Meaning Of Death Section: Book Reports
This only way that they could both die was to wait for the arrival of their natural death, which is symbolized by Mr.Godot in the play. In Amadeus, the theme of death occurs several times throughout the play. Let´s begin by taking a look at the death of Kapellmeister Bonno. Bonno was the First Royal and Imperial Kapellmeister to the Court of composers. Salieri later replaced Bonno´s position after his death. Without the death of Kapellmeister Bonno, Salieri would not have received Bonno´s position and power, that he would then use to torment Mozart to death. He used his position and power to alter Joseph II´s decision, he pursuaded the king to pay only half of the salery that Mozart was supposed to get: JOSEPH: There´s Chamber Composer now that Gluck is dead. SALIERI [shocked]: Mozart to follow Gluck? JOSEPH: I won´t have him say I drove him away. You know what a tongue he has. SALIERI: Then grant him Gluck´s post, Majesty, but not his salary. That would be wrong. JOSEPH: Gluck got two thousand florins a year. What should Mozart get? SALIERI: Two hundred. Light payment, yes, but for light duties. JOSEPH: Perfectly fair. I´m obliged to you, Court Composer. (Shaffer, P.79) This caused Mozart to be very poor and also brought a lot of problems to his living. The next death is the one of Wolfgang´s father, and this is the major cause of Mozart´s Big behaviour change. After Amadeus found out about the death of his father, guilt and sadness pour into his life like a waterfall. This weakened Mozart and gave Salieri a better chance to destroy Mozart. The next death after the one of Wolfgang´s father is the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself. The cause of the death was said to be kidney failure: SALIERI [hard]: The Death Certificate said kidney failure, hastened by exposure to cold. (Shaffer, P.100) But the real cause of Mozart´s death was the masked figure that drove Mozart insane, and there are a total of three different masked figures. The first one is the giant figure that symbolizes the ghost of Mozart´s father, the next one is the Steward sent by Count Walsegg, and the last one is Salieri. The masked figure that commanded Mozart to write a Requiem Mass was actually the Steward of Count Walsegg: SALIERI: One amazing fact emerged. Mozart did not imagine that masked Figure who said ´Take up your pen and write a Requiem.´ It was real! ' A certain bizarre nobleman called Count Walsegg had a longing to be thought a composer. He actually sent his Steward in disguise to Mozart to commission the piece - secretly, so that he could pass it off as his own work. (Shaffer, P.101) Count Walsegg sent his Steward to trick Mozart to write a Requiem for him so he could use it as his own work. Although later on in the play Count Walsegg took the Requiem and used it as his own work, the piece seems more like a Requiem that Mozart has wrote for himself. This is because Mozart died right after he completed the Requiem Mass. As a masked figure, Salieri pushed Mozart´s guiltiness and fear to its limit and then commanded Mozart to die: SALIERI: Die, Amadeus! Die, I beg you, die! ' Leave me alone, ti imploro! Leave me alone at last! Leave me alone! [He beats on the table in his despair.] Alone! Alone! Alone! Alone! Alone! (Shaffer, P.97) Mozart was badly shocked by his guilt towards his father´s death and the fear of the masked figure in his dream and in his apartment. All three of these masked figures are responsible of Mozart´s madness, which later caused Mozart´s death. Salieri thought that the death of Mozart represented his victory in the war between God and him. He was considered the best composer with the most fame, but he soon found out that Mozart became more and more famous and fewer and fewer people remembered him. Finally he understood that the war between him and God had not ended yet. After he has realized that everyone listened to Mozart, he thought of an idea of killing himself so he could tie his death with Mozart´s, and when everyone thinks of Mozart they will think of Salieri too.
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