‘They are normal people who have done extraordinary things, thought extraordinary thoughts.’ Così depicts the ‘insane’ characters as heroes. Discuss.
The opera Cosi Fan Tutte which Lewis and the mental patients are performing is a play about love and fidelity. The concerns of the opera are also very real concerns of the characters in Cosi. By performing the opera they can explore their views and values about fidelity and love. Lewis thinks at the start of the
Play, in agreement with Lucy, that “love is not so important nowadays.” He has talked with Lucy about “free love” and Nick urges him not to let the fact that he is having sex with Lucy to come between them as mates. But it does. Lewis discovers over the course of the play that love is “important” and that
Commitment and fidelity are also important. For Julie love is about being “foolish” and on the “edge.” It’s this excitement that she likes. Through her Lewis discovers this. However, for Julie, being “foolish” doesn’t necessarily mean being unfaithful as she stays true to her partner in the end and doesn’t have a
Relationship with Lewis. Others characters, such as Henry, Doug and Cherry, all have strong opinions about love and commitment throughout the play.
Central to the meaning of the play is the journey that Lewis makes as character who sees love as not important at the start of the play to seeing love as very important at the end. To make this journey Lewis needed to be taken from the context of what he considered ‘normal’ into a different world. The mental
Institution represents a place that is on the fringes of society – neglected and ignored by the outside world. Into this world Lewis journeys ‐ “testing” himself, as Julie says. Through his kiss with Julie in the darkness of the theatre, Lewis is able to make his final transformation. Part of his transformation is to realize that the characters of the mental institution around him can’t make a miraculous change. Roy doesn’t suddenly become...