So, in the closing, Rigoletto ends up failing in his endeavors which are relatively noble. Meanwhile, the Duke, who is the epitome of a villain and seducer, ultimately comes out on top. What does this say about the world we live in? Does the bad guy always win, the fair maiden is poisoned and dies, and the righteous man is left with nothing? Does this reflect the society of the time? Or maybe, more than one societies of many different times? I mean, Rigoletto isn’t the nicest, most noble man, but deep down he has morals.

Why does Gilda want to save the Duke even after everything he did to her and after overhearing the Duke flirt with Maddalena? Is she so blinded by the love she has for the Duke that she can’t see that he does not care about her? Also, is making all the woman fall for the Duke, even though they know his reputation, a way of showing that Verdi thinks women are easily swayed by their emotions?

I actually wanted to make a comment on how menial or improbable the plot of this play seems once all of the arias, costumes and stage set up is stripped off. Rigoletto gets cursed for being politically incorrect and then his daughter dies for a man she has known for an extremely short period of time. I guess the point of the opera is more the way the story is told than what the actual story is.

• Adding on to Dani’s question, what led Verdi to portray Gilda in the manner he did? Did he base her character off of a woman he knew or based on a stereotype of women at the time?

Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is set in a world of princes, courtiers, jesters and exquisite maidens. It’s a fairy-tale kingdom pre-bowdlerisation, where princes do more than kiss the raptured beauty awake; where evil may triumph and goodness go unrewarded. Did anyone else feel any Beauty and the Beast and Hunchback of Notre Dame comparisons going on? I did…

In the story, Gilda claims that if the man she meets outside the church is a student and poor, she will love him even more. Why the author wants Gilda to loves a poor student? What Gilda’s personality we can infer from this point? Does it also reflect any social issue at that time?

Opera is characterized as synthesizing multiple aspects of art such as theatre, music, drama, etc.  But it seems that the performance sacrifices elements of each category in order to create a complete production.  I especially felt this way when reading Rigoletto, which seemed very fast paced and didn’t portray emotion so genuinely.  Is this aspect of opera considered negative, or is it a good thing?  And is it a better form and expression of art than something that’s less eclectic?

The way that Verdi portray Gilda is the way Verdi thinks about women in general ? or is just a statement highlighting what society thinks ? I’m confused.