In the play, ??? Cosi??™, written by Louis Nowra, the transformation of the character of Lewis is classified as a remarkable extent. The transformation of Lewis is shown in various ways throughout the text, such as his (Lewis??™) attitude towards other characters, his attitude towards the play and also his outlook on life and love.
Looking into the character of Lewis does show that from the beginning of the play all the way to the end, he has become a different person. At the start Lewis feels uncomfortable and nervous around the other characters in the book, partly because they are from a mental asylum and partly because they are completely different to him. Lewis tends to just stand there and only talk when spoken to at the start of the play, as Nowra has shown that Lewis is very uncomfortable and unsure of the situation he has gotten himself into.
Lewis is thrust directly into a different environment than what he is used to as he is being constantly judged by other characters, especially Roy, where he (Roy) calls Lewis and himself ??? Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin??? explaining how Roy believes that he is in much more control and has much more power over Lewis, or Jerry as Roy is referring him too. Lewis??™ attitude also changes towards his close friend, Nick and his girlfriend, Lucy. These change Lewis as he finds out much more about his friends certain beliefs and actions towards each other and the other characters, forcing Lewis??™ mental process towards them and his thoughts about them to drastically change.
Lewis slowly becomes more comfortable towards the characters who are based in the mental asylum and drifts away from his friends as he begins to choose the patients over his friends, also as he finds information about his friends that turns him off them, for example when Lewis finds out that Lucy is sleeping around with Nick. Nick and Lucy are strong believers of communism whereas Lewis is not, when Lewis finds out how much these communist parades and the plays Nick is acting in have become such a large part of Nick??™s and Lucy??™s lives, Lewis is less interested with associating with them. Roy decided at the start of the play that they would be performing a play by Mozart, ??? Cosi Fan Tutte??™, where Roy states that he has ??? already chosen what we??™re doing.??? Through this Nowra is showing us that Roy is a very strong minded character and is determined to get his way. Lewis is indecisive about this play, as he believes it is going to be too hard for the patients and also as the whole play is an opera and in Italian it will be almost impossible to perform.
As Roy continues to push Lewis to do this play, Lewis agrees but is still reluctant to do this. Nowra has shown us here that Lewis does not seem very strong, as he is being pushed around by a mental patient that he has just met, but it shows he is also friendly and willing to give it a shot. Cosi Fan Tutte is a play about love and truthfulness, another thing Lewis does not believe to be a very important matter at that moment in time as the play is set during the Vietnam War.
Roy is amazed when Lewis says, ??? love is not so important these days.??? Meaning how he believes that with the issue of the Vietnam War going on the play should not be focusing on issues related or issues about love. As the play continues, Lewis becomes much more comfortable with the play and really gets into it, changing his original view on the play and leading himself to think that performing this is now possible and showing himself that in fact this play is extremely important during those times as it can show people that truth and love is still in the world. Nowra seems to point out that Lewis has a glum look on life and love throughout the play, right up until the end. This is shown through Lewis??™ quotes on how love is no longer important and how that they should not be doing this play during the war. Lewis??™ girlfriend, Lucy and his friend, Nick help add to his glum outlook on life and love as they believe in ??? free love??™ and how staying faithful to one person, marriage and love are not things that everyone should worry about, as they are not important and not related to anything for them.
Lewis goes along with some of these ideas until ??? Cosi??™ pushes him out of his shell and then Lewis starts to get his own ideas and his own views of the world. Nowra shows us Lewis??™ main change though this where he pushes himself away from his friends and continues to stay with, and support the patients through this play. Love becomes a large part of Lewis??™ thought process as he can see that love is important, faithfulness and all these other issues are important, especially through the war. Nowra shows this as a push away from the flow of everyone else, and Lewis finding his feet and breaking out from that trend. Through this Lewis starts to gain the respect of characters such as Roy, who has judged and criticised Lewis throughout the play.
Lewis??™ change has been shown to us as truly remarkable, as it was not just a normal change, but a complete change of his whole mental and emotional outlook on everything in life. The change also shows us a completely different side of Lewis and almost a new character.
