Siegfried understands the song of the birds and the elementary
beings, the Rhine-daughters; he is a stranger to human desires and
passions. "I inherited nothing but my body--and living it is consumed."
He is proof against the magic of the ring; the only value he knows is
love. Alberich, his opponent, says, in speaking of him: "My curse has no
sting for the mettlesome hero, for he knows not the worth of the ring;
he squanders his prodigal strength, laughing and glowing with love his
body is burning away." Half way between Alberich, the inwardly worthless
wielder of power, and Siegfried, the truly free man, the embodiment of
all virtue, who is murdered by the powers of darkness, stands Wotan, in
whose heart both motives, authority and love, are struggling for
supremacy, who will renounce neither love nor power. Artistically and
symbolically the salvation of the world from the curse of greed and
tyranny is brought about by the restitution of the ring, and its
dissolution in the pure waters of the river from whence it had been
taken; the gold is given back to the Rhine-daughters, to fulfil again
its original purpose, namely, to delight the heart of man with its
dazzling sheen.
Pages:
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507