It is interesting to note that once Salieri has promised to God that he will ‘live with virtue’ and improve the lives of his fellow man, he then proceeds to commit all sins available to him, much to the entertainment of the audience. Salieri seems unable to truly keep to his side of the bargain. Even though Salieri thinks he is leading a virtuous life it is obvious to the audience that Salieri commits a lot of sins, primarily gluttony, envy and lust. His lust for Katherina Cavalieri proves this. This is shown clearly in the play when he says, “I lusted for her.” This exposes to the audience that Salieri is rather foolish and irrational as this is a clear violation of his deal. This is thought provoking as it hints that in some way Salieri enters a Faustian pact with God because no human can ever be completely virtuous. Salieri also commits gluttony as he has a love for sweat meat and cakes. During the play he eats many “Nipples of Venus, Roman chestnuts brandied in sugar.” In context this may portray a sense that maybe Salieri uses his appetite as a substitute for love. This is ironic and is slightly amusing as Salieri commits gluttony in order to maintain his chastity. Salieri strives for perfection; he wants to be a perfect Catholic. Even though he tries to be virtous he still commits many of the sins. Salieri almost thinks that leading a virtuous life is not committing any sins. However a true Catholic believes it is about being actively virtuous, such as being charitable, patient and kind. His failure at this reveals to the audience that a human cannot be completely virtous and this is very accurate in reality.
Inevitably, the relationship that Salieri perceives to have with God is challenged upon the arrival of a new character; Mozart. When Salieri hears Mozart’s music for the first time he is breath-taken and astonished by the pure excellence of it. This is shown in the play when Salieri comments on Mozart’s music as, “I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink strokes at – an absolute beauty!” This makes him realise that his music is merely average compared to Mozart. Salieri cannot comprehend Mozart’s immature and eccentric behaviour with the absolute brilliance, which Salieri thinks, God bestowed on him. This is eye-catching as this challenges everything Salieri believes God to be, a God which looks “at the world with dealer’s eyes.” This introduces doubts to Salieri about God. This makes Salieri very angry with God. For Salieri thinks that Mozart is God’s favoured one and that Mozart is a way for God to mock him. Ironically, Mozart’s baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus, means “loved by God”, further implying his unique and special relationship with God, much to the jealousy of Salieri. Salieri starts to envy Mozart and he felt betrayed by God as he has dedicated his entire life to God and his own gift is much smaller compared to Mozart. In vain Salieri rejects his vows and tries to kill Mozart as a way to seek revenge of God. Salieri is fighting against God and Mozart happens to be in the middle of it. Salieri blames his mediocrity on Mozart. This is shown in the play when Salieri say, “I had the power. God needed Mozart to let himself into the world. And Mozart needed me to get him worldly advancement. So it would be a battle to the end – and Mozart was the battleground.” Salieri and God become “enemies.” Whether one believes in God or not this is a slightly disturbing as it is dangerous and bold thing to say against God.
Shaffer presents Salieri and God’s relationship to the audience as one for us to enjoy and be entertained by. This is not to say that we find his situation funny in a trivial way but that we might recognise something of ourselves in Salieri and perhaps be able to learn something from him. God never appears in the play and he has no dialogue. So everything the audience knows about the character of God in the play is from what Salieri says, feels and thinks. Through Soliloquy, Salieri talks to himself, revealing his thoughts to the audience and helping us to understand how Salieri feels about how God is treating him. This happens regularly throughout the play. Shaffer also allows Salieri to talk directly to the audience. Through alienation or verfremdung Shaffer breaks the illusion of the fourth wall between the audience and the characters. This theatrical technique, coupled with Shaffer’s stage directions that there be no realistic set. This is effective because it allows the audience to step back and make their own moral judgements about the play and not be over whelmed by too many emotions or feelings. This is shown in the play when Salieri calls out to the audience as, “Ghosts of the future,” and also, “Shades of Time to come!” Furthermore, Salieri seems able to see and hear God; he imitates Him as though God was talking to him. Salieri says, “I saw His eyes flare,” and also, (As “God”) “Bene. Go forth, Antonio. Serve Me and mankind, and you will be blessed!” In reality this seems highly unlikely. It could suggest to the audience that Salieri is having hallucinations. The whole play is a confession, so in some sense the play is a plea of forgiveness from Salieri to God. Salieri’s relationship with God is presented in practical ways as well, such as when Salieri prays.
The conventional way of thinking about God is that he is in heaven. However, to some extent it could be said that Shaffer presents God in the human form of Mozart. Shaffer does not believe in God himself, he could be playing with the idea that if God existed he would exist as a human form. If God was in the human form of Mozart then Salieri’s relationship with God is very different to what I thought it to be. It would be filling with lying and backstabbing. Salieri’s relationship with Mozart is based around pure envy for Mozart divine ability to compose. The fact that Mozart is a creator of music relates to the fact that God is also a creator. This is interesting as it states in the bible that “Jesus will return among us,” there could be a relationship between this and the subtle suggestion that Mozart maybe God. The play brings up many questions such as does God exist? If he does is it possible to believe in a God that is forgiving in the real world? In the play, when Salieri decides to reject God his career suddenly rises and his music becomes more famous and he earns more money, this is one of the main moments where the existence of God is challenged. Surely, if one were to reject God and commit sins they should not receive fame and money. I think that Shaffer could almost be writing about himself in this play, as he may want to have fame and to be a celebrated writer.
