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The Marriage Of Figaro As Presented By Beaumarchais, Da Ponte, And Mozart: An Expression Of Shifting Class Structure, Kelly Cassady

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The social structure at the close of the 18th century was a picture of instability and change, as Europe watched the unfolding of the American Revolution, Napoleon redrew the map, and the Enlightenment swept across the face of the earth, bringing with it new political and social ideas relating to equality and the unfairness of the aristocratic class and government structure throughout Europe. This new awareness was expressed intellectually and passionately in the work of the artists, musicians, and writers of the time, as is demonstrated clearly in Pierre Augustin de Beaumarchais's radical play, "The Marriage of Figaro." The Enlightened …