A Dialogue Between Mary Wollstonecraft and Gorgias at the Opera

Seated in the balcony of the opera house is an old man, Gorgias, and seated next to him is his middle-aged companion, Mary Wollstonecraft. The opera is nearly over as its main character, the beautiful Violetta, shouts "‘Ah! Happiness!' She is center stage with her arms stretched upward as she gazes to heaven. When she then collapses onto the stage, a doctor tests for her pulse, but there is none and he cries "She is dead!'" (MacMurray 1177) The curtain falls shut as the orchestra plays the tragic last notes of Verdi's opera, La Traviata. The opera house brightens as the main lights turn on.

Gorgias: Such a sad ending! She died of disease, true, but one gets the feeling that her separation from her lover Alfredo is what brought about her ultimate demise! Yet no one can be blamed!

Wollstonecraft: I disagree. Violetta's death is the result of a society with double standards, one that condemns the fallen woman to be without any hope of forgiveness by men or the benediction of the church, while allowing an unvirtuous man to escape condemnation. Admiration for the composer of this opera is tainted by his choice to portray women as inferior to men by the conventions of society, and therefore I find that there is little of real value in La Traviata.

Gorgias: Your scorn of the opera is undeserved! Opera is drama set to music, a type of speech with meter (31). For the audience, this opera is like a poem that brings a fearful shuddering, a tearful pity, and a grieving desire, while through its words the soul feels its own feelings, for good and bad fortune in the affairs and lives of others (32). By evoking these emotions, the opera tries to persuade the audience that true virtue is "contingent, a clear expression of contrasts and alternatives is needed if one is to sift through the competing claims of persuasive speech" (Leitch 30) that seek to define virtue.

Wollstonecraft: There is no need to do any such sifting. Blame belongs to the men of society finding Violetta without virtue, and condemning her as incapable of attaining it. Being a woman and allowing [her] to have [a] soul,[...]there is but one way appointed by Providence to lead mankind to either virtue or happiness (586), which includes women as well as men. I argue that Violetta is both capable of and has in fact proven herself in possession of truth and fortitude, the corner stones of all human virtue (591). She has abandoned her past life of condemnable passion in favor of true love for Alfredo, and remained faithful to him. Alfredo himself claims: "My youth's rebellious passion, my ardent soul's commotion, [Violetta] tempered with the calm sweet smile of her devotion" (MacMurray 1168). So he has a past of "rebellious passion" and "ardent commotion", yet is he continually held accountable for his actions of the past? No, he is not. Or is it that Violetta is a woman, and women are not allowed to have sufficient strength of mind to acquire what really deserves the name of virtue (586)? Is it therefore that, although having renounced her life as a courtesan, she is thought unable to progress? That she is incapable of improvement, or the attainment of virtue? It is for that reason Germont calls upon Violetta and feels as if "God led [him there]" (MacMurray 1171) to ask and receive from her the ultimate sacrifice of forsaking her love for Alfredo, under the pretense that Alfredo will eventually be untrue to her.

Gorgias: Although for this she cannot be blamed. The power of words is indisputable, and how many men on how many subjects have persuaded and do persuade how many others by shaping a false speech! (32). How can one expect Violetta to be able to properly discern the truth, to overcome the power of false words, when so many others have been led astray? She was persuaded to sacrifice her chance at true love. She was forced to submit to Germont's will by the art of persuasion, which has the same power, but not the same form as compulsion (32), and therefore has the power to render the mind incapable of proper rationalization. It is not Violetta's fault that she believed Germont's words, rather that he spoke them, as the persuader, then, is the wrongdoer, because he compelled her, while she who was persuaded is wrongly blamed, because she was compelled by the speech (32). Although Germont can be arguably found innocent as well, as he was persuaded by society to make this speech, under the influence of others who believe Violetta would taint his family's reputation.

Wollstonecraft: The speech was based on a true concept. Germont only gains Violetta's agreement to renounce her love after insinuating his son's future disinterest in her, and reducing Violetta to a woman meant only to please, and used only for Alfredo's pleasure and worth nothing more. This shocks Violetta, but strikes a true note to her as well, for through her past life she realized that the woman who has only been taught to please will soon find that her charm are oblique sunbeams, and that they cannot have much effect on [a man's] heart when they are seen every day, when the summer is passed and gone (593). Violetta knows this, as she claims at the beginning of the opera: "Ah, foolish not to capture youth's transient joys-and live life and enjoy, for youthful love's delight is brief. The faded flower no more can bring our grief to light" (MacMurray 1166). Violetta is a woman taught to use her beauty and pleasure appeal to men in order to survive, and with those characteristics to promote herself, she has found herself neglected in the past. If you remember, in the opening scene of the opera, the Baron admits to not visiting her as she was ill although he had been involved with her for a year. Alfredo who visited her often hardly knew her at all. So it is logical for Violetta to believe that Alfredo's passion will also fade.

Wollstonecraft: Germont appeals to this knowledge and insecurity in Violetta when he tells her "but remember, man is fickle" (MacMurray 1169). Before this statement she had sworn to love no other, to not abandon Alfredo for any other man. However, when Germont utters these words, she exclaims in shock, and when he continues on: "Some day, when love's illusions, outworn, will lose their spell, what will you, weary, satiated do then, you two?-Think well! For you will find no balm in tendernest affection-for never had your ties the Heaven's benediction" (MacMurray 1170), she finds herself in agreement with him. By his words Germont again condemns Violetta for her past, and goes further to state that her union to his son Alfredo is condemned by God. He asserts that Violetta has not been led by Providence to virtue, but remains in a state of condemnation, incapable of ever reaching a state of worth equal to his son Alfredo. Violetta's reply rings with the truth of the corruption of male society when she says: "for the lost one fallen, unfriended, all hope of rising is forever ended. God will in mercy stretch out His hand, but man implacable ever will stand" (MacMurray 1170). God will embrace Violetta as a woman of virtue, however men will forever find her unworthy of forgiveness or incapable of growth.

Wollstonecraft: Germont asks a sacrifice of Violetta he finds himself justified in requesting, and that is backed with the approval of society as well. This is implied by him stating that his son's involvement with Violetta stands to ruin his family's reputation and his daughter's chances at marriage. He urges Violetta to "Bless [his daughter's] wedding day. If Alfredo will not turn from his path of folly, the youth so loved and loving will spurn [his] daughter's hand" (MacMurray 1169). Yet the virtues of women and men must be the same in quality, if not in degree, or virtue is a relative idea; consequently, their conduct should be founded on the same principles, and have the same aim (592). If Alfredo and Violetta have both abandoned their condemnable pasts to embrace a more honorable future, one should not be forgiven and the other condemned, as their actions are both good. Alfredo should not risk the ruin of his family's name and his sister's happiness through association with Violetta, if anything he should risk the same outcomes through his own past actions. His later actions even surpass either's past wrongs, as he breaks away from virtue entirely and he chooses to succumb to his passions in an effort to publicly humiliate the woman he loves after she leaves him, by hurling money at her feet in payment.

Gorgias: But he is exempt from blame for his actions performed while under the superior power of love, power which rendered him incapable of controlling his passions. Germont claims to Violetta that his son Alfredo is "rushing to ruin, infatuated with you" (MacMurray 1169), and it is possible that Violetta did in fact possess Alfredo by infatuation. This frees him from blame for his acts of maliciousness performed as a spurned lover while under the grips of his (perceived by him to be) unrequited love. Alfredo is innocent. He is but a mortal and if love is a god, with the divine power of gods, how could a weaker person refuse and reject him? (32). Alfredo is powerless to resist, a pawn to higher powers which dictate his passion.

Wollstonecraft: By your arguments you find that Alfredo is without blame, and by your arguments I find that Alfredo is without virtue. You argue that Alfredo is powerless under the influence of heavenly powers, and therefore his actions tarnish nothing of his character. Yet the powers of God allow for virtue by allowing free will, so that a man is not forced into actions that may lack virtue, such as falling victim to irrational passions. God guides us to what is good, by Providence to lead mankind to either virtue or happiness (586). Therefore divine power does not lead to committing questionable acts, and love by your description cannot be caused by God. Therefore, it is of a weaker power and can be overcome. Furthermore, I assert, that, whatever effect circumstances have on the abilities, every being may become virtuous by the exercise of its own reason. (588). Alfredo may have been rejected by Violetta and feel the pain of this rejection to its fullest extent, but he still had the capacity to move beyond those circumstances, to maintain his virtue and desist from publically disgracing Violetta in an action of contempt, worthy of blame.

Gorgias: What if, on the other hand, love is a human sickness and a mental weakness, it must not be blamed as mistake, but claimed as misfortune (33). The man plagued with physical and mental maladies cannot be held accountable for his actions in spite of, or without acknowledgement of, these afflictions. And that acknowledgement implies misfortune, hapless circumstances beyond his control which caused these afflictions to materialize. These afflictions then, in turn, cause the man to react in certain ways. For it came, as it came, snared by the mind, not prepared by thought, under the compulsion of love, not the provision of art (33). Could you blame Alfredo for being ill with the plague of love, a disease that affects all mankind? For displaying symptoms of a sickness which weakens the intellect and separates it from rational thought, so that actions are spurred by overpowering love, divorced from purposefulness? For remember, after Alfredo disgraces Violetta, he is beside himself with emotion. He exclaims: "What have I done? My deed appalls me! My jealous rage, my love's distress destroy me utterly, drive me to madness!" (MacMurray 1174). He was literally driven out of his normal logical state of mind in a rage that controlled him completely.

Wollstonecraft: I agree with you that love appears to be a force separated from reason, comprised of days of thoughtless enjoyment (59). However, I believe mankind has more control over his emotions and passions. I believe that those in love are capable of reason, although I also realize that reason and love are often in direct conflict. Love will never cease to exist no matter how illogical it is proven, and to endeavour to reason love out of the world would be to out Quixote Cervantes (593).

Wollstonecraft: Love is an affliction of youth. Youth is the season for love in both sexes; but in those days of thoughtless enjoyment provision should be made for the more important years of life, when reflection takes place of sensation (593). The diminishing of passion occurs naturally with age; however, I do not believe it is impossible to incorporate logic and reason into the passionate days, such as to plan ahead to the days when this passion will have faded. Reason and love may often conflict but they are not exclusionary. Violetta has reasoned that love may vanish and thus she must seek out the support of the Baron, in spite of her continued love for Alfredo. The Baron is a man with money and influence who can offer her material wealth which lives on although her beauty may fade. Violetta had made a mistake by loving Alfredo to the extent that she placed her happiness in his hands. She claimed he "swore to be friend and kin and all to [her]" (MacMurray 1169). Her fault is relying too heavily upon Alfredo, for he is but a man. She left her former life of disrepute for love of him. That is also a mistake. For, a woman must, independently from the passions of a man have her first wish [...] to make herself respectable, and not to rely for all her happiness on a being subject to like infirmities with herself" (593). By returning to the Baron Violetta has lost some respect; however, she is relying upon a man who can offer her something to fall back on when she loses her charms.

Gorgias: Well we must agree to disagree, it appears. Unfortunately, it is getting late and so we must end this discussion.

***the above is an essay in dialogue format, a hypothetical situation taking place between two individuals who never met.***

Sources

MacMurray, Jessica M. The Book of 101 Opera Librettos. Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers. New York: 1996.