The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-10-28
ParsifaI and Its Symbolic Characters.

ParsifaI and Its Symbolic Characters.
In the famous spectacle. or, more cor
rectly speaking. the Christian drama
of "Parsifal." which is now creating
such a furore throughout the country,
and which is to be presented in the Salt
Lake theatre Friday and Saturday and
Saturday matinee, Nov. and 8, we
have Richard Wagner's masterpiece.
From a religious point of view, play
wherein each and every character, in
cident and accessory, is more or less
symbolic9l Of some Christian teaching,
philosophical thought or problem of
humanity.
In the holy temple. with its noble
knights. we are intended to see i'm its
grandeur and beauty that state of the
human mind and thought that is most
acceptable to God. Only the knights
who have reached that standard are
admitted within the walls of the holy
temple. The holy grail is here intended
to represent the actual grace of God.
When uncovered, the grail sheds its lus-
trous gifts on all present. Without this
divine Sustenance, life within the holy
temple is unbearable. Faith without
works of charity does not find favor in
his presence
In Titurel, the faithful guardian of
the holy grail, the author intended to
Lal Utopia, the condition that was and
that is to be. AS long as the grace of
God was received by the uncovering of
the holy grail, Titurel and all within
the sacred portals of the holy temple
lived the life of faith, love and charity.
When Titurel gave the holy grail to the
safekeeping of his son, Amfortas, who
fell victim to temptation and was, in
consequence unworthy to uncover the
grail. the old King Titurel died, the
knights lost their spiritual power and
Amfortas was constant sufferer i'm
body. mind and conscience. Such was
the result of sin and weakness when in
the very presence of the grace of God
merely waiting for the asking.
In the suffering figure of Amfortas
we are led to see a picture of poor sim
full humanity brought to this condition
through it's own weakness and neglect.
In the wound in the side of Amfortas,
which will not heal, we see a symbol
of the conscience of man who, having
committed a deadly wrong, hovers with
him always as a reminder of his sin.
But even AmfOrtaS, great as his crime
has been, is finally redeemed and
brought back to the favor and grace of
God i'm the holy temple through peni-
tence and his craving for salvation.
GurnemanZ. the loyal ServitOr of the
holy temple and its knights, is seen as
one who suffers for the faults of others,
yet not losing faith in God is finally
rewarded for his constancy and loyalty
In the character of Klingsor we see
the ever-present. type Of the tempter
and eVil-dOer. who being unworthy of
Gods favor himself. seeks to ruin and
degrade all who are more fortunate
KlingsOr is denied admission to the holy
! temple. In revenge, he tries by every
artitice and means to bring ruin upon
the heads of the knights of the Soly
grail. His magic flower garden and its
beauteOuS maidens, by which he tries
to accomplish his design. is likened to
the vanities and frivolities of the world
that are inclined to blind ones eyes to
the true path and so render one less
| liable to successfully resist falling into
| the pit before him. In the character of
Kundry, witch and enchantress, we rec
ognize at once a female type of the
! 'Jekyll and Hyde" order. The author
| intended to portray with this character
the ordinary human love in contrast to
! that higher and spiritual love that we
instinctively crave for But we see
more than this. however. in the char
acter of Kundry. We perceive the
dreadful depths that polluted passion
and desire so often mistaken for the
ennoblinG natural love, can lead one
to- We see in this beings dual nature
even at its worst stage, the instructive
craving for release from her bondage of
sin and the desire to do good even when
an outcast In her struggles to free
herself from the control of Klingsor we
see poor fallen womanhood striving
to resist with all her power, yet weak
and powerless in the grasp of sin.
| CKlingsor) she is unable to continue
the struggle longer, falls farther still
| into the vortex of shame and degra-
dation. Yet we ultimately see this be-