“Wonderful elixir!  Thou art mine!  Oh, why cannot I enjoy its effects immediately?”  so says the lovesick  peasant Nemorino. Yet this elixir of love is hardly a perfect love potion for Valentine’s Day. 

Instead, it is a scam whereby the scamp Dr. Dulcamara, knowing Nemorino’s desperate attempts to capture the noble lady Adina‘s heart, tricks him into thinking that he is buying and drinking a love potion which is, in fact, no more than cheap Bordeaux.  Comments Dulcamara: “In my travels I’ve seen many fools of every sort and size, but of all the fools the biggest now he stands before my eyes!”