Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409270084
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dr. Amanda Fields, who is clinic director of St. Alban's in Blacksburg, an outpatient mental health clinic, got interested in what makes opera characters tick when she married Opera Roanoke General Director Craig Fields a few years ago.
``You have to approach art in a way that's meaningful to you, and it occurred to me that opera is usually about people living their lives in an exaggerated fashion,'' said Amanda Fields.
So what's a modern psychologist's take on ``Rigoletto''?
``Well, Verdi saw Rigoletto as a character who was ugly on the outside and lovely on the inside. But I think it's more consistent to see Rigoletto as someone who's not capable of selfless love, who sees his daughter as a prized, kind of like a Rembrandt [painting]. He's a cruel person, he humiliates, he publicly demeans, he's amused by the emotional suffering of others, he restricts the autonomy of his daughter. He keeps her locked away, and when she's seduced by the duke, it's like, `Someone took my Rembrandt and smudged it!'
``Then Gilda goes from being treated like an object with one person - her father - to being treated like an object with another person - the Duke. Maybe back in that time they saw her as naive and sweet, but I see her as self-defeating. I mean, she chooses this guy who leads her to disappointment, and she indulges in excessive self-sacrifice.
``The Duke I see as a selfish personality: He cons people, he's interpersonally exploitative, he uses people, he has an anti-social personality, perhaps narcissistic,'' said Fields.
``What I finally see about this opera is that `Rigoletto' is about human excess: Rigoletto is excessively cruel, the duke is excessively selfish, and Gilda is excessively self-sacrificing.''
Fields quotes Clarissa Pinkola Estes, author of the book ``Women Who Run with the Wolves,'' who defines excess as ``the lack of instinct to recognize the trap to know when enough is enough, to create boundaries around health and welfare.''
We're attracted to stories like ``Rigoletto'' because human beings ``yearn for clarity,'' said Fields. ``And in opera we know what's what - we end up hating the bad guy and loving the good guy.''
What about the skeptic who thinks that terms like ``interpersonally exploitative'' are so much psychobabble when applied to an era that had never heard of psychology?
``Hey, people are people, and the problems that plagued them back then continue. We've come a long way, and yet, some things haven't come all that far,'' said Fields.
by CNB