Rigoletto

In Rigoletto the deformed figure of the hunchbacked jester at the Mantuan court acts as a foil to his cynical and powerful master an unscrupulous philanderer contrasted with his cruel and unforgiving fool Rigoletto encourages and welcomes the Dukes conquests pitilessly mocking his victims until he discovers that the Duke has abducted the one person he genuinely loves his own daughter As a result the character of the court jester is transformed into a tragic figure who in spite of his evident immorality and malice allows us to sense the devotion he feels for his daughter and his horror at being destroyed by the same despotic world as that which he himself has helped to create