SOURCE: Hutcheon, Linda, and Michael Hutcheon. “‘Alles was ist, endet’: Living with the Knowledge of Death in Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen.” University of Toronto Quarterly 67, no. 4 (fall 1998): 789-811.

In the following essay, Hutcheon and Hutcheon interpret Wagner's theme of redemption in the Ring in terms of a modern, psychological acceptance of death.

Prelude

Richard Wagner's best-known work, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is famous for many reasons: its music, its Germanic mythic allegory, its sheer length.¹ Called a stage-festival play for three days and a preliminary evening, the Ring ‘cycle’ (as it is known) runs at least fifteen hours. In other words, it is a major investment of time and energy for audiences. But it is also an engrossing story of the struggle for a golden ring—and therefore for power—among giants, humans, Nibelung dwarfs, and the Teutonic gods. It contains several infamous love stories: that...