You will hear a short lecture. Write a summary for a fellow student who was not present at the lecture. You should write 50 – 70 words. You have 10 minutes to finish this task. Your response will be judged on the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the key points presented in the lecture.
The opera La Traviata was written by Verdi and was based on a novel by Dumas. The main character, Violetta, is a Paris courtesan that falls in love with a man named Alfredo. However, their romance meets a heartbreaking ending. Verdi and Dumas had similar relationships with women, just like in the novel and opera they wrote. Even though this story was based on fairly common practices, publicly writing about it was a bold thing to do. They used art to express social issues.
