The characters in Peter Shaffer's play (and the film adaptation of the same name) Amadeus.
Antonio Salieri
- Adaptational Villainy: There is absolutely no evidence that Salieri was in any way responsible for Mozart's death, or that he harbored a life-long jealous hatred for Mozart. While there was some rivalry between the two composers, much of the time they were on good, friendly terms with one another.
- Affably Evil: So much so, that Salieri's evil is never discovered note , only when he confesses to the priest, and even then, he is quite nice and congenial. He does dip into Faux Affably Evil as he begins to scheme against Mozart:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even though he's an envious bastard who can't stand the fact that Mozart could be better than him. His fate is portrayed sympathetically—He grows old and sees his music become forgotten over time, and feels that this fate is his punishment by God for trying to steal Mozart's spotlight.
- All for Nothing: Salieri's schemes are successful and Mozart dies, but he can find no victory in it due to Mozart's music only becoming even more popular after his death, this combined his own guilt torments Salieri and he goes mad. The last we see of Salieri is him being wheeled through an insane asylum, having fully resigned his fate to be in Mozart's shadow and in madness declaring himself the patron saint of mediocrity. The movie further emphasizes Salieri's failure by having the last thing we hear be Mozart's signature annoying laugh, signifying who truly got the last laugh in the story.
- Always Second Best / Always Someone Better: The source of Salieri's bitterness; he felt that God had given him what composing talent he had solely so he could be the only one able to truly recognise Mozart's genius. Even the fact that he was by far the more successful of the two men during their lives didn't change the fact that he knew Mozart's music would outshine his forever.
- Ambiguous Situation: Salieri doesn't really kill Mozart, but the fact that Mozart is, toward the end of his life, doing two jobs (and overwork was apparently a contributory cause of his death) doesn't really help matters, and since one of the jobs was assigned by a disguised Salieri...
- Antagonist in Mourning: Salieri, despite having relished the moment for a long time, seems utterly crushed when Mozart dies. In the opening, where he tries to commit suicide, he's even crying out "Forgive me, Mozart!"
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He seems like a nice enough guy, but it's shown that he's also a deeply envious and egotistical bastard.
- Blasphemous Boast: Salieri gives one after he decides that God is taunting him through Mozart, declaring himself God's enemy, swearing to destroy God's "incarnation" and renouncing the bargain they had made.Salieri: They say God is not mocked? Man is not mocked!
- Classic Villain: Pride and Envy for Salieri.
- Deal with the Devil: Inverted; in his youth Salieri made a deal with the "God of Bargains" to dedicate his life to goodness, piety, the production of great works of music and (in the movie) celibacy, if only God will make him a successful and famous composer. He sees the creation of Mozart as God twisting this deal to torment him.
- Driven by Envy: Very much so — as a core driver of the plot. The only thing he ever wanted was to be a great composer, and he worked hard for it all his life, but then he meets this crude, boorish boy who he recognizes has a genius that he can never compete with, apparently given to him by God.
- Driven to Suicide: The film opens with Salieri, overcome with guilt, slashing his throat in a failed attempt to kill himself. In Real Life, Salieri did attempt suicide in 1823, but from clinical depression, not guilt.
- Faith–Heel Turn: Salieri committed himself to God's works in exchange for his composing career- until meeting Mozart and seeing the talent God had given him destroyed his faith.
- False Friend: Salieri hides his resentment toward Mozart and pretends to regard him as a friend and colleague, while secretly doing things to hinder him at every opportunity. Salieri's act is so good that Mozart never realises his true intentions, and goes to his grave believing that Salieri is really his friend.
- Fatal Flaw: Envy. He's achieved the successful music career he dreamed of and is happy with the attributes that God had given him, until Mozart comes into his life. Mozart composes music of surpassing genius and inspiration in a way that makes it look easy, despite coming across to Salieri as childish, vulgar, impudent, and frivolous in all matters outside of music. The fact that God favors this unseemly creature over a pious, hard-working man such as himself makes Salieri feel cheated. He stops appreciating what he already has, turns away from God, and instead focuses on undermining Mozart's career. Eventually he goes to the extent of trying to murder Mozart and steal his magnum opus so that he can get revenge on God and attain the recognition he deserves, but after Mozart works himself to death Salieri is left guilty and grieving instead of triumphant. The sad thing is that Salieri genuinely loved Mozart's music more than anybody, and despite Mozart occasionally slighting Salieri's compositions he actually considered Salieri to be a real friend. If Salieri had been able to put aside his envy and return Mozart's friendship, he almost certainly could have lived a happier life instead of spending his old age in an insane asylum.
- Faux Affably Evil: He feigns friendship to Mozart and 'helps' him write his Requiem, all the while planning this so he can die and Salieri can take the credit for himself.
- A God Am I: Salieri's aspiration to become God's musical messenger in this world. It all goes downhill when he understands that Mozart fits the role much better. And then he seeks to outwit God.
- Gone Horribly Right: The ultimate failing of Salieri's plan to kill Mozart and profit from his death; while his original intent was to steal the Requiem and have it played at Mozart's public funeral as a tribute to him, gaining acclaim for it, his plan to ruin Mozart succeeded so well that Mozart died a pauper and was given little more than a beggar's funeral which almost nobody attended, preventing Salieri from benefiting from the Requiem at all.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Although Salieri recognizes and genuinely admires Mozart's immense genius, he resents that such an immature, obnoxious jackass obtained it in what seems an effortless manner.
- Historical Downgrade: While the real Salieri was not as good as Mozart, he was still a skilled composer in his own right as opposed to the "patron saint of mediocrity" he describes himself as and most of the honors he got were legitimately deserved. Ironically, the play and the subsequent movie actually revitalized interest in Salieri's work.
- Historical Relationship Overhaul:
- Mozart and Salieri were not mortal enemies as they are in the play, but rather friendly competitors in the same business.
- Salieri was not celibate, and he was the father of eight children with and his Adapted Out wife. The woman in the play whom he lusts after but denies himself, Caterina Cavalieri, was Salieri's mistress in real life.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: Although Salieri and Mozart were competitors for various professional positions, and Mozart and his father suspected that Salieri and other Italian composers based in Vienna had conspired to hinder his career (leading to the accusations that Salieri had poisoned Mozart, accusations which caused Salieri to have several nervous breakdowns in later life), the two composers actually had a great deal of respect for one another (save for a single dispute arising from an alleged attempt by Salieri to sabotage The Marriage of Figaro, which is the only reason why such allegations of murder were made in the first place — long story, the short of it being that it's nothing more than juicy gossip), and Salieri actively helped to bring about the premieres of several of Mozart's later works. By some accounts, Salieri was also present at Mozart's burial, and helped to arrange concerts celebrating Mozart's work following his death. It is known that in the years following Mozart's death, Salieri was given a chance to set up a production at the opera in Vienna, of anything he wanted. He chose to set up a production of The Magic Flute, rather than one of his own works.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Salieri is tortured every day by reminders that, however good he gets, Mozart will always be better and will always be acclaimed as a genius. It's his frustration and anger at both his shortcomings and his belief that Mozart is undeserving of his talent that drives him to breaking point.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Behind Salieri's Insufferable Genius demeanor, you find a deeply insecure man.
- Insufferable Genius: Despite his envy and insecurity, Salieri is a skilled composer and he lets everyone know it.
- Interrupted Suicide: Salieri's cook and valet manage to break down his door and save him from bleeding to death after he slits his own throat.
- It's All About Me: Salieri proves to be a profoundly egotistical man. While he has a genuine passion for music, ultimately it's revealed that he wants the accolades that come from being 'God's instrument.'
- Karmic Nod: Salieri understands full well that he deserves his fate as a 'mediocrity' as he says, even going as far as telling the priest he is the Patron Saint of Mediocrities.
- Kick the Dog: Salieri constantly sabotages Mozart's career opportunities as much as possible. But a particular nasty instance is in the Director's Cut where he takes advantage of Constanze's desperation and devotion and obtain sexual favors from her. Even when he decides not to go through with it, he never does anything to remedy Constanze's emotional breakdown.
- Laser-Guided Karma: While he succeeds in orchestrating Mozart's death, he is unable to take the Requiem and pass it off as his own. Then he slowly succumbs to despair as his music is slowly forgotten and Mozart becomes one of the best composers who has ever lived.
- Manipulative Bastard: So much so that nobody suspects Salieri to have his own odious machinations when he converses with them.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Salieri apparently starts to have second thoughts about killing Mozart after the latter apologizes to him, and he later apologizes to Mozart, as seen during the opening.
- Nay-Theist: Salieri becomes this as he decides he's had enough with Mozart.Salieri: (narrating) From now, we are enemies... You and I. Because You choose for your instrument a boastful, lustful, smutty, infantile boy and give me for reward only to recognize the incarnation. Because you are unjust, unfair, unkind, I will block you, I swear it. I will hinder and harm your creature as far as I am able. I will ruin Your incarnation.
- No Love for the Wicked: Salieri in the movie, who has neither a wife nor mistresses. Not so much in the play, in which he expresses contempt towards his wife's frigidity and seduces one of his students, although only after he abandons his bargain with God (in reality, Salieri was married and had nine children).
- Only Sane Man: Possibly the most galling thing to Salieri is that he appears to be the only person of his day who can truly recognise Mozart's genius, seeing it as God adding insult to injury. He almost seems to resent the fact that his work is more popular than Mozart's in their day, despite its clear inferiority.
- Psychological Projection: He has a tendency of assigning emotions that he has to Mozart. He also thinks that Mozart banged his student (and love interest) though this isn't confirmed in the story.
- Pyrrhic Victory: Zigzagged but ultimately subverted. Salieri is successful in orchestrating Mozart's death. But ultimately, he never gets to bask in Mozart's glory in the way that he wants to. He lives to be a broken and sorrowful old man, who believes himself to be a mediocrity.
- Rage Against the Heavens: "That was not Mozart laughing, Father. That was God. That was God laughing at me through, through that obscene giggle."
- Sinister Sweet Tooth: Salieri, not unlike his real-life counterpart, has a thing for candy and desserts. The opening scene has his servants trying to wheedle him out of a locked room with pastries. The party where he first sees Mozart shows him sneaking a treat off a banquet table. When he's working, he's seldom seen without a dish of candies close at hand. He often offers guests desserts. His favorite breakfast at the asylum is sugar rolls. And, of course, he's consumed with envy for Mozart, enough to undermine his reputation and contemplate murder.
- Unreliable Narrator: Quite emphasized by the narrator's dementia. A notable instance is that Salieri assumes that Mozart slept with his most beloved pupil, who reacted with jealousy at news of Mozart's engagement. Though really, no on-screen evidence of this affair is given to the audience and her affection might well have been one-sided.
- Villainous BSoD: In the play, Salieri has one during his final visit to Mozart in his Black Cloak and mask disguise when Mozart produces the completed Requiem, even tearing off a piece of one of the pages and placing it on his tongue like a wafer in Holy Communion. He allows Mozart to unmask him then explodes at him, revealing that he's been Mozart's enemy all along and cursing him to die and leave him in peace.
- Villain Protagonist: Salieri is both the main character and the narrator of the story- the story of how he planned the destruction and death of the man he envied. Although he provides a Sympathetic P.O.V., and Mozart (in the movie more than the play) is arguably the Deuteragonist.
- Villain Respect: While he'll try to sabotage Mozart and later even plot to kill him, Salieri can't hide his adoration for the man's work, and by the end of their relationship he makes it clear that Mozart's the greatest composer he knows. This is an interesting example because it's this respect that also leads Salieri to hate Mozart, as seeing a Manchild effortlessly coming up with music far greater than his own irritates and torments him to no end.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Annoying Laugh: Mozart frequently delivers a shrill, obnoxious, hyena-like cackle. By all historical accounts that was actually how Mozart sounded when he laughed, with some contemporaries comparing it to "the braying of a jackass" mixed with breaking windows, while others described it as "grating a cobblestone down a piano's string". (One might notice that Hulce manages to look like a braying donkey when he laughs.)
- Broken Ace: What awes and frustrates Salieri is how easily Mozart can come up with amazing music (or so it seems) and how natural it seems for him. However, he's also an alcoholic buffoon with terrible manners and spending habits.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: When really putting his mind to it, Mozart displays a passion for his compositions and operas. However, his real fault is his inability/unwillingness to get a stable job teaching students (further compounded by his grating personality and Salieri's constant sabotage).
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Mozart, all the way. Immature, obnoxious jackass that he is, he is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant composers to ever walk the Earth, and he knows it. Deconstructed, as he's ahead of his time, which, along with his various vices, means he's often in debt, and his personality means he's not very well-liked even by those that recognize his talent. Salieri resents the hell out of the fact that God would bestow such staggering talent onto someone so improper and over-the-top.
- The Casanova: Well...so Salieri says. But he does have a way of attracting to ladies to him.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Mozart is certainly odd, and he often alienates people with his bizarre and even childish behavior. But his talent speaks for itself.
- Dishonored Dead: Having died with unpaid debts, he's given a pauper's funeral and dumped into an unmarked mass grave.
- Fatal Flaw: His Insufferable Genius tendencies, as well as his trust in Salieri is eventually what does him in.
- Happily Married: Despite his...eccentricities, he and his wife are happily married and love each other very much.
- Heroic RRoD: Mozart, with encouragement from Salieri, ends up working himself to death.
- Horrible Judge of Character: He ends up placing a lot of trust into Salieri, which ultimately does him in as Salieri works to orchestrate Mozart's death.
- Innocently Insensitive: Mozart revising the piece Salieri made in his honor.
- Insufferable Genius: Mozart is boorish, rude, infantile, and argumentative against anyone who can't appreciate his work.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mozart is an often obnoxious Manchild prone to tantrums and juvenile behavior, but he's also a man devoted to his craft who also loves his family and friends. Furthermore, even when he ridicules others, he does so in jest and really has no malice or ill will towards anybody, as was evident in the scene where in all sincerity, he asks Salieri to forgive him for any perceived ill will.
- Large Ham: Tom Hulce clearly had a blast playing the role of Amadeus. He also nails the Annoying Laugh well.
- Manchild: Even without Salieri trying to sabotage him, Mozart had a lot of demons on his own. He was very childish, outspoken, couldn't take criticism, spent more money than he earned, and had severe drinking issues.
- Meaningful Name: Mozart's middle name, "Amadeus" is often taken to mean "beloved by God", although its actual meaning is "love God!" (imperative). The fact that Amadeus is the title of the play/movie and that Salieri believes that Mozart is God's favored instrument suggests that the author is playing on the interpretation as "beloved by God". In fact, when Salieri speaks to the priest, he puts an emphasis on his middle name as if it were Dramatic Irony.Salieri: (after a priest recognizes Ein Kleine Nachtmuzik) That was Mozart. Wolfgang... Amadeus... Mozart.
- Starving Artist: Mozart spends more than he makes and is seen asking for loans a couple of times.
- Unknown Rival: Mozart is aware Salieri dislikes him, but thinks it's in the way everyone dislikes him, since he is, by his own admission, not easy to get along with. Tellingly, when he's on his deathbed and needs someone to help him complete the Requiem, it's Salieri that he calls. He has no idea that Salieri deeply resents and loathes him out of envy, much less enough to want him dead.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Mozart is both terrified and awed by his imposing father Leopold. He's hoping for the adoration he wants from his father (who never shows any) but unwilling to submit to his demands to leave Vienna. And when Leopold dies, Mozart pumps out Don Giovanni to express his rage and grief. And Salieri is the only one who understands it...
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Mozart gets paid a handsome sum after the success of The Magic Flute, and the following morning, Constanze and Franz return home to him. Unfortunately, he doesn't live long enough to enjoy any of this.
Emperor Joseph II
- Dumbass Has a Point: While Emperor Joseph has no ear for music, he knows that a dance is nothing without it and his intervention causes Marriage of Figaro to be premièred.
- Historical Downgrade: Unlike how he's characterized here, the real Joseph II was far from a musical ignoramus. In actuality, he took musical instruction from some of the finest teachers in Europe and persistently championed Mozart's music even against his own advisors' wishes.
- Kick the Dog: Played With. His yawning during one of Mozart's opera is taken as a signal to close it down soon. But he actually looks embarrassed to give in, and simply he could have been just tired rather than disengaged.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Emperor Joseph II is one as well. He's a bit of a fool, but he's also frequently willing to give Mozart the benefit of the doubt and he's not undrawn to Mozart's enthusiasm. The real Joseph was this as well compared with other European monarchs.
- Refuge in Audacity: Tells Mozart that his music has "too many notes." What makes this even more funny is the fact that the real Joseph also gave Mozart a similar critique.
- Upper-Class Twit: He does try to be open-minded but he's often portrayed as an oblivious rich idiot who has a lousy ear for music. This makes him susceptible to Salieri's manipulations.
