Cosi And Amadeus Comparison Essay
Inner journeys are a reciprocation of some sort of pain and personal growth. When comparing texts you often see the dramatic similarities of the experiences undergone by the protagonist, we also see that the pain and personal growth forms at different levels; creating either a diluted or concentrated effect. Cosi by Louis Nowra, the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost and Amadeus directed by Milos Forman, all portray similar kinds of pain and growth through similar experience.
Lewis begins his journey as a typically middle class citizen with radical left wing views, things that he considers so significant that they take priority over more primitive things like love. Here he can be compared to Salieri in Amadeus, before Mozart came to Vienna to play his music, Salieri is the favoured composer, he lives a high life with no qualms with anyone, and Mozart is merely a myth that he only hears about every once in a while. But undergoing pain can alter the way you live your life, which is exactly what happened with these three texts. The three protagonists are plunged into unusual …show more content…
situations they are not used to; Lewis being placed with mental patients, Salieri’s reputation as Court Composer is put at risk with the presence of Mozart, and the speaker in the Road Not Taken as he is placed with a decision he knew he would have to make quickly. The inner journey in these three texts is the way they handle these situations, and if they can grow into a better or worse person.
The main technique Nowra uses is the play within a play to create resonant ironies. This internal play of Cosi is the vehicle and cause of Lewis’ inner journey; his view switches from “love is not so important nowadays” to “where would everyone be without love?” Without the use of this technique, the play within the play, there would be no inner journey to speak of. So therefore, this was an essential element to the inner journey undertaken by Lewis.
Lewis at the beginning of the play states that he is only barely able to put up with those mental patients because he “needs the money”. This is in stark contrast to the end of the play when he turns Lucy down to stay with the cast and perform the play; she is shocked that his decision was really made due to his new found fondness of fidelity. Lewis realizes how much he has changed when he sees that Lucy has no concern for ‘emotional indulgence’; “do you think the starving masses give a fuck about love?” Lewis has come to think of love as one of the most important things in life and could not imagine a world without it, even though when asked by Doug at the beginning if he was going to marry Lucy, he replies merely by saying “who knows?” This implies that marriage is really not his priority, and that he has never even really considered monogamy.
One of the techniques used to symbolize Lewis’ transition is the burnt out theater. At the beginning of the play prior to Lewis’ journey, the theatre represented Lewis as being ‘burnt out’ But once Lewis had undergone his inner changes, the final scene of the play, the theatre was white which is a symbol of hope and reiterates the changes in Lewis. The metaphor of the burnt out theatre is a strong technique used, and very original as a way to describe the state of being within Lewis as he changes.
Lucy and Nick are the painful aspects of his inner journey, he discovers they have been sleeping together, and he realizes how different he has become from these callous two. Because the play Cosi has opened new doors to him, he finds it hard to understand Lucy and Nick’s lack of fidelity and denigration of monogamy. This is an effective inner journey as Lewis appears more fulfilled at the end of the play then to what he was in the beginning. Many aspects of his personality become stronger, he is more competent and is able to loosen up and act sarcastic with Roy and Doug.
Nowra also uses humour as a technique to move the play along & to reflect critically on what is often a tragedy of human suffering. As Roy says, ‘Women are God’s punishment for men playing with themselves’, a line only a madman would utter. We see that Nowra uses humour to reflect upon the pain Roy has experienced. This contributes to Lewis’ personal growth as he learns to put up with the madness & disorder the patients can arouse, and lightens the pain of the patients.
The speaker in the Road Not Taken experiences a similar sort of pain to Lewis; they both experience loss, and the other road could be metaphorically translated into the same context as Cosi.
His pain involves the road not taken; forever he will wonder what that road would have offered, although, he appeases himself with his choice but there is always that absence of mind. “And that has made all the difference” ends the poem, and the reader is able to understand the speakers choice was not an unhappy one. “I took the road less traveled by” further fulfills a sense of appeasement as he finds comfort in his individuality. This can be compared to Cosi also, as Lewis is sort of set back in time in an ever-changing world as he admires ‘old values’ like love. This can be considered the road less taken, and Lewis becomes the speaker of the Road Less Taken as he too begins a life of
unfamiliarity.
Mozart sparks the beginning of Salieri’s inner journey. At the beginning of the film, Salieri vows to god to remain the epitome of virtue in order to be remembered and revered for his musical ‘talent’. For sometime this is successful, but Mozart belittles his aptitude with his prodigal wonder and Salieri becomes resentful. We see that his inner journey is a downward spiral, and is in stark contrast with that of Lewis’ and the speaker of a Road Not Taken. Lewis is able to be constructive with his new situation and turn it into a positive, but Salieri denounces his faith and vows to ever be the thorn in Mozart’s side. He refers to Mozart continually as ‘the creature’ and is angered that god could embed such musical talent in a fiend and leave him with none; “if he didn’t want me to praise him with music, why implant the desire like a lust in my body and then deny me the talent?” His hate for the “giggly, dirty-minded creature” becomes so fierce that he plots to kill him. The audience is taken through his destructive inner journey as he becomes conniving and eventually tries to kill himself over the guilt and ends up in a mental institution.
We can see parallels with the other texts as in a way, Lewis and the speaker of the Road Not Taken save themselves from a mental institution from the way they handle their shortcomings. But Salieri only brings torment to himself and so his inner journey is continually accompanied by pain.
The inner journey undergone by Salieri brought him constant pain; “this was not a composition by a performing monkey; this was a music I had never heard.” Salieri was both in awe and hated Mozart’s music, and though he referred to it as the ‘voice of god’ it brought him too much pain to enjoy.
Lewis begins his journey as a typically middle class citizen with radical left wing views, things that he considers so significant that they take priority over more primitive things like love. Here he can be compared to Salieri in Amadeus, before Mozart came to Vienna to play his music, Salieri is the favoured composer, he lives a high life with no qualms with anyone, and Mozart is merely a myth that he only hears about every once in a while. But undergoing pain can alter the way you live your life, which is exactly what happened with these three texts. The three protagonists are plunged into unusual …show more content…
situations they are not used to; Lewis being placed with mental patients, Salieri’s reputation as Court Composer is put at risk with the presence of Mozart, and the speaker in the Road Not Taken as he is placed with a decision he knew he would have to make quickly. The inner journey in these three texts is the way they handle these situations, and if they can grow into a better or worse person.
The main technique Nowra uses is the play within a play to create resonant ironies. This internal play of Cosi is the vehicle and cause of Lewis’ inner journey; his view switches from “love is not so important nowadays” to “where would everyone be without love?” Without the use of this technique, the play within the play, there would be no inner journey to speak of. So therefore, this was an essential element to the inner journey undertaken by Lewis.
Lewis at the beginning of the play states that he is only barely able to put up with those mental patients because he “needs the money”. This is in stark contrast to the end of the play when he turns Lucy down to stay with the cast and perform the play; she is shocked that his decision was really made due to his new found fondness of fidelity. Lewis realizes how much he has changed when he sees that Lucy has no concern for ‘emotional indulgence’; “do you think the starving masses give a fuck about love?” Lewis has come to think of love as one of the most important things in life and could not imagine a world without it, even though when asked by Doug at the beginning if he was going to marry Lucy, he replies merely by saying “who knows?” This implies that marriage is really not his priority, and that he has never even really considered monogamy.
One of the techniques used to symbolize Lewis’ transition is the burnt out theater. At the beginning of the play prior to Lewis’ journey, the theatre represented Lewis as being ‘burnt out’ But once Lewis had undergone his inner changes, the final scene of the play, the theatre was white which is a symbol of hope and reiterates the changes in Lewis. The metaphor of the burnt out theatre is a strong technique used, and very original as a way to describe the state of being within Lewis as he changes.
Lucy and Nick are the painful aspects of his inner journey, he discovers they have been sleeping together, and he realizes how different he has become from these callous two. Because the play Cosi has opened new doors to him, he finds it hard to understand Lucy and Nick’s lack of fidelity and denigration of monogamy. This is an effective inner journey as Lewis appears more fulfilled at the end of the play then to what he was in the beginning. Many aspects of his personality become stronger, he is more competent and is able to loosen up and act sarcastic with Roy and Doug.
Nowra also uses humour as a technique to move the play along & to reflect critically on what is often a tragedy of human suffering. As Roy says, ‘Women are God’s punishment for men playing with themselves’, a line only a madman would utter. We see that Nowra uses humour to reflect upon the pain Roy has experienced. This contributes to Lewis’ personal growth as he learns to put up with the madness & disorder the patients can arouse, and lightens the pain of the patients.
The speaker in the Road Not Taken experiences a similar sort of pain to Lewis; they both experience loss, and the other road could be metaphorically translated into the same context as Cosi.
His pain involves the road not taken; forever he will wonder what that road would have offered, although, he appeases himself with his choice but there is always that absence of mind. “And that has made all the difference” ends the poem, and the reader is able to understand the speakers choice was not an unhappy one. “I took the road less traveled by” further fulfills a sense of appeasement as he finds comfort in his individuality. This can be compared to Cosi also, as Lewis is sort of set back in time in an ever-changing world as he admires ‘old values’ like love. This can be considered the road less taken, and Lewis becomes the speaker of the Road Less Taken as he too begins a life of
unfamiliarity.
Mozart sparks the beginning of Salieri’s inner journey. At the beginning of the film, Salieri vows to god to remain the epitome of virtue in order to be remembered and revered for his musical ‘talent’. For sometime this is successful, but Mozart belittles his aptitude with his prodigal wonder and Salieri becomes resentful. We see that his inner journey is a downward spiral, and is in stark contrast with that of Lewis’ and the speaker of a Road Not Taken. Lewis is able to be constructive with his new situation and turn it into a positive, but Salieri denounces his faith and vows to ever be the thorn in Mozart’s side. He refers to Mozart continually as ‘the creature’ and is angered that god could embed such musical talent in a fiend and leave him with none; “if he didn’t want me to praise him with music, why implant the desire like a lust in my body and then deny me the talent?” His hate for the “giggly, dirty-minded creature” becomes so fierce that he plots to kill him. The audience is taken through his destructive inner journey as he becomes conniving and eventually tries to kill himself over the guilt and ends up in a mental institution.
We can see parallels with the other texts as in a way, Lewis and the speaker of the Road Not Taken save themselves from a mental institution from the way they handle their shortcomings. But Salieri only brings torment to himself and so his inner journey is continually accompanied by pain.
The inner journey undergone by Salieri brought him constant pain; “this was not a composition by a performing monkey; this was a music I had never heard.” Salieri was both in awe and hated Mozart’s music, and though he referred to it as the ‘voice of god’ it brought him too much pain to enjoy.