Cosi Exam Notes
Cosi Themes
Fidelity, Infidelity and Love
According to Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, the issue of fidelity is depicted to be an ideal that is never achieved. Since ‘women are like that’ – the interpretation of ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, Mozart encourages the belief that men should simply accept that women are indeed disloyal in relationships. Nowra illustrates this same idea about women and infidelity through Lewis and Lucy’s relationship. While Lucy is ‘sleeping with Lewis, she is also ‘having sex’ with Nick. When Lewis discovers Lucy’s betrayal, she waves aside his shock, defending that ‘it is not as if we’re married’. The revelation does indeed prove that Cosi Fan Tutte is correct in stating that ‘woman’s constancy is like the Arabian Phoenix. Everyone swears it exists, but no one has seen it’.
Although the women in both Cosi Fan Tutte and Cosi are shown to be unfaithful, so are the men. While the men in Cosi Fan Tutte do not actively participate in adultery, they do fabricate their departure to the war and disguise themselves as ‘Albanians’. Their deception is also a betrayal to their wives. Meanwhile, Don Alfonso manipulates everyone. As seen in Cosi, Lewis is unfaithful to Lucy as he kisses Julie during rehearsals. Julie later reveals that she has a girlfriend who she would prefer to be with, confirming that both men and women are unfaithful in relationships, not simply women.
In the 1970’s, when the Vietnam War was occurring and there were a number of corrupt political systems throughout the world, the notion of love and fidelity was considered to be of less importance than ‘bread, a shelter, equality, health, procreation and money’.
Love is not just the central theme of the opera, but also the central theme of Cosi. The particular aspect of love that is the focus of both musical and play is fidelity: the notion of faithfulness, commitment and loyalty. The play explores many aspects of the theme of love and fidelity, and the characters present slightly
Fidelity, Infidelity and Love
According to Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte, the issue of fidelity is depicted to be an ideal that is never achieved. Since ‘women are like that’ – the interpretation of ‘Cosi Fan Tutte’, Mozart encourages the belief that men should simply accept that women are indeed disloyal in relationships. Nowra illustrates this same idea about women and infidelity through Lewis and Lucy’s relationship. While Lucy is ‘sleeping with Lewis, she is also ‘having sex’ with Nick. When Lewis discovers Lucy’s betrayal, she waves aside his shock, defending that ‘it is not as if we’re married’. The revelation does indeed prove that Cosi Fan Tutte is correct in stating that ‘woman’s constancy is like the Arabian Phoenix. Everyone swears it exists, but no one has seen it’.
Although the women in both Cosi Fan Tutte and Cosi are shown to be unfaithful, so are the men. While the men in Cosi Fan Tutte do not actively participate in adultery, they do fabricate their departure to the war and disguise themselves as ‘Albanians’. Their deception is also a betrayal to their wives. Meanwhile, Don Alfonso manipulates everyone. As seen in Cosi, Lewis is unfaithful to Lucy as he kisses Julie during rehearsals. Julie later reveals that she has a girlfriend who she would prefer to be with, confirming that both men and women are unfaithful in relationships, not simply women.
In the 1970’s, when the Vietnam War was occurring and there were a number of corrupt political systems throughout the world, the notion of love and fidelity was considered to be of less importance than ‘bread, a shelter, equality, health, procreation and money’.
Love is not just the central theme of the opera, but also the central theme of Cosi. The particular aspect of love that is the focus of both musical and play is fidelity: the notion of faithfulness, commitment and loyalty. The play explores many aspects of the theme of love and fidelity, and the characters present slightly