Contemporaneous Treatments of The Theme of Adultery
The defeat of the revolutions of 1848 and 1849 in Europe appears to have unleashed a veritable epidemic of treatments of the theme of adultery. The rebellion of a wife against the fetters of her marriage may be seen as a code for the artist's rebellion against political and legal authority. In the same year in which The Scarlet Letter was published, for instance Verdi's opera Stiffelio was premiered, in which the title character is also a minister; it is not he, but his wife who commits the act of adultery. From 1854 to 1859 Richard Wagner portrayed adulteresses in Die Walküre and Tristan und Isolde; at the same time, Gustave Flaubert was working on Madame Bovary.
Read more about this topic: The Scarlet Letter
Famous quotes containing the words theme and/or adultery:
“It seems to me that upbringings have themes. The parents set the theme, either explicitly or implicitly, and the children pick it up, sometimes accurately and sometimes not so accurately.... The theme may be “Our family has a distinguished heritage that you must live up to” or “No matter what happens, we are fortunate to be together in this lovely corner of the earth” or “We have worked hard so that you can have the opportunities we didn’t have.””
—Calvin Trillin (20th century)
“Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 5:28.
From the Sermon on the Mount.