| Seduction, betrayal,
curses and vendettas end in the tragic death of Rigoletto's innocent daughter
Gilda. He cherishes her the most, and loses her through his own foolish
acts.
Act I
Scene 1
At a ball at the ducal court
of Mantua, the hunchbacked jester Rigoletto mocks the courtiers cuckolded
by the profligate Duke, stirring them to plans of vengeance. Count
Monterone appeals to the Duke for the return of his dishonored daughter,
but is cruelly mocked by Rigoletto. Enraged, Monterone calls down
a father's curse on the terrified jester.
Scene 2
Outside his house, Rigoletto
encounters Sparafucile, a professional assassin, but has no need of his
services. Rigoletto warns his daughter Gilda to remain concealed
in their home. She does not reveal to him that she has fallen in
love with a handsome young man she has encountered on her way to church.
The object of her affections is the Duke, who appears as soon as Rigoletto
has left, bribing Gilda's nurse to admit him and to speak well of him to
Gilda. He tells her he is a poor student. After he leaves,
the courtiers come to abduct Gilda, believing her to be Rigoletto's mistress.
They trick Rigoletto into assisting them, assuring him that it is the Countess
Ceprano they are abducting from the neighboring house. When he realizes
what has happened, he is distraught. He remembers the curse.
Act II
The courtiers describe their
abduction of Gilda to the Duke. He is delighted to discover that
she has been brought to his palace and awaits him in his bedroom.
Rigoletto now enters, feigning indifference but desperately seeking signs
of the whereabouts of his daughter. When he realizes what has happened
he first curses, then pleads with the courtiers for her return, but to
no avail. Gilda appears en deshabille, and Rigoletto swears
vengeance on the Duke.
Act III
The Duke has been lured
to a remote inn by Sparafucile's sister Maddalena. Rigoletto has
paid Sparafucile to kill the Duke and to deliver his body in a sack so
that he may himself throw it into the Mincio. Rigoletto brings Gilda
with him to spy on the inn, hoping to reinforce the notion that the Duke
is not a man of honor in affairs of the heart. Gilda is unimpressed.
Rigoletto sends her home to change into men's clothing for their flight
to Verona. Infatuated with the Duke herself, Maddalena begs her brother
to spare him and to murder the jester instead. His sense of professional
responsibility offended, Sparafucile refuses, but does go so far as to
agree that if anyone else should happen to show up at the inn on this wild
and stormy night, he will murder them instead. Gilda, returning and
hearing all this, sees her chance to help the man she loves. She
boldly walks up to the door of the inn, knocks, is admitted and promptly
stabbed and stuffed into the sack for Rigoletto. Rigoletto is just
about to throw the sack in the river when he hears the Duke still singing
in the inn. Wildly he opens the sack to find his dying daughter,
who with her last breath assures him that she will pray for him with her
mother in heaven. Again, Rigoletto recalls Monterone's curse.
| Back:
Understanding Rigoletto | Next: Cast
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