Sunday, 27 November 2011

Giselle - Act 1, 2 Summary And Context

In Act 1 of Giselle, it is set in the day time in Giselle's village. Giselle is a peasant girl who has fallen in love with her neighbour called 'Loys'. Loys is really a man in disguise called Count Albrecht. Count Albrecht is a rich man who is disguised as a peasant because he has fallen in love and wants to marry Giselle - who is a peasant. Hillarion is a forester and a peasant but he is also in love with Giselle. He is the first person to realise that Loys is really Count Albrecht and is lying to Giselle. He realises this because when Count Albrecht and Hillarion fight; Count Albrecht goes to reach for his sword (because only the higher class carry swords) but realises he hasn't got one because he's pretending to be a peasant. There is a huge banquet/harvest celebration that the whole village attends along with some royals that also attend including Bathilde (a rich girl who Count Albrecht is supposed to marry). Hilarion then reveals to everyone that Count Albrecht isn't really Loys and he's been lying to Giselle. Giselle then goes mad with heartbreak and ends up killing herself due to grief. 


Act 2 of Giselle is set at night time in the forest, with a gas lamp used to create the moon. Giselle's grave is on stage. The Wilis enter the stage and they invite Giselle to become a Wilis. (The Wilis are a group of women who have died pure. The didn't get married whilst alive so now they get revenge on males by dancing them to death. Myrtha is the Queen of the Wilis). Count Albrecht feels guilty for Giselle's death so he visits the grave and places white flowers down. (The white flowers represent purity).  Giselle then appears to him and they do a Pas de Deux. The Wilis kill Hillarion to get revenge. They dance him to death. The Wilis then want to seek revenge on Count Albrecht but Giselle stops them and pleads the Queen not to kill him as she is still in love wit him. The Queen is not happy as Giselle has gone against what the Wilis do. The morning comes and the Queen and the rest of the Wilis decide to leave Count Albrecht to live.


Putting Giselle into context - 


  • Changes of control of power in the world. We see this in the conflict of the class society. Giselle goes against what the Queen has said; showing that Giselle (a peasant girl) has defeated the hierarchy and stood up to Myrtha (the Queen). 
  • New technologies - gas lamps. We see the use of a gas light used in act 2; the night scene to show the supernatural of the moon.
  • Escapism from hard life. The peasants are celebrating good harvest and forgetting the hard times from their every day lives. Fantasy/escapism is shown through the thought of coming back to life and Giselle being a ghost when she dances the Pas de Deux with Count Albrecht showing she still loves him.
  • Challenging class difference. This is shown through Count Albrecht loving Giselle when he shouldn't because she is below his standard as she is a peasant and he should marry a rich girl.
  • Representation of showing that women can be powerful. Shown when the Wilis dance the men to death to get revenge from not marrying whilst alive.
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