In the dead of night, Rigoletto returns home. He is thinking about Monterone’s curse when he bumps into Sparafucile, an assassin, who wants a job to do. Rigloletto says he will send for him if he needs him. On his own once more, Rigoletto meditates on his condition as a cripple but also as a cruel servant of power, forced to make the Duke laugh but surrounded by courtiers who hate him. He is aware of his physical and moral deformation. Yet, even he, is capable of loving. The only affection he feels is for his daughter who, since his wife’s death, he has kept hidden from the world.
Gilda runs to meet him and he greets her affectionately, but when she asks him for information about his family, Rigoletto clams up. He hides his true identity from her, forbids her to go out and meet anyone else. He entrusts her supervision to Giovanna, an unreliable person who lets the Duke into the courtyard of the house in exchange for money. It was the Duke who had approached Gilda in church and now, disguised as a poor student he declares his love for her. She is won over, filled with the joy of a young, inexperienced girl. When the Duke leaves, the courtiers arrive, masked, to kidnap Gilda, the girl they believe to be the jester’s lover. When they meet Rigoletto, they tell him they are going to kidnap a lady the Duke is very fond of. Rigoletto wants to join in the fun and he, too, puts on a mask. They lead in a circle and stop before his own house. While they abduct Gilda, blindfolding her, he even holds the ladder for them. All the while they make him believe it is Ceprano’s wife they want to kidnap from the building opposite. When the old man realizes he has been made fun of, it is already too late. His anguish over the curse culminates in a heart-rending scream.
