Portal:Opera/Selected picture/12
Princess Ida, act 2
Credit: William Russell FlintThe climax of act 2 in Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Princess Ida as illustrated by William Russell Flint. The opera tells the story of Princess Ida who founds a women's university and teaches that women are superior to men and should rule in their stead. The prince to whom she had been married in infancy sneaks into the university, together with two friends, with the aim of collecting his bride. They disguise themselves as women students, but are discovered, precipitating a war between the sexes. Ida sings...
Though I am but a girl,
Defiance thus I hurl