Salieri (Amadeus)

"I speak for all mediocrities in the world. I am their champion. I am the patron's saint. Mediocrities everywhere... I absolve you... I absolve you... I absolve you... I absolve you... I absolve you all." (Amadeus)

While this character is based on the real-life composer Antonio Salieri, this post will be discussing the depiction in the 1984 film Amadeus, in which he is portrayed by F. Murray Abraham. While the film is named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Salieri is the protagonist of the story, as it focuses on Salieri's recount of his mental breakdown in response to Mozart's natural musical mastery As shown in his quote above, Salieri considers himself the very definition of mediocracy. Despite practising his entire life to be considered a legendary musician, he is shown up by a plucky young upstart.

An important yet less common character arc is that of someone accepting their own lack of talent. And while a character like Mike Wazowski does so with melancholic grace in Monsters University, Salieri initially hates and resents Mozart's behaviour and disposition, even planning to kill him in order to claim one of Mozart's pieces as his own. However, upon Mozart's death, Salieri mourns more than anyone, as he finally came around to respect the beauty of Mozart's talent. And while Mozart's death was not at Salieri's hand, Salieri considers the loss of Mozart's talent to be an event tragic enough to validate a confession and attempted suicide. In his final moments, Salieri is shown to shed his jealousy and gain a sincere respect for talent and its creations, no matter who possesses it.