The Arts in New York City

Having seen this opera and fully enjoying it, I am having difficulty deciding whether or not it has to do with love at all. While, yes, Figaro and Susanna seem to be in love and the Count and Countess are having difficulty dealing with the powers of eros, I don’t think that the main purpose of this opera is the dealings of romantic emotions. I believe it has a deeper meaning that underlies the human condition to be wanted and the ultimate gesture of forgiveness. I believe the most powerful line in the opera was when the Countess said “I will forgive you.” This instantly evoked a new emotion from the Count that we had not seen before, and these four words changed the entire meaning of the opera for me. We are all human and we all need to be loved, and yet, no one is perfect. Mistakes are always made, people are constantly being hurt, but true growth comes from forgiveness, and true love comes from understanding. Although the Count may not love the Countess (and visa versa), she exemplifies the kind of character that we all strive to attain. There is, indeed, hope in the fact that people are generally good. We do not need to be in love to care for another person and sometimes love grows from great gestures such as the Countess’s. In terms of Spring Awakening, I believe the relationship between Melchior and Wendla is similar to that of the Count and Countess in that we are not sure if they actually love one another, but we do know that each person has mutually helped their partner grow in one aspect or another. People are always flawed, but it is in the realization of this inevitability that we learn how to deal with our mistakes. It is the underlying goodness in all of us that The Marriage of Figaro is attempting to convey, not necessarily the romantic aspect of falling in love.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 6:23 pm and is filed under