THE WORKINGS OF THE SYMBOLS IN PARSIFAL
I do not have any religious affiliation and so I see this work from
moral and neutral point of view.
To understand what Parsifal is about one has to become like
young Parsifal in a way: unconscious, not polarized by beliefs on
any kind (religious, political, racial). One has to be neutral to
make a point.
I believe Wagner intentions were to give us Parsifal's point of view
as the stage directions on Act I suggest. Because of his immaturity,
Parsifal witnesses something he cannot explain, that is, the celebration
of the Office. But, most importantly, he senses the suffering of both
the Grail and Amfortas.
He has been called to serve the Grail, but not at this present moment.
Parsifal first has to awaken fully as a person. The intuitive feminine
in him must make the connection with his masculine aspects.
We have learned that he was raised fatherless, and deprived of the
human traits a society inculcates in its members. This is the result
of an extreme decision taken by his mother in order to keep him from
harm. She is however unhappy - as her name suggests (Hertzeleide =
Heart of sorrows) - in her longing for her dead husband.
Parsifal is not attuned with her pain due to his immaturity. When
he finds out his mother has died, he responds as a child would, irrationally,
as if by punishing whoever caused him pain, not physically in this
case, the pain would go away. In this case, he physically attacks
Kundry - he almost strangles her. He is a three to four year old in
some respects, which I consider a proof of how attuned Wagner was
with the workings of the mind.
Parsifal responds with violence in a situation he cannot understand
- a reaction of self-preservation, a male trait. On the other
hand, he can also kill a benign creature - a swan - just because
it looks edible. In accordance with Buddhist principles, you should
show respect to all beings even when you have to sacrifice them in
order to survive. This action of killing the swan, believe it or not,
gave him his first chance to feel guilty because he learns killing
is bad. He is forced by Gurnemanz to see what death is really about
and so it comes as no surprise that he reacts so strongly when Kundry
gives him the news of his mother's death.
Parsifal distances himself from situations he cannot deal with. When
he is unable to handle the sensual play of the Flower Maidens, he
resorts to moving away from them. Let's remember, he kept his
distance from the Grail and did not take the food and drink offered
to him even when he obviously was looking for food sometime before.
This is a clue that he is growing.
Back to the flower Maidens: they behave like children to some extent,
as the music suggests, but the attraction they produce in him is not
sexual and so their games are fruitless. His innocence shields him.
He fought Klingsor's army to get close to them, but tries to escape
them, not because he thought he was in danger, but because he could
not be everything to each one of them.
Parsifal gets in touch with his humanity at the hands of the seductress,
Kundry, who attempts to make him feel guilty for abandoning his mother
and for his failure to see her suffering (unconsciousness). Kundry's
unconscious operates against her to ultimately help herself overcome
her curse. The kiss is only a symbol of the fact that only by truly
interacting with the evil forces can he understand the deceit at work
and, at the same time, decipher the mystery of the Grail.
Kundry's evil side wants to seduce him to serve Klingsor, but the
repentant side wants to find the one who will help her by rejecting
her sexual advances.
The suggestion that the feminine has to be annihilated in order to
be holy is not only ridiculous but also erroneous. Wagner's last years
were spent in trying to solve the puzzle of the feminine in us. We
just have to remember that most of his operas depict the feminine
virtues being the vehicles for salvation; why should he turn against
this belief?
The Grail itself is the eternal feminine with its nourishing qualities;
it provides purpose, strength and nourishment to those who serve it
and so our knights should be complete while serving it. The command
to the knights is to preserve the divine symbols and to be loyal to
them. To abandon its cause is to some extent to commit adultery against
her (the Grail).
I am inclined to believed that Amfortas' failure was the result
of thinking he can use the spear and its power to destroy Klingsor.
He forgot his command: to safeguard the spear and the Grail. He therefore
paid the price for committing adultery against the Grail. We have
learned at the beginning of the music-drama that many of Klingsor's
men were once Knights of the Grail. All of Klingsor's men were
seduced by evil and they forgot their mission: Safeguard the Grail
and spear. Their human weakness made them fail, as they have not been
appointed to go on any mission to stop Klingsor to begin with.
The spear, as Parsifal illuminates us if we take the trouble
to follow the text, is not to be used as a weapon. Parsifal has to
endure punishment at the hands of everyone who misunderstands him
(an armed stranger) and so he never once attempts to use it during
his wanderings in search of the Grail. Amfortas let the spear fall
into the hands of the evil Klingsor who does use it against the king.
Klingsor despite being in possession of the Spear and even with his
evil powers is unable to find his way to the Grail. He is not afraid
to confront the knights, but the path to redemption is denied to him
because he seeks power and to possess the Grail. The spear will not
betray the Grail and Kundry cannot help him find his way to the temple
for the simple reason that she comes to serve the Grail knights without
knowing how she gets there. The fact that she is allowed in the kingdom
of the Grail should be a hint to us that everyone has a right to coexist
with the others; she expiates her sins and she may attain redemption
because she longs for it.
Klingsor lives in an imaginary world, the world of illusions, as
Parsifal puts it. Parsifal lets the spear reveal this by making this
imaginary world disappear in front of our eyes, as the stage directions
say. Klingsor is not a man or a woman symbol; he depicts how twisted
we can become when we crave for power, riches, at the expense of the
suffering of others: we lose our humanity. The spear, once freed from
evil hands, cannot harm the appointed one. That is why it stops suspended
right above him: he is firm and committed to his mission. Parsifal
shows understanding towards suffering from every being, evil ones
included. He offers love and redemption to Kundry, not the illusory
one she is used to; she does not accept it despite her longing to
achieved redemption. Parsifal describes our resistance to take the
right path as when an addiction takes hold of us: alcoholism, drug
addiction, for example. We find it hard to stop ourselves even when
acknowledging our addictions; we do not move away of the sources of
our addiction to improve our chances to beat it. Kundry wants to break
the curse, but does all she can in order to fail.
The overture gives us the first taste of the feeling of longing for
unity of the male and female symbols (spear and Grail). The Grail
is love and suffering as a result of being the receptacle of Christ's
blood and by being exposed by the sinner who caused the loss of its
unity. Wagner conveys the feeling of separation and longing for reunion
in this cloud formation effect (the music expands and contracts ethereally
suggesting that, despite the Grail's willingness to nurture us,
it needs to get back what is lost, the spear).
All characters in Parsifal are polarized and therefore incomplete
so they have trials to go through in order to grow. When we listen
to every musical theme of our characters, we realise that even those
who act wrongly, who have given in to the evil side, have the chance
to make up for their wrong doings and so we are allowed to pity them,
and identify with them - a Buddhist principle. Everyone has the capacity
to do good and bad and it is always up to us to decide which to do.
We sometimes harm others involuntary, as young Parsifal does, but
this does not make us evil. However, when we knowingly cause grief
to others and find this rewarding, then we are on evil ground.
Kundry, when serving the Grail, behaves erratically, like a beast,
not at peace. This reminds us of young Parsifal, but, unlike Parsifal,
who does not know anything, she suffers the burden of knowing too
much. She knows she has caused much pain and sorrow to many and she
is forced firsthand to witness this. She now longs for forgiveness
and eternal rest. When in the hands of the sorcerer, she is unable
to resist him and she is forced to serve him by seducing his enemies.
[Klingsor's self-castration kept him from falling victim to her and
now she is forced to serve him instead seducing his enemies. This
is mentioned in their encounter before Parsifal arrives.] In this,
Kundry resembles Amfortas who relives his fall from grace over and
over when officiating for the Grail: he is powerless to stop the longing.
Kundry longs for repentance, but this does not come from knowledge
alone of the wrongdoing, but also from moving away from evil. Acting
blindly or following wrong commands is no excuse for committing a
crime.
The work does talk about doing good deeds for humanity and so I guess
that is why everyone gets what they deserve. Regardless of how well
intended they were, the knights were subject to failure once they
took matters into their hands. Defend the integrity of the Grail is
their command; it is not their role to seek those who think differently
or oppose them and to change or destroy them.
SYMBOLS: SPEAR AND GRAIL
The unity of masculine and feminine: separated they long to be reunited.
The Grail is the feminine and the spear the masculine that form this
unity. When separated, neither can function fully. The music conveys
the longing for unity that is only resolved when they are reunited
and so we hear a sort of death theme. But this music should not be
confused with the liberation of Kundry who is granted eternal peace.
Instead is a Tristanesque sort of end if you listen carefully: a Renunciation
theme.
The Knights of the Grail need the communion to get in touch with
the universal feminine. It provides them with nourishment, strength
and purpose. Even after the fall from grace of Amfortas, the Grail
continues fulfilling the needs of the Knights. Much like Herzeleide
taking care of Parsifal (she always suffers), the Knights fail to
hear the laments of the Grail. However, poor Amfortas has to witness
it over and over each time he performs the holy office. For the Knights
the holy office is a blissful experience, but for both Amfortas and
the Grail it is definitely the opposite. We can thus admire the supreme
sacrifice they both have to make to keep the community together.
The fact that Parsifal witnesses the last unveiling of the Grail
and Amfortas refusing to perform the ceremony until the very day the
spear is returned is no coincidence. The Grail knows the evil forces
cannot threaten her kingdom because Parsifal's time has come. Even
when there is no one to guard her properly, there is no need. Everyone
has to go through a trial of cleansing themselves so they can decide
if they have the endurance and strength to keep their faith or if
they will take the easy path (bending to the dark side) and turn against
their fellow men.
The Grail is never powerless as some suggest. Men must have a choice
(freedom). Parsifal is the fool in the sense of not being acquainted
with the ways of the world (lust for knowledge, satisfaction of sexual
urges); he does not have opinions on religions, politics, and social
structures. He is therefore the perfect candidate to serve as an instrument
to the Grail's purpose, but he has to acquire knowledge and learn
to identify with the suffering of others (compassion) before he begins
his quest. The curse on him (wandering) allows him to mature and to
prove himself worthy of serving the Grail. Amfortas gained the office
by inheritance, not through trials as his father Titurel did, and
so he was not prepared for this task. This time the Grail makes sure
its purity will be guarded properly.
Klingsor takes a turn to the evil side after failing to fit in, to
attain sanctity; he thinks that by castrating himself he can achieve
his goal, which is of course not the case. The desire to do well and
be good has to come from within and not from outside. When Klingsor
castrated himself he committed a crime towards himself and therefore
could not be accepted in the community of the Grail.
Amfortas thinks that by denying the nourishment that comes from the
service and from the bread and wine, he will attain eternal peace,
which he thinks is the innocent fool. He turns away from the eternal
feminine and forces everyone around him to share his suffering. This
I think is part of the workings of the Grail to enable everyone to
learn and be reborn when the spear is restored to its place.
Parsifal is always humble and never once feels the symbols are there
for him to use. This of course is proof that Wagner never attempted
to elevate him to God's level. The symbols are subservient to the
highest level (God and the son Christ). All Knights and the King are
given the satisfaction of being good enough to undertake a task. Remember
they never know everything; they are always acting on a human level.
This of course is only my point of view and is what I want to see
in this piece. To me is almost ridiculous to think that the artist
who could paint levels of this spiritual beauty had no other thing
in his mind than to incline us to inhumanity. I think everyone has
the right to take from this work whatever message they like, but this
again is only a reflection of the way they see their world.
Wagner related to all these characters: he knew he had so many imperfections,
but luckily for us, he knew he had the genius to make of his art a
memorable and enduring one.
Cecilia Segura November 2003
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