Gilda from "Rigoletto" vs. Agnes from "Agnes of God" -- 2001-2002 Cultural Literacy Class Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: [1] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 17:20:59 11/13/01 Tue
Author: Laura
Subject: Gilda from "Rigoletto" vs. Agnes from "Agnes of God"

Just a thought that I got while watching the opera "Rigoletto" in class today. I hope that I make sense.
Anyway, I was thinking about how Gilda from "Rigoletto" and Sister Agnes from "Agnes of God" are similar. Both of these women are extremely innocent and naiv�. They are very unaware of matters of the world--both living a cloistered life in either the nunnery (Agnes) or a locked up house (Gilda). Eventually, both are raped.
Looking at their similarities, one would then be inclined to believe that they would react similarly to the situation. We cannot compare that exactly because Gilda dies at the end of the opera; however, seeing what happens to Agnes, one would almost view Gilda's death as a blessing in disguise.
Sister Agnes goes into denial about the event, despite the fact that she is pregnant. She hids her pregnancy, and the baby dies after the birth. She becomes emotionally unstable. She believes that God is responsible for her pregnancy because of the continual denial that she was raped, and she becomes more introverted. At the end of the play, she is unresolved to the whole thing; therefore, she would continue to have this play, introverted lifestyle unless she is able to resolve things, which seems unlikely.
Would Gilda have suffered a similar fate of denial and introversion (possibly including but probably barring pregnancy)? I believe that she would have, seeing as up until the point of the event, the two women were of the same mind set. And what kind of life is that? I don't see it as being much of a life, thus my conclusion that Gilda's death is a blessing in disguise for her.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]