Fiction and Untruth in Amadeus by Peter Shaffer Essay

Fiction and Untruth in Amadeus by Peter Shaffer The play â€Å"Amadeus† by Peter Shaffer was not written in order to be a biography of the great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, much more than this, Peter Shaffer wrote it as a story, rather than a history. In his story he was free to insert fiction to make the play more interesting to a wide audience, as well as to fulfill his purposes. However, musicologists and historians have written several articles claiming that Peter Shaffer â€Å"trashed this immortal†. What none of them can see is that in â€Å"Amadeus† there are situations that are plausible while others are â€Å"fictional ornament†. In this paper I will make an attempt to point what is fiction or untruth. The center of the play lies on†¦show more content†¦On the other hand, Constanze supported the idea that Salieri killed Mozart and she believed that Salieri planned against Mozart during his life. But the medical observations of Mozart can nowadays be diagnosed as several causes, f rom typhus to rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection to cyclothymic disorder, but none related to poisoning. Shaffer probably decided to write this play because of this rumor of a murder between two great composers. This idea, which at that time was indeed plausible, fed Shaffer with inspirations to write â€Å"Amadeus†. Even not being true, Salieri poisoning Mozart was a demand for Shaffer’s play. Again, a play here is a piece of art, not a biography. What seems to be the most important topic of the play is the relation between Salieri and Mozart. As it is seen throughout the play, Salieri’s envy is not demonstrated to others, he treated Mozart with respect and had friendly manners. However, he boycotted Mozart inside the court. Mozart could have had the post to teach Princess Elizabeth: JOSEPH: Herr Sommer. A dull man, surely? What of Mozart? SALIERI: Majesty, I cannot with a clear conscience recommend Mozart to teach royalty. One hears too many stories. JOSEPH: They may be just gossip. SALIERI: One of them, I regret, relates to a protà ©gà ©e of my own. A very young singer. JOSEPH: