Home > Amadeus Summary & Study Guide > Essays and Criticism > Fathers and Sons in Shaffer's Play

Amadeus | Fathers and Sons in Shaffer's Play

In the following essay, Wendy Perkins examines how Shaffer's play explores the complex relationship between fathers and sons.

Shaffer's Amadeus gained appreciative audiences due to its compelling depiction of the rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his contemporary, Antonio Salieri. In this fictionalized version of the two composers' relationship, Shaffer explores the mystery of creative inspiration, the search for spirituality, and the consequences of success and failure. Shaffer intertwines these themes in the play with its most absorbing one—an exploration of the problematic relations that can develop between fathers and sons.

The first father/son relationship Shaffer introduces to...

[The entire page is 1392 words long]

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

Summary and Analysis – Themes – Characters – And much more...