From: evc@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Edward Van Cura)
Newsgroups: alt.mythology,sci.anthropology
Subject: Wagner
Date: 17 Aug 92 07:04:02 GMT
Followup-To: alt.mythology

>Yep :).  Only in the ring trilogy the giant wins and Odin has to give away the
>ring to keep Freya and he isn't very happy about it.  'Course it's prolly
>Wodin because the ring trilogy is based on the Germanic versions rather than
>the Norse which explains some of the differences in the stories.
>				Laura Mollett

Actually Wagner draws heavily from the "V\"olsunga saga" and the Eddas,
except that he mixes the mythology to suit his own purpose. A Jungian
interpretation can be very enlightening. The following is an excerpt
from an article I wrote called "Battle-Demon" in a previous issue
of *Idunna*, the journal of the Ring of Troth.

   Up to this point, Richard Wagner's "Ring of the Nibelungs" has not
been mentioned. Wagner tends to rearrange and merge the old myths to
suit his own personal viewpoint. Robert Donington in "Wagner's `Ring'
and its Symbols", quotes Wagner [p.260]:

   "...and if in these works there is any underlying poetic themes, it
   must be looked for in the supreme tragedy of renunciation, the
   abnegation of the will, which is shown there as necessary and
   unavoidable and alone capable of achieving redemption."

   The transformation and redemption are the main themes in the "Ring"
opera and are performed by purging (death) and cleansing. In both the
opera and the "Edda"s, ragnar\"ok consists of destruction by fire and
cleansing by water, after which, a new age dawns. In mythology, death
is merely a transformation. The underlying meanings of the Wagnerian
myths conceived in the modern world do not necessarily ring true for
the ancient people of northern Europe. With such a disclaimer, the
enigma of the valkyrie continues.

   Siegfried, in his growth process, leaves his mother-figure and
father-figure, and travels through the ring of fire, to wake
Br\"unnhilde, and in so doing, meets his anima. He experiences fear for
the first time, yet his desires determine his course. Br\"unnhilde
declares, that he is gazing at himself in a stream, and that he should
not destroy the reflection by plunging into the water. He projects his
anima onto Br\"unnhilde, and she projects her animus onto him.
Siegfried lacks adequate mother-love, since Sieglinde died at his
birth, and Mime is a poor substitute. His inner image of his anima is
insecurely established, and he projects too much of it onto the woman
he loves. He loses his inner connection with his inner anima
[Donington, p.230]. He places his sword, an obvious phallic symbol,
between them, when they sleep together. From the previously mentioned
Sioux myth, physically relating (as in sex) to the anima can have a
disasterous effect. Later, Siegfried wins Br\"unnhilde for Gunther by
deception, and so Br\"unnhilde, the anima, works together with Hagen,
the shadow, to bring about Siegfried's demise. At Siegfried's funeral,
Br\"unnhilde throws herself onto the pyre, thereby uniting the eternal
femimine to the eternal masculine---redemption. Wotan and his castle
burn, the waters rise, Hagen drowns, and the Rhinemaidens recover the
ring---the transformation is complete.

Thorfinn
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Newsgroups: alt.mythology