Tuesday, April 26, 2011
When Harry Bit Sally
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Operas of Verdi, Balfe, and Gilbert
I. Il Trovatore by Verdi
In Il Trovatore, Asucena ultimately avenges the death of her mother through the execution of Manrico, but this is complicated in several ways. She raises Manrico as her own, and it appears that they have a loving familial bond (i.e. she is not just raising him as a mechanism for revenge). After all, he comes to her aid when she needs him, and he calls out to her just prior to his execution. However, there is a gap about Manrico’s upbringing, and viewers have limited access to Asucena’s thoughts of Manrico. At one point, she tries to tell him that he is not her son, but retracts it (13). Further, Asucena is overcome by Manrico’s execution. Count di Luna, reneging on his promise to spare Manrico, unknowingly executes his own brother. Count di Luna is the active agent here, so the situation/execution of Manrico seems to implicate the Count more than Asucena. What do you make of it?
a. Do you think the opera highlights the cruelty of the ruling class? What about its representation of “gipsies”?
b. Does this opera become a commentary on how an established power (in this case, nobility) imposes itself upon a smaller group (“gipsies”)?
c. What do you make of the depiction of Asucena? Is she vilified? Consider her act of infanticide.
d. Some argue that Il Travotore teeters on a fine line between tragedy and melodrama. Where would you place it?
II. The Bohemian Girl by Balfe and The Merry Zingara by W.S. Gilbert
Balfe’s and Gilbert’s operas (the latter a parody of the former) take a lighter tone.
a. What do you make of the deus ex machina twist that Thaddeus is nobility and acceptable to be married to Arline? How does this link to Nord’s discussion of the marriage plot (14)?
b. What to you make of the fact that Thaddeus is an adult/soldier when he first meets the six-year-old Arline, and that a love affair ultimately springs from their relationship? More specifically, do you sense a high “ick” factor?
c. What is the purpose of Gilbert’s parody? Does the parody work to act as a correction of The Bohemian Girl? How are “gipsies” depicted in both operas?
III. Closing thought
Il Trovatore is taken from a drama by Antonio Garcia Gutierrez, the plot of The Bohemian Girl is borrowed from Cervantes’s “Precioso,” and The Merry Zingara is a parody of The Bohemian Girl. What do you make of this constant making and re-making?
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
288 pages of "Nature v. Nurture": George Eliot's Identity Question
It would not be unfair to call Eliot's poem heavy-handed, as she nearly beats to death the question of nation, identity, and roots. However, the poem offers several points of departure that relate to our discussions this semester. I've included some general questions that occurred to me while reading--feel free to add your own.
1. Based on the "rules" of this text, would Fedalma have been able to marry Silva and become a duchess if she had never seen or known her father? Would her heritage have lain dormant?
2. What role do Jews and/or Judaism play in the text? (For ex: Sephardo) Can we compare this text to Daniel Deronda?
3. Within the poem, do we have any hope that people of different backgrounds can ever mingle? Does Eliot herself believe that mingling can occur?
4. Zarca's great goal for his people is to establish a homeland for them, a place that will be their nation. What do we make of this longing for stability--and do we read it as Eliot's English gaze imposing English values on Gypsy characters?
I don't have more specific questions, but I do have topics that I think we should consider here or discuss in class: the representations of Christianity within the text, the form of the poem, the angels of Memory and Reason.