EMILIA GALOTTI

Interview -  Roseanne Lynch, Emilia Galotti

 

How do you interpret Lessing's Emilia Galotti?

 

I think it is mostly a play about power - the power a Prince has over his subjects, the power men have over women, parents over children, and religion over the religious. The Prince feels completely entitled to whatever he wants, even if what he wants is another person who doesn't necessarily want him. The men (even the ones we like!) dictate to the women what they should and shouldn't do, and Emilia submits to her parents' wishes in everything, and fears a God who considers even a thought a sin. When she finally seizes control of her own life, it turns all that upside-down, because there is nothing anybody can do to change it.

 

How would you describe Emilia's perspective in the play?

 

To me, Emilia is someone who is caught between her religion and her humanity. She is seventeen years old, so (if my own teenage years are anything to go by!) she is full of desires and longings, many of which she doesn't fully understand yet. And she is on the cusp of being married, and entering the adult world, so all these feelings are particularly heightened at the time when the play takes place. I think Emilia's religion makes it very hard for her to accept her feelings of sensuality and curiosity, and I think she feels very ashamed of herself most of the time. So when the Prince approaches her, even though it may be unwanted, she feels guilty and responsible for everything that happens afterwards. Emilia has never really been offered many choices. She lives according to her parents' wishes. And so, the big decision that she makes in this play is probably the first time she has ever taken control of her own life. 

 

Do you think Emilia Galotti has any resonance today?

 

Certainly. The world Emilia lives in is different to the world we live in in some ways, but in other ways it's really not. We still live in a world where slut-shaming exists, and where victims of sexual attacks are told they were "asking for it" because they drank too much or wore a short skirt. And that's in London, where we like to think of ourselves as being pretty liberal. There are still places where women are stoned to death for having sex, places where female genital mutilation is an everyday occurrence. There is still a lot of shame attached to women's sexuality, and I think this play shows how damaging that can be.