The Marriage of Figaro: Review
Hello everyone! I hope everybody's enjoyed their thanksgiving break and is excited about the winter break, I know I, for one, am very ready to catch a break. Today, we're talking about the Marriage of Figaro!
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| The Marriage of Figaro(1784) Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais |
To be more clear, Suzanne is Figaro's Fiance, and also the Countess' chambermaid, which makes her a part of the castle's peasants. Though this is only her technical status, as she has her own influence on the count himself, who is in love with her, or in other words, has fallen to limerence, and he seeks it in her. Not only this, but she is almost the mastermind of deception. In a story where almost everyone is lying and tricking, she beats all of them at that game, even Figaro, and is the one having the most fun.
Throughout the story, both Suzanne and Figaro are trying to find the many ways they can save Suzanne from the droit du seigneur that the count is trying to enforce. The droit du seigneur, is a practice in which a King, Count, Lord, etc is allowed to sleep with his servant, or his servant's woman on the wedding night. This is obviously an undesirable and horrible thing that Suzanne, Figaro, and then even the Countess joins in to stop. Luckily for them, the count is very obsessed with his public image and thus keeps it a secret which they, in turn, take to their advantage. In one scene, in particular, Figaro brings everyone around and says "It's high time your noble act be publicly acclaimed. Since I myself benefit so greatly from it today, I would like my marriage to be the first celebration of it"(Act I, Page 26). This way, as everyone is so publicly celebrating it, it traps the count to say things like "It was common decency" to keep up a good reputation that he now can no longer publicly go back on.
Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro Grande Finale
Vyshvv, YouTube, Jan 16th, 2016
The scene in the video above is from Act V, in which the Count and Suzanne are meant to meet in secret, as the count cannot fulfill the abolished droit du seigneur in public. This part is where the smarts of both women, Suzanne and the Countess takes it's peak, as not only do they plan to trick the Count by dressing the Countess as Suzanne, but they are also aware of the people eavesdropping, and especially plan to trick Figaro as well. Figaro, in his own right, is suspicious and furious with Suzanne for meeting with the count behind his back, so he plans to publicly shame both her and the count by exposing them with torches. Everything is a mess as Cherubin shows up and throws the plans off. Slowly, but surely, the count meets "Suzanne" and is affectionate with her not knowing it is his wife he is with, and Figaro watches and feels cheated. Once that takes place, enraged Figaro tries to get back at the count and Suzanne by cheating on her with none other than the "Countess" not knowing it is his wife. The count sees this and becomes enraged and plans to punish all, but everything is at last exposed in front of him, and he realizes he's been tricked and rushed for the Countess' forgiveness, which she gives. The final say is by Figaro, who is now rich, married, no longer an orphan, and is surrounded by friends. He exclaims "My wife and fortune apart- you are all welcome to what I have"(Act V, Page 105). Meaning, that no matter the status, everyone can use their brain and talents to get to where they want to be, just like Figaro.
I must make a quick note to recognize the good use of satire at the aristocracy that takes place all throughout the story. Not only is the count who is meant to be the all-knowing part of the castle, is constantly being fooled by his own servants, but the men are also always getting outsmarted by the women. It very much flips the "known" and applied rules and stereotypes that are most common. In an article by Wye J. Allanbrook, titled "Pro Marcellina: The 'Shape' of Figaro, Act IV" the writer speaks of Figaro's soliloquy "No, Master Count, you cannot have her.......an ordinary man!"(Act V, Page 90), where Figaro exclaims that the count is nobody, and he has been given everything by being born into royalty, then promises to defy that concept. Allanbrook goes "The sardonic and clever Figaro assumes the center in a political satire considered subversive enough to have been forbidden production for seven years after its composition"(Allanbrook, Page 69).
WORK CITED
Allanbrook, Wye J. “Pro Marcellina: The Shape of ‘Figaro’, Act IV.” Music & Letters, vol. 63, no. 1/2, Oxford University Press, 1982, pp. 69–84, http://www.jstor.org/stable/736042.
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron, The Marriage of Figaro, 1786.
Vyshvv, Mozart Le Nozze di Figaro Grande Finale, YouTube video, Jan 16th, 2016.
