Portrayed by Ellie Dehn, Located at the Royal Opera, Photograph by Mark Douet, 2015
In order to understand the nature of events in Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro”, you have to understand Mozart’s first play that portrays Figaro’s play as a sequel, because technically, the roles that contradict the theme for one individual’s performance, tends to be the exact opposite of what he was accustom too. Which is why, the character in Mozart’s play that should be the ideal one to explore and analyze is the character of Countess Almaviva, who is portrayed as a womanizing husband who seeks to deceive another important character Figaro’s fiancé Suzanne. Countess Almaviva’s version in Mozart’s first play “The Barber of Seville” is appeared to be an outmaneuvering man who was intended to win one particular’s person interest in love, and with the help of Figaro, he was able to find love with Rosine, who was a heroine. But in this play, the role of the countess appears to be more controversial, with his methods of trying to seduce Susanna and guide him with the estimates of faithfulness. Most of these values can be further estimated with the help of Tili Boon Cuille who provides her comparisons of the two plays written by Mozart. One of those important quotes includes “The Countess’ physical imprisonment in Barber deepens into emotional entrapment in Marriage, and by the end of five acts of intrigue one rather wished she would let her wayward husband stew instead of forgiving him in a heartbeat” (Cuille, 2014). This was important due to the intentions of Mozart’s earlier plays where people didn’t feel he was providing enough drama for it be dramatic in some sense, which is why from learning these values of the countess, Mozart was aiming for more features in the countess’ performance, and ultimately why I choose his character for the theme of this presentation.
Performance of Countess Almaviva, voiced by Valerie Evans, YouTube
To go further with that understanding, it was more important to read the play first, then begin watching the entire play on video because in the reading, it appeared to me that the countess appears to be a desolated person but also a very distinguished woman. This can be supported with the statements of her trying to resent her husband from a dashing behavior, but more importantly, she does not want to let any other people know that she is appealing to women who are very young. This can be supported, because according to Richard Andrews, he claimed during a scene with Suzanne and the countess who are discussing certain behaviors with her husband that turn out to be divergent and jealousy. In Andrews article he quotes “she is more judgmental, perhaps more feminist, in her opinion of the behavior of ‘modern husbands’ in general” (Andrews, 2001). This goes with regards of the countess’ actions towards her people because it can show that she was tricking her husband into comprehending her development of love for him was more essential than his desire for more physically charming women. In regards to the role of the countess, this just goes to show that she was an intellectually and philosophical character that explores the idea of accommodating her pursuit of happiness with the need of preserving her social high standers and love joined together.
Countess Almaviva showing determination to the Count in Act III,
Located at Seattle Opera's YAP, 2005
With all of these circumstances about the intellectual character of the Countess, and throughout the rest of the play, it becomes very crucial to analyze and understand what predicts the accommodations of the play’s theme and irony. This was all mostly represented towards the end of the play. Even though the Count was having an affair it also revealed a scenario of Figaro’s jealousy where the countess decides to switch clothes with Susan which will allow the Countess to seduce the Count which was her husband. In regards to this sequence, it provides a unique accommodation for Figaro suspected that his wife was having an affair and in doing so also believed that the countess was suppose to be Susan. To help present this claim, a quote from the play in which the Countess discusses the plan with Susan, “But forgetting all respect for your friend Figaro, and for the Countess your Godmother, likewise, you are endeavoring here to seduce her favorite woman!” (Holcroft, 1784). This provides the necessity details of both the dramtic irony that takes place in act five of the play and the role of Countess Almaviva’s actions because it depicts an unorganized situation for which only the audience would know at the time when this would occur and the characters would not know what was to come. Plus, it gives the audience an ultimate idea that the Countess was deemed to portray a type of villain for the play that was critical of the dignified corruption and would contradict the nature of the play for it’s low case morality.
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