What is the main conflict in Amadeus?

On the face of it, the main conflict of Amadeus is between the musical abilities of the composers Salieri and Mozart. Salieri has devoted his life to music and risen to the rank of court composer. He is highly respected and has established a solid reputation in his field. Mozart is a former child-prodigy who blazes into the music scene in Vienna and rapidly becomes the emperor's favorite composer, destabilizing the career Salieri has worked so hard to build.

When Salieri introduces Mozart, he recounts Mozart's childhood as a "wunderkind" who toured the courts of Europe, astonishing everyone with his talents. Mozart's father, Leopold, devoted himself to nurturing his son's genius. Salieri's own father, by contrast, had no interest in Salieri's talent, and it wasn't until he died that Salieri was able to pursue studies and later a career in music. Mozart was thus provided from birth with opportunities to develop his talent that Salieri had to wait and work hard to achieve.

This knowledge makes it easier for Salieri to accept Mozart's talent and seems at first to give him the impression that, had he had the same opportunities as Mozart, they would be musical equals. When he finally meets Mozart, he is chagrined to discover that Mozart is a genuine genius, whose facility with music is so far beyond Salieri's that Salieri cannot hope to ever match him. This is evident in many scenes but perhaps most strikingly when Salieri, astonished, asks Mozart's wife whether the musical scores she has procured for him are "originals," to which she replies "Yes, sir; he doesn't make copies." Salieri is staggered to realize that Mozart does not even need to draft his music when composing it, and it is at this point that he begins to understand the gulf that separates their respective abilities.

However, the real conflict is less about the men's music and more about their personalities. Mozart is many things Salieri is not: he is popular, especially with women; he is modern where Salieri is safely traditional; and he is highly charismatic, which enables him to break rules repeatedly and get away with it. He swears in front of the emperor, includes a ballet in his opera when ballet is illegal, and baldly states his opinions without respect to the senior members of the court. He is rude to his social betters and keeps company with "commoners." He also has a reputation as a drinker, a womanizer, and a spendthrift. Despite these many breaches of etiquette, Mozart remains the toast of Viennese society, by whose rules and customs Salieri strictly abides.

Even Mozart's abrasive personality might have been acceptable to Salieri if he had shared Salieri's passion for music, but he does not. Despite his talent, or perhaps because of it, Mozart seems to Salieri to be as careless about music as he is about everything else. Salieri has given his life to music and compared to Mozart, he knows he is only a mediocre composer. Mozart, by contrast, seems to waste most of his time in "vulgar" pursuits and yet somehow still produces works of genius. It torments Salieri that Mozart is so gifted and so apparently ungrateful for his gifts, and this is the reason Salieri decides to torment Mozart in turn—to punish him for his lack of appreciation.

Ultimately, it transpires that Mozart has never felt himself to be in conflict with Salieri and has, in fact, always considered Salieri a friend. It therefore can be argued that the main conflict in Amadeus is not between Salieri and Mozart but between Salieri and his personal demons of jealousy, ambition, and vindictiveness, which he only overcomes as Mozart lays dying.

What are the main conflicts that Salieri experiences in Amadeus, particularly man vs. man?

In Amadeus, Salieri's perceived deficiencies are reflected in the strengths of Mozart. Because Salieri is unable to accept his own strengths, weaknesses, and actions, he alternatively spends the entire play hating and attempting to sabotage Mozart. Though it seems throughout Amadeus that Salieri's conflict is with Mozart, ultimately his real conflict is with himself.

Salieri is dissatisfied with his status as a composer when he hears Mozart's music. He knows he has never been as talented as his adversary. In fact, he gains his exalted musical position by virtue of his political and social maneuvering. When Mozart's wife brings Salieri music composed by Mozart, hoping to get his financial help, Salieri is shocked at the condition of the pages:

Astounding! It was actually, it was beyond belief. But they showed no corrections of any kind. Not one. He had simply written down music already finished in his head! Page after page of it as if he were just taking dictation. And music, finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall.

Salieri himself continually writes and rewrites his music. This and other similar incidents cause him to be extremely jealous of Mozart and to plot against him.

His jealousy causes him to:

• Work against Mozart gaining a foothold at court and in society.
• Rejoice in the poor relationship between Mozart and his wife.
• Hatch a plan to have Mozart write a requiem, kill Mozart, and then play the requiem at Mozart's funeral. Salieri believes that Mozart's piece—claimed by Salieri—will finally win him the acclaim he desires.

Unfortunately for Salieri, Mozart dies and the requiem is played under Mozart's name. In death, Mozart lays claim to one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever played. Salieri unsuccessfully attempts suicide and spends his life as a bitter, forgotten man.

Ironically, Mozart is very aware of his own flaws. At one performance, he says, "Forgive me, Majesty. I am a vulgar man! But I assure you, my music is not." If Salieri had attempted to help Mozart manage his finances and act more like a mature person, the scenario could have ended better for both men.

Salieri's failure to recognize that his own strengths are actually Mozart's weaknesses—and that Mozart's strengths do not diminish Salieri—causes him to waste his life in hatred and die a relatively unaccomplished and forgotten man at the end of the play.