Siegfried: The Tragic Hero in Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung

Siegfried: The Tragic Hero in Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung - A tragic hero is a character usually born of noble birth, who unfortunately suffers a hapless destiny due to a fatal flaw. At times, the tragic flaw may be self-imposed and at other times, it may be the result of external forces. Siegfried qualifies as a tragic hero with the mentioned characteristics, and his tragedy is remarkable in that it is both self-imposed and subjected to external influence-the two intertwining components that makes up fate. Though Siegfried's lineage directly connects him to the gods, he shares in none of their fortune nor glory due to an external flaw beyond his control-his being the product of Siegmund and Sieglinde's incest, and their being the objects of Wotan's manipulations. Up until adolescence, Siegfried hardly has the opportunity to make a decision about his own life. Yet, being brought up as an orphan in the wilderness, he possesses an insatiable curiosity toward various subjects that personally concerns him, primarily his origins. As a result of his curiosity, Siegfried displays an eagerness to learn. One evident example of this is when Siegfried embarks on his journey to find Brünhilde after his attempt to learn fear from Fafner has been denied. "Today in vain I attempted to learn [fear]...from Brünhilde I'll learn it" (Wagner 219 ). Upon declaring so, Siegfried makes a conscious decision to seek after Brünhilde, completely unaware that his life would be at her mercy later on. Though this decision is prompted by Siegfried's desire to clear his ignorance, it is nevertheless an independent decision that he takes upon himself-one that sets the subsequent events in motion, marking the beginning of the love that would end Siegfried's life.

In viewing Siegfried's ignorance as his tragic flaw, it is also worth noting that this ignorance may be better viewed as an innocent lack of experience/knowledge rather than sheer stupidity. According to John Culshaw, instead of being viewed as a fully grown bird-brained adult, "[Siegfried] is supposed to be about seventeen... the way that Wagner wrote his words and music has the unmistakable mark of the adolescent" (Culshaw 37 ). Culshaw further elaborates on the significance of Siegfried's ignorance:

"he can be gentle and sensitive and deeply troubled about things he cannot yet understand. He has never encountered another human being other than Mime, and yet he has become astute enough to see through the lies that Mime has told him since infancy... Now such matters would not occur to a child, and would scarcely preoccupied a fully developed adult; but they would very much concern an adolescent...[The music] confirms Siegfried's youthfulness, his impetuosity, his agility, his strength, his uncertainty and his insecurity" (Culshaw 38)

Siegfried's decision to seek after Brünhilde supposedly delivers him of his ignorance and brings him a good amount of wisdom, though whether any of it would be put to use is another matter.

Following Siegfried's decision, Hagen makes his own decision to ensnare Siegfried with the potion and manipulates the youth into a blood brotherhood vow with Gunther: "Remember that drink in the chest...he can be conquered by you" (Wagner 260 ³) and "Blood Brotherhood, join us as one" (267 ). This scheme may very well be foiled had Siegfried not been so gullible as to trust the Gibichungs-who are practically strangers-so readily. Though what Brünhilde has taught Siegfried in the cave is only implied in the opera, one may make a presumption that most of her common sense wisdom is similar to her mythical counterpart Brynhild from the Norse epic:

"...do not let [beautiful women] entice you...do not swear a false oath, because hard vengeance follows the breaking of truce...beware the wiles of friends..." (Byock 71)

The above excerpt includes the three relevant pieces of advice that foreshadow Siegfried's downfall. Though the action is done by Hagen, Siegfried's reaction has a great deal of importance: he could choose to follow Brünhilde's advice and avoids the tragedy, or not. Siegfried in fact chooses the latter, and this choice, is once again self-imposed. After this particular decision, all of Siegfried's subsequent actions that concerns wooing Brünhilde for Gunther-particularly the transformation with the Tarnhelm, "By the Tarnhelm's art I can be changed into you" (Wagner 267) are made under the influence of Hagen's potion and do not qualify as his free will.

Siegfried's actions while obeying the vow with Gunther comes into conflict with the vow he has made with Brünhilde. As a reaction to Siegfried's actions, Hagen manages to manipulate a disgraced Gunther and a vengeful Brünhilde in plotting Siegfried's death (whose vengeance is also a reaction to Siegfried's action against her). When Brünhilde informs Hagen of Siegfried, "I wove a spell to protect his life from his foes...if at his back you strike...there I gave him no blessing" (Wagner 301 ) she consciously decides to wreak vengeance on Siegfried as a result of Siegfried's betrayal against her. Brünhilde's role in Siegfried's downfall becomes significant when one examines the following statement from Wagner's letter to August Röckel, "This is all that we need to learn about mankind: to will what is necessary and to bring it about ourselves " (Wagner 307 ). His statement brings in the question of what is deemed necessary and what is not. According to this statement, the necessity could be interpreted as Siegfried's death, and that it is appropriate for Brünhilde to will it and to bring it about. On a more simplistic perspective, Brünhilde's decision is a prime example of the interconnected relationship between an individual's action and another's reaction to the former.

Up until this point, most of Siegfried's decisions have been tainted by Hagen's potion because they are regarding Brünhilde. Yet, there is one last opportunity where Siegfried could have made a decision to alter the course of his destiny: when he encounters the Rhinemaidens by the river bank. The Rhinemaidens have specifically warned Siegfried "You die today: unless you obey and give the ring to our care" (Wagner 310). Unfortunately, Siegfried, who is in a clear mental state (since this does not directly concerns Brünhilde), chooses not to heed this warning, thereby forgoes the last chance to avert his doomed destiny. Unlike the first two decisions, Siegfried's final decision is not a result of ignorance, but more of hubris. The arrogance that Siegfried displays is decidedly a tragic flaw, one that ties him to the role of the tragic hero as introduced earlier. From the beginning of Siegfried to the end in Twilight of the Gods, none of Siegfried's decisions nor other characters' decisions have been for naught. All of them, whether it is an individual's action or other characters' response to that action has been crucial in orchestrating Siegfried's downfall. It is these processes of action and reaction that form the very rope of fate woven by the Norns.

As it has been fated, Siegfried's downfall is the final result of his own decisions and the external forces that operate in response to his actions. This duo process goes beyond the operas and resonates deeply with the human experience. In reality, human lives are not solely governed by their personal decisions but also affected by the actions of other humans as well. The intertwining process of action and reaction becomes the intangible fate that prevents an individual from obtaining complete control over his/her own life.

WORKS CITED

Porter, Andrew. Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung. WW Norton and Company, 1976.

Culshaw, John. Reflections on Wagner's Ring. The Viking Press, 1975.

Byock, Jesse. The Saga of the Volsungs. University of California Press, 1990.

"Letter to Röckel." 28 Apr 2008. https://vista.utulsa.edu/webct/urw/lc23652.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct.