Summary: New Light
Williams, Carolyn. “New Light on Changing Gender Norms: Patience.” Chapter 6 (pp 151-186) in Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 2008.
Summary:
Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience premiered in 1881 at the Opera Comique. The Savoy Theatre was completed while Patience was running at the Opera Comique, and moved to the newly built Savoy Theatre, making it the first Savoy Opera. Patience follows a form called The Serious Family, developed by earlier works. The opera mocks a fad called aesthete culture, where beauty and contemplation was placed above practical matters, such as eating. Aesthetes dressed in a certain way, in dull colors in large and out dated clothing, and loose hair for both men and women. Some objects of aesthete culture include sunflowers and lilies. Patience also targets gender roles and homosexuality, although the latter on more discreet level. The main characters take on different stereotypes of gender roles. Patience, the image of innocence and femininity; the Aesthetic maidens, as trendy and superficial; and Lady Jane, representing female power and self-interest, make up the female roles. The male roles are slightly less clearly divided. Bunthorne is an aesthete poet while Grosvenor is an idyllic poet, two Victorian genres of poetry that are considered opposites. They are juxtaposed with the Dragoon Guards, who are the epitome of masculinity. The bulk of the blending of gender roles occurs in those of the aesthete culture, with masculine women and effeminate men. In Gilbert and Sullivan fashion, the opera ends with everyone happily wed, with the exception of Bunthorne. There are many different interpretations of this, with some depicting Bunthorne as having escaped marriage, but most conclude that his single state hints at homosexuality.
Main plot points:
- Bunthorne and Grosvenor begin by reciting their poems to the aesthete maidens, who are all in love with Bunthorne. Bunthorne is only in love with Patience, who falls in love with Grosvenor after prompting from Lady Jane.
- Lady Jane holds influence among the other characters.
- The aesthetic maidens are still in love with Bunthorne when Patience decides she loves Bunthorne instead. The maidens switch their attentions to Grosvenor.
- Patience decides she loves and should be with Grosvenor, the maidens return to their fiancés in the Dragoon Guards, and the Duke marries Lady Jane.
- Bunthorne is left unwed, making the subtitle “Bunthorne’s bride” ironic.
Williams uses the script of Patience, a manuscript of Patience, several scripts of earlier influencing works, reviews of Patience, and scholarly interpretations of the opera to define and validate her conclusions. She includes several works that followed Patience to depict the impact the opera would have.