Speranza
Parsifal and Tristano reflect the Schopenhauerian (and also Buddhist)
doctrines according to which suffering is an inevitable part of life, and DESIRE
is the cause of suffering.
In Tristan we are shown that even the desire to
escape from this world causes suffering.
In Parsifal we see KUNDRY, a marvellously
world-demonic woman who brings to men the suffering of seduction.
We also see how an
attempt at seduction can bring a flash of enlightenment.
Unlikely as this might
sound, there is a precedent for such an experience in one of the Buddhist
scriptures.
In Tristan and in The Victors Wagner was still resisting
Schopenhauer's teaching that sexual love (EROS), as a manifestation of the erotic and
demonic will or will-to-live, was a hindrance to salvation.
By the time Wagner wrote
the libretto of "Parsifal: dramma mistico in tre atti", Wagner has almost let go of his belief in redemption
through love (EROS, AGAPE, PHILIA, CHARITAS).
In the second act of Parsifal we see the opposition of two
different kinds of love.
(a) Kundry offers Parsifal sexual love: EROS -- 'έρως or amor CUPIDITAS -- "amore" in the metrical translation --
(b) PARSIFAL responds (to her confusion) by offering her loving-kindness: AGAPE -- 'αγάπη or
caritas.
EROS-AMOR according to Schopenhauer, leads only to suffering.
AGAPE-CARITAS can lead to salvation, or healing.
Cosima Wagner records a statement by Richard
Wagner about how Kundry had experienced Isolde's transfiguration many times.
Isotta
dies in the hope that she will be united with Tristano in the realm of eternal
night.
Kundry in Parsifal and Brünnhilde (who in the 1856 ending of
Gütterdämmerung declares herself redeemed from rebirth) DIE in the knowledge
that they will NOT be reborn.
If one believes, with Schopenhauer and Wagner,
that existence is a burden and this world a vale of tears, then the death of
Kundry at the end of Parsifal is something positive.
After centuries of
wandering, KUNDRY finds eternal rest in a blissful nirvana.
Parsifal remains in
the world, however, to work for the salvation of all sentient beings and in a
totally self-sacrificing manner to serve them.
So, although it is by no means
life-affirming, the ending of Wagner's Parsifal is, in a way and against all the
odds, optimistic.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
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