Literary Analysis Essay on Amadeus

Introduction

'Amadeus' is an American dramatic play released in 1984 by Peter Shaffer with characters Mozart, Salieri, and the director (Barth, 2003). The paper will state the plot summary, analyze the characters, background and sceneries in the play.

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Plot Summary

The play starts with whispers with words "Salieri" and "Assassin" repeatedly. A man, Salieri is seen seated in his Vienna apartment and confesses to murdering Mozart through poisoning. We go back to the time before Salieri meets Mozart. Salieri who is a dedicated Catholic dedicates his time in composing songs for God and one day he hears about Mozart from the people of Vienna who was known high in producing songs (Fliotsos, 2011). Salieri is excited to meet Mozart, but Mozart turns out to be an immature man full of vulgar but has excellent music. Salieri gets jealous and swears to destroy Mozart's musical career. In the end, Salieri does not only destroy Mozart's career but also takes away his life through poisoning (Gale, 2016). The play depicts the evils of a genius, revenge, and jealousy. The characters in the game are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is a male and lead actor, Antonio Salieri a male and is also a lead character and Constanze Weber, a female with supporting cast.

In act one a scene with Mozart, Salerie and Costanze is in a big room with dim light, not fully lit where Mozart introduces his wife Costanze to Salerie. The apartment has several chairs and at the far back is a red chair. Mozart is dressed in a striped coat with shades of yellow, grey, and red. He does not forget his pink trouser, white boots, and a wig on his head. Salerie is dressed in a black coat with invisible polka dots, black trousers, black boots, a, and a white shirt. Constanze is nicely dressed in a cream long circular off-shoulder dress that entirely exposes her cleavage. When Saleries seeks to know when the two got married, and Mozart replies, "we are yet to seek my father's consent," shocks Salerie. And from his facial expression, he was surprised the two are yet to get consent and Mozart was twenty-six years to make up the decision. Mozart says, "Well, your father's consent is scarcely indispensable." With the look on her face, Constanze felt ashamed that Mozart had to expose the details to Salerie, and she ends up slapping him on his hand.

In act two, there is a scene with two characters: Salieri has poisoned Mozart and Salieri and Mozart, but he has not known the person involved yet. The two are in a big empty room with dim lights while the background is fully lit with blue colors with only a stool and a table the scenery is scary and full of tension. Mozart is seen in an unbuttoned white shirt that is full of sweat and shaggy wig. Salerie is also in a wig while still wearing the black coat and a long shirt with laces. When Salerie discloses that he has indeed poisoned Mozart, Mozart's reaction shows how he is surprised. He suddenly becomes petrified of Salerie and hides under the table wanting nothing to do with him. Mozart was very hysterical; he is heard shouting at Salerie, "Go away, leave me now."

Conclusion

The play is, yet in the end, Mozart died. Mozart being the lead character, should not have died. The character by Mozart is quite hard to understand; despite his immaturity and life full of vulgar and partying, he can bring out the best through his music. I love his character compared to Salerie, who is full of bitterness, revenge, and jealousy.

References

Barth, K., (2003). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Wipf and Stock Publishers. Retrieved From https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=NXWmCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=amadeus+play+pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEr4Gty8viAhVJbBoKHTKJAykQ6AEIKzAB

Fliotsos, A. (2011). Interpreting the Play Script: Contemplation and Analysis. Macmillan International Higher Education. Retrieved From https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/Interpreting-the-Play-Script/?K=9780230290044

Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Peter Shaffer's" Amadeus". Gale, Cengage Learning.