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1 results

  • 15 - Pamina, the Queen, and the Representation of Women

  • from Part III - Approaches and Perspectives
  • Edited by Jessica Waldoff, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to <i>The Magic Flute</i>
    Published online:
    24 November 2023
    Print publication:
    02 November 2023, pp 234-251

  • Summary

    This chapter draws on conceptions of gender in Mozart’s time and ours to explore the opera’s representation of women. This aspect of The Magic Flute, including the misogynistic statements of the priests, is now widely regarded as problematic. The opera sets the rule of Sarastro and his brotherhood against the Queen and her entourage, and the focus on this conflict between the sexes has to some degree obscured the opera’s focus on the construction of gender in the characterization of Pamina and the Queen. Gender is performed on stage within an established context and frame of reference. Pamina is a sentimental heroine whose idealized image, abduction, and abandonment prove her moral virtue; the Queen is a dark and vengeful mother who refuses to accept her restricted position. This focus allows us to see how both mother and daughter complicate patriarchal assumptions by raising important questions about gender and power.