Word: ruthven
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Ruddigore's plot is long-winded and strange. The main character, Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, the baronet of Ruddigore, is hiding in a small English village in order to escape a family curse. A misguided witch doomed each successive baronet to commit one crime a day or be killed. Ruthven left his brother, Despard, back at Ruddigore to assume the title of baronet and fall victim to the curse. Meanwhile, having adopted the clever pseudonym "Robin," Ruthven falls in love with the village sweet-heart, the prissy flake Rose Maybud. For the rest of the first act, Ruthven competes with...
...whole premise of a curse that forces one to be "naughty" is Britishly weird, and as the driving dramatic element of the plot is inadequate. The second act, set in the castle of Ruddigore with the ninny Ruthven assuming the role of evil baronet, is humorous at first; the effect of the spooky forbears of Ruthven stepping out of their portraits is cool for a while. But when the spirits all start convincing Ruthven to be "bad," it just gets inane and silly. The conversion of Despard and Margaret from the morally loose characters of the first act to puritanical...
Angered by Richard's betrayal. Robin finally speaks up and convinces Rose to marry him rather than a treacherous sea-dog like Richard. On the day of their wedding, however, the evil Sir Despard Murgatroyd (Brian Martin) appears and reveals that Robin is really Sir Ruthven Murgatroyd, Despard's older brother and heir to the baronetcy of Ruddigore. The heir, says Despard, inherits the family fortune--as well as the family curse...
...curse, inflicted upon the family by a witch burned at the stake by one of Ruthven's ancestors, decrees that each succeeding baron must commit a crime each day or die in agony. Thus exposed, Ruthven must abandon Rose and return to Ruddigore Castle and begin his life of crime. After incurring the displeasure of the ghosts of his ancestors for performing crimes deemed too paltry (he forges his own will and disinherits a son he does not have), Ruthven discovers a way to escape the curse, and, in typical Gilbert and Sullivan style, live happily ever after...
Some of his misbehavior is relatively innocent, if unjustified, familiarity. But it can lead to ugliness. When he pinched the wife of former Atlanta Braves Pitcher Dick Ruthven, the player made the incident public and demanded, successfully, to be traded. Jane Turner keeps her opinion of such exploits to herself...