I have to say that this is one of the few cases in a story where the villain has done something to make me wish for his ultimate defeat, not for the happy ending and peace in the world of the story, but so the villain suffers. At first, I could sort of sympathize with Salieri; here he has spent his entire life following the word of God, even remaining faithful to a woman he doesn't love when he is in love with a student. Then along comes this foul-mouthed upstart who not only sleeps with said student, but is also a vastly superior composer to Salieri with seemingly no effort. His initial goal, to get back at Mozart, seems very human; all he wants is simple vengeance. When he learns, however, of Mozart's talent, he lashes out at God through the young artist - "shooting the messenger," as it were.
This reminds me of Will Eisner's "A Contract with God," a story of a Jewish man who, as the title implies, entered a contract with God (though he never actually received confirmation of agreement from the other party) that, if he were to live a pious life, God would never inflict harm upon him. For a long time this agreement goes unbroken, until one day when his daughter dies. The man renounces God, uses money entrusted to him by the Synagogue to buy some property, and eventually gets rich. Later in life, he decides to try a new contract, and pays a group of Rabbis to make an unbreakable contract between him and God. The night he receives the finished copy, he has a heart attack and dies.
In both cases the main character presumes to force God into helping him for a price. God, an omnipotent being to whom humans owe their very existence according to the religion each character worships. It is the fact that they believe that God must adhere to the laws of man, that they can demand things of him in exchange for their faith, something God probably believes should be given willingly, that shows that gluttony is not the only deadly sin Salieri practices. This presumption on his part is a clear expression of hubris; not only can he order God around, he can also harm God's messenger when the deity doesn't obey.
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"It is the fact that they believe that God must adhere to the laws of man, that they can demand things of him in exchange for their faith"
ReplyDeleteI really like this because it goes to show that we as humans have the tendency to be selfish and even demand things of God, like we're close as friends.
I thought that Salieri's devotion to God was misplaced. He wanted fame and used God as an excuse for ruining it when Mozart came into the picture.