Was wondering if anyone can give me some feedback on my essay based on the play cosi. I'm struggling a bit on the conclusion. Thank you
Cosi contends that some things are more important than politics
During the 'era of free love and orgies,' a group of mental patients rehearse for a play about eternal love and fidelity, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte . Louis Nowra's play, Cosi depicts the social values in 1960s Australia that are evolving, such as free love and political infrastructure to take the place of those old fashioned values of love, friendship and fidelity which do not have any meaning anymore. Nowra, however, challenges this outlook in society by proposing that these values are still important in a changing world, and can change the most unlikely of characters for the better. It his through the themes of fidelity, aestheticism, sanity, and reality that Nowra explores ideals such as friendship, trustworthiness, respect and acceptance in an ostracised environment and reveals how these simple ideas can transform the 'madmen' outcasts of a society.
Although it is depicted as an ancient value, slowly deteriorating in the 1960s society, Nowra challenges the theme of fidelity to be very important in an individual's life. Nowra shows this through the play within the play, Cosi fan tutte, by Mozart in which the true idealistic belief of fidelity is questioned on the part of both men and women. The play questions whether fidelity can ever be achieved as 'women are like that' and never seem to change. Therefore men must simply accept women for who they are; manipulative, untruthful and delusive. Nowra illustrates the same idea through the relationship between Lewis and Lucy. While Lucy is 'sleeping' with Lewis, she is also engaged in a not so clandestine affair with Lewis' best friend, Nick which she claims that they're having 'just sex.' She dismisses her actions as unacceptable as she reasons that its 'not as if we're married.' All the while Lewis feels betrayed and distraught which leaves him questioning if he can trust ever again. Through the representation of such a relationship, Nowra challenges the readership to embark on the importance that fidelity has on a human's mental state, and one's ability to trust. Similarly, Lewis exemplifies how men can also cause pain and heartache through deceit and infidelity when he 'passionately kisses' Julie during rehearsals. Cherry feels betrayed by her crush when he kisses a friend of hers, leaving her to revert back to her violent, psychopathic ways when she 'pulls a knife' on Julie to threaten her. Her aggressive nature is indicative of the great influence fidelity can have in keeping one's sanity, even if it is of the platonic kind illustrated in the relationship between Cherry and Lewis. Once more, this play challenges that fidelity is most certainly an important value that can control the attitude of an individual towards life.
Cosi challenges the importance of artistic appreciation by exploring the development of multiple characters in the film. A prominent character who becomes enlightened and essentially transformed through the discovery of performing arts is Henry. At his introduction, Henry is illustrated as "quiet and never looks anyone in the eye," ironically, his profession as a lawyer should see him as an opposite personality to the one he is. Nowra uses such humorous codes to imply that politics does not benefit people such as Henry who are so closely tied to the infrastructure of politics, but rather, it holds them back and develops an introvert out of them. Conversely, as the narrative progresses, Henry becomes more extroverted. A pivotal example of this is highlighted when "Henry who is supposed to be miming the music sings loudly" replies to a questioning Lewis that he 'felt like it.' Nowra juxtaposes the two personalities of Henry; one influenced by politics and the law, and the other influenced by the arts. This challenges the readership to think whether these 'mental patients' who are truly trapped in their environment, or if it is politics that influences society to believe they are free when they actually are not. Furthermore, Lewis has a personal epiphany when he discovers the importance of ideals such as fidelity, love and friendship when he agrees to direct the play. As soon as "the lights go on" the readership is made to recognise the foreshadowing of Lewis' transformation as he meets Roy. Initially he is a university graduate who shares the same ideals and beliefs as his friends; that during this present moment the two most important things in society are the Vietnam war and Politics. When he decides to do a play about Love and fidelity, his friends denounce him. However, as the narrative develops, Lewis learns that the people he is associating with are just 'normal people who have... Thought extraordinary thoughts' and are just the same as he is. Cosi fan tutte makes him see that 'without love, the world wouldn't mean much', and Nowra interprets love to be the catalyst to a person's meaning in life. Therefore, he challenges the readership to reassess their own lives and ask themselves whether all they can think of is "bread, a shelter, equality, health, procreation, (and) money" before they can even think about love.
Reality and illusion is another theme in the text that is influenced by the domination of politics. It is heavily interpreted through Ruth, who portrays an obsessive character. She has trouble pretending to drink coffee on stage because it is not real coffee, therefore, she must create the illusion that there is coffee. Nowra represents Ruth to show that many people are like, her inability to distinguish between reality and illusion, based on what others are telling them. This leaves the reader questioning much more complex ideas such has, whether politics is truthful to them, or are they being played and lied to for political gain. Furthermore, other people may succumb to an illusion when the truth is too painful. Much like Lewis, the fact that his girlfriend was unfaithful to him was blatantly obvious since all three of them lived together, and she spent a lot of time with Nick. But Lewis simply deluded himself to believe that his girlfriend was faithful. This then begs the question to the readership if human society is so afraid of truth such as the 'mentally insane' being normal that they would create false truths in order to protect themselves, or is the war in Vietnam so horrific,that they 'believe' that the government can make all their issues disappear.
Louis Nowra's Cosi portrays a time in history, during the 1960s where socital values where in a state of flux, due to the horrifying wariness Vietnam. Values such as live, faithfulness and aestheticism were all dismissed because they simply 'not so important nowadays.' However, Nowra contends that such forgotten ideals are much more important than politics. Fidelity is a traditional idea that plays catalyst in the trust between two people. Aestheticism helps to develop individuals, and motivate them to become better in life, and politics creates illusions to people so they feel safe and free from the harsh truth.
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