, and brings him to the reality of the situation. Using her insight, Susanna demonstrates
The focus of this paper will be to compare and contrast the works of two playwrights. The works that will be considered are Molière’s The Would-Be Gentleman and Beaumarchais’s The Marriage of Figaro. Both considered comedies, Moliere’s is a short play that tells the tale of Monsieur Jourdain, a tradesman who desires to become a gentleman. Beaumarchais’s play, second in the Figaro trilogy, follows the series of event prior to Figaro’s wedding. Figaro and his companions scheme to ensure that his marriage occurs smoothly. Furthermore, the plays are dated 100 years apart from each other, and they deal with the representation of social hierarchy, social mobility, and gender roles in various ways. With that in mind, they become good sources to compare and contrast the changes in society that occurred within those 100 years. This paper will compare both plays to examine how Molière further endorses the social values and ideas of his time, while Beaumarchais’s presents a shift in attitude towards those values and challenges them.
who were in love were seen to live in harmony and this gave golden age writers,
Progressing through the novel, Miss Lavish, an extravagant woman, guides Lucy to release control and embrace the unknown. Coming from an upper class, Lucy’s perspective on life has always been encompassed on social norms. The people she interacts with and rules she must follow all have a distinct relationship to her social class. Italy has given her the opportunity to go beyond the social standard that her upper-class stature puts forth. Miss Lavish tries to rotate Lucy’s close-minded view of the world because she believes that exploring will always lead to a wide variety of opportunities. When Mrs. Lavish says "One doesn't come to Italy for niceness," was the retort; "one comes for life. Buon Giorno! Buon Giorno!" (2.12) She is forcing Lucy to look up from the Baedeker which subtly begins to introduce the idea that this, in fact, represents Lucy slowly peering up from the metaphoric barrier the society has created for her. Lucy has always been a shy girl who was influenced by other people’s opinions on her, but coming to Italy gave her a new outlet to discover her own personality. It’s a new environment where she can explore not only the streets of Italy but the streets of her thought process as well. Mrs. Lavish unintentionally introduces to Lucy that in order to explore, you must be patient. Lucy finds that solutions to all issues are not just given. When she says, “As to the true Italy--he does not even dream of it. The true Italy is only to be found by patient observation." (2.12) It points Lucy in the direction of solving
The female characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance, Zenobia and Priscilla, differ in their representations of womanhood. Zenobia begins as an independent character, whom later surrenders to Hollingsworth's control, whereas Priscilla is ever submissive to his desires. This determines how the male characters, Coverdale and Hollingsworth, view both women. Coverdale and Hollingsworth are first enamored by Zenobia's charm, but both fall for Priscilla's docility. Zenobia represents female independence and Priscilla embodies feminine subservience; the triumph of Priscilla casts the male vote in this novel unanimously
Jan van Eyck has been one of the more prominent early Netherlandish painters during his time. He has had many famous works, however one of his more interesting and questionable pieces is The Arnolfini Portrait. There is much to be desired in this painting by the great van Eyck. Van Eyck has been a master painter most of his career, but in this painting he is able to show how his excellent painting skills can bring this painting to life. The Arnolfini Portrait, which measures 82 × 59.5 cm (32.3 × 23.4 in) is an oil painting on oak panel dated 1434. This painting is also known by other as The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, The Arnolfini Double Portriat, or Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife. It is one of the only 15th century
To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me ye women if you can.
To her the Count seems like such an admirable man that she "was inconsolable at having missed the opportunity of throwing herself at his feet."(73) In actuality the outburst was the Count's confession of guilt.
In the play twelfth night, Shakespeare covered three types of love : Lust, true love and brotherly love. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans posses. Love is an extremely diverse emotion which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night.
wonder if he is really interested in her or just this idea he has of
do not think this is genuine love to me as he later falls in love with
that she is humoured by the idea that every young an who has a large
Unlike the other characters in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", Viola's feelings of love are genuine. She is not mistaken about Orsino's true nature and loves him for who he really is, while the other characters in the play seem to be in love with an illusion. Viola's love for Orsino does not alter during the play, nor is it transferred to another person.
The love of affection is a term that I feel I have had in my life and was easily portrayed as a need. My parents are the people in who brought me into this world. They have shown me their ways of becoming a person- by me making my own decisions, and most importantly having a walk with Christ. They may have been a pain to me through discipline, but they always have shown me their love through affection.
“O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of his lip! A murd’rous guilt shows not itself more soon than love that would seem hid: love’s night is noon. – Cesario, by the roses of the spring, by maidhood, honor, truth, and every thing, I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride, nor wit nor reason can my passion hide. Do not extort thy reasons from this clause, for that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause; but rather reason thus with reason fetter: love sought is good, but given unsought is better.” (Shakespeare. Twelfth Night. 3.2.144-156).
The lovers are in love with themselves being in love. They love each other, but are more preoccupied with being seen as lovers. They often feign mild hatred. She is extremely aware of being watched and plays with the audience for sympathy in their plight and ccasionally flirts with spectators.