Jealousy ◆ Burns Both Others and Oneself
- Director, Kayukawa Clinic, Yuhei Kayukawa, M.D.
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Chunichi Shimbun, Morning Edition, August 25, 2006
If you were to meet someone younger and far more talented than yourself in your own field, what kind of emotion would you feel?
If you can respect the other person’s talent regardless of age and maintain a willingness to learn, you will be able to build good relationships. However, once jealousy arises, feelings of hatred and even a desire for revenge tend to grow.
The life and mysterious death of the 18th-century Austrian genius composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are portrayed in the film Amadeus (1984, USA), a work centered on the theme of jealousy.
In the film, Mozart is depicted as an ill-mannered young man who tells crude jokes and laughs loudly. Yet his talent is extraordinary. When invited to the imperial court, he hears a piece composed by court musician Antonio Salieri (Antonio Salieri) only once, then plays it back from memory—improvising and correcting its flaws as he goes. Salieri is utterly humiliated.
When Salieri later sees Mozart’s scores, he is struck with shock by their “divine sound” and is overwhelmed by defeat. Despite his lifelong devotion to God and constant prayer, he realizes that the talent he desired was granted instead to this vulgar young man.
He comes to resent God for giving such talent to Mozart and breaks his relationship with God. While continuing to love Mozart’s music more than anyone else, he begins to use every possible means to obstruct Mozart’s success.
Emperor Joseph II (Joseph II), who ruled at the time, loved music but lacked talent himself. Combined with the envy of court musicians around him, Mozart’s works were unfairly treated, and he fell into a life of despair.
Ultimately, trapped in a plot devised by Salieri, Mozart exhausts himself through relentless composition and dies at the age of 35.
For Salieri, what remains is not the pleasure of revenge, but lonely and regretful days in a psychiatric institution.
Told as the recollections of an aging Salieri, Amadeus is a remarkable work of entertainment that satisfies both music lovers and mystery fans. It also teaches that “the flame of jealousy burns both the other person and oneself to ashes.”
