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Why does Scarpia order his agents to follow Tosca at the end of Act I?
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Tosca
Poster by Adolfo Hohenstein for Giacomo Puccini's opera Tosca, 1906.
At the end of Act I of Tosca, Baron Scarpia orders his agents to follow Floria Tosca because he has successfully manipulated her into believing that her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, is unfaithful to her with the Marchesa Attavanti.1
By planting this seed of jealousy, Scarpia intends to use Tosca as an unwitting tool to lead him to the escaped political prisoner Angelotti, whom he is hunting. Scarpia is confident that Tosca’s suspicion will drive her to seek out Cavaradossi, thereby revealing the location of the fugitive and allowing Scarpia to further his own sinister agenda, which includes turning Tosca’s affections toward himself.1