The Ring of the Nibelung synopsis [Wagner].

1)
Wagner's Ring of the Nibelung is the most significant operatic work. This opera should be conquered, even briefly, as it has a wealth of related works. It is a rare and valuable work that tackles 'money' head-on.

2)
Table of Contents
A hugely influential blockbuster
Commentary on the subject matter
1. WagnWagner'suliar view of life and death
2. Christian content
3. Criticism of monetary economy
4. Norse mythology
Commentary on the structure of the work
Compositional commentary 1, Family story
Compositional commentary 2, ''2 and 3''
Compositional commentary 3, Denial of marriage
Structural commentary 4, Waking and putting to sleep
Understanding the three-stage synopsis
Synopsis Ver 1
Synopsis Ver 2
Synopsis Ver 3
The story of the development of a woman called Brünnhilde

3)
A hugely influential blockbuster
The Ring of the Nibelung is an operatic epic written and composed by Wagner. It is a tetralogy. It takes four days to see it all.

Opening night 'Rhinegold'.
First night ‘Die Walküre’
Second night ‘Siegfried’
Third-night' Twilight of the Gods.'
It's about 15 hours in total. It is long.

4)
Wagner, the man, was a composer and even wrote scripts. Composing is genius. And the script is not so talented. The difference between gifted and not-so-talented is whether you know your limits. Wagner exceeded the limits of what material he could include in this script. The result is quite disintegrating in terms of the story.

If an ordinary person were to see the opera out of the blue, there is a 97% chance that they would abandon it halfway through. However, this work has many derivative works, so understanding just the outlines will significantly help in understanding literature and film.

5)
Explanation of the subject matter
Because it is a literary work, it has various background content. It is supposed to consider society as a whole, but there is quite a lot of content in it.

1. WagnWagner'ssimisticic view of life and death
2. Christian content
3. Criticism of monetary economy
4. Norse mythology.

Wagner included all this content in a single opera. It is overloaded and saturated, making it difficult to understand and emotionally connect with the audience.

6)
1. WagnWagner'suliarar view of life and death
With people from ordinary Christian culturesWagnWagner'swsw of life and death is inverted.

Wagner thinks that dying is good and not dying is painful. Rather than thinking, he assumes. In Buddhism, he believes that repeated reincarnation in suffering is terrible and that when one reaches enlightenment, reincarnation ceases, i.e. one does not have to live again. Wagner is constitutionally close to this idea. He is a rare person in Christian culture.

7)
For example, in The Wandering Dutchman, the Dutchman, who cannot die forever, is saved by the sacrifice of a woman. In short, he dies—but with a happy ending.

In Tristan und Isolde, a couple who fail to take the death potion are saved at the end by a seemingly voluntary death. This is also a happy ending to death.

8)
In Parsifal, a person who is suffering from wounds but is unable to die is finally allowed to die by a saint. In this case, it is better to say that he becomes a Buddha than he dies.

The same is true in The Ring of the Nibelung. The protagonist, Brünnhilde, sings, 'Father, rest in peace' when her father's fate, Wotan, is sealed. The gods are unhappy because they cannot die. To die is to rest, they think.

9)
So father Wotan also abandons his efforts to survive very quickly, and Brünnhilde's spouse, Siegfried, dies quickly by being stabbed in the back after declaring in the play that 'I would easily give up my life'. No one makes any effort to live, not even him. Conversely, the villain Alberich seems to have a body that won't die and laments that 'I am forsaken from rest'. It is as if the opposite is true.

10)
This is too much of a departure from the standard story of good and evil, in which the good survive, and the bad perish. Wagner's peculiar view of life and death influences the following Christian content.

12)
2. Christian content
Christianity has a Pauline theology, which is central to its doctrine.

In the heart of Paradise, Paradise is a tree of life and wisdom, and Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat them, but they stole the fruit of the tree of knowledge and ate it. They acquired wisdom and became sexually awakened. God thought, 'If they eat even the fruit of the tree of life, man will live forever', so he banished man from Paradise. Paradise was burdened with sin.

13)
God took pity on them and sent Jesus into the human world. By dying without sin, Jesus took Adam and Eve's sins on his shoulders. He bore the sins of humanity. So whoever believes in Jesus will be saved.

This is Pauline theology. The Ring of the Nibelung is built on this story.

14)
At the beginning of the drama, Alberich steals the gold. This is the fruit of the tree of wisdom.

In contrast, the fruit of the tree of life is the apple grown by Freia, which the gods chronically eat to preserve their eternal life. With the golden Ring, Alberich gains wisdom and thinks of ways to rule the world and manufacture the Hidden Hood.

This causes the Nibelungs, in particular, to suffer in slavery. Like Jesus, Siegfried and Brunnhilde are sacrificed. This removes the blight of the Ring, the 'original sin of mankind' as 'Christians call it.

15)
In The Ring of the Nibelung, the use of drugs drives the story. Siegfried, who is supposed to be a hero, dies an easy death because of the drugs.

There are eight scenes of eating and drinking, but they are balanced by four, each of the fruit of life and wisdom. The use of the medicine looks pretty cheap and uncomfortable, but I put a lot of thought into writing it.

'Why did you write it in such a confusing way?'

16)
The author analyses, deconstructs, and reconstructs the core story of Christian doctrine. If you hold the Buddhist view of life and death that 'to die is to be purified', it is no surprise that you cannot reconcile it with conventional Christian doctrine.

Even in the mid-19th century, performing for a general audience would have been dangerous. I imagine that this is why they chose this kind of difficult-to-understand expression. In the worst case, it could be said that they were cowardly.

17)
3. Criticism of monetary economy

The primary God, Wotan, has a spear. On the spear is a written contract. He rules the world with the binding force of that contract. Alberich steals gold from the Rhine and creates a ring. The Ring enslaves the Nibelungs and generates unlimited wealth. With the power of his wealth, Alberich tries to gain control of the world.

18)
The spear is, in essence, a symbol of male genitalia. It has military power, political power, and, since it is written, legally binding power.
The Ring is, in essence, a symbol of the female genital organ. It also represents economic power, money, and the right to issue currency since it produces money.

19)
In short, this drama is an aspect of
The battle between politics and economics,
The battle between law and money,
the battle between letters and numbers.

20)
Wagner was a man of socialist and communist ideas. He participated in revolutions, was exiled, and so on. The most significant difference between socialism, communism, and capitalism is in their view of money. How they think about money is entirely different between them.

In socialism and communism, money is unnecessary. Therefore, they believe everything will be fine if the party bureaucracy controls production and distribution. In capitalism, money is essential for increasing wealth. This is because cash promotes circulation and the optimisation of circulation.

21)
At the end of the story, the Ring that has caused so much suffering to the people is purified by fire and returned to its original Rhine riverbed. Money, or the right to issue money, will disappear. And the people will be free from constraints. This is communism itself.

22)
However, the Soviet Union eventually collapsed, and China became a market economy. This means socialism and communism were wrong, and Wagner was also bad. But after 15 hours of human viewing, you say to yourself, 'It may be a wrong economic view, but it still contains a sharp prophecy for modern society.

It is almost Stockholm Syndrome. Don't be fooled. It is excellent that the opera deals with economic and monetary issues. But the conclusion is wrong. It is incredible but wrong. Money is necessary.

23)
Nevertheless, not many literary works tackle money head-on, so this is precious. The only others are Goethe's Faust, Tolstoy's Ivan the Fool, and the other derivative works of this Ring of the Nibelung, The Sea of Fertility and Spirited Away. Even if the conclusion is wrong, it is a monumental masterpiece that challenges currency head-on.

24)
4. Norse mythology
Wagner has an inevitable German supremacy. It is a selfish German supremacy in the sense that his ego is powerful, and he feels that Germans must be the best because they are the race to which he, a great genius, belongs rather than because he genuinely thinks so.

25)
Wagner came across an old Germanic tale. In that story, there is a character named Hunding—in other words, the Huns. He is the natural enemy of the Germanic people. The Huns pushed the Germanic tribes into a great migration, and the Western Roman Empire fell. Wagner was drawn to the script by German supremacy, an outgrowth of ego, and the romance of prehistoric times.

26)
These are approximately the four elements. It is too much inclusion.

But there is a good point: because it is so over-embodied that it has become less complete, any interpretation is possible if you try. Thanks to this, more bizarre interpretations emerge yearly, and the interest in these interpretations keeps the work alive. It is very typical of Wagner that the low level of perfection turns out to be a positive thing.

27)
Compositional commentary of the work
Compositional commentary 1, family story

28)
All four works.
1. Family and intruder
2. Two road family
3. the breakdown of the family and the hheroine'schangeFamilyate
The format is made in the following way.
In short, this is an all-encompassing family story, albeit in a mythological guise.

29)
Wagner is said to have said that the story is about the discord between Wotan and his wife, which gives rise to the whole tragedy, which is how it is structured. The initial discord in the Wotan family leads to a chain of events that disintegrates all the families.

30)
Compositional Commentary "2, and 3."
Rhine maidens: three.
Norns: three.
Valkyries: nine.
Sisters of the Gods: three or nine. Positive presence.
Alberich and Mime brothers: 2 persons.
Fafner and the Fasolt brothers: two.
Giants and Subterraneans: two. Negative beings.
Siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde: 2 siblings.

31)
However, they have a child called Siegfried due to incest.
Genetically, he should be the same as the Siegmund Sieglinde sibling, so it is not impossible to say that the three of them are siblings, which is an intermediate existence.

The Gunther Boutrune siblings are two siblings. However, they have a younger brother, Hagen, from a different father, so it is not impossible to say that the three of them are siblings together, which is an intermediate existence.

32)
Compositional Commentary 3, The Denial of Marriage.
Claude Lévi-Strauss, 'Notes on Wagner's tetralogy (The Ring of the Nibelung).'
It seems that Levi-Strauss analyses internal and external marriage. However, on closer analysis, it is not relevant.

33)
If we consider having children a success, the story is not about a child born in a formal marriage. All that can have children is adultery. In other words, it denies marriage and affirms adultery.

When you have an affair, you can have children. When you formally marry, you cannot have children. Intra-tribal or extra-tribal marriages are irrelevant. For example, in Valkyrie, Act I, Siegmund confesses that he has built a pile of corpses to prevent a loveless marriage. He then drags a married woman outside to have children.
Siegmund is the child of Wotan, the Lord God.

34)
Act II of The Valkyries, in which Fricka, the God of marriage, makes a problematic accusation against her husband, Wotan. The character of Fricka is not very good.

In Götterdämmerung, Hagen, a villain, praises Gunther and BBrünnhilde's loveless marriage by offering sacrifices to the gods.

35)
Pro-marriage group = villain.
The composition is anti-marriage = good role.

Incidentally, Wagner also committed adultery and had children. He is a great man in that he is a man of his word and deed.

36)
Compositional commentary 4, Waking up and putting to sleep.

'Rhinegold': wake up Gold and Wotan.
‘Valkyrie’: wakes Hunding, Sieglinde and Brünnhilde
‘Siegfried’: waking Fafner, Erda and Brünnhilde
And finally, ‘'twilight of the Gods’'

37)
Waking up,
Sleeping,
Waking them up,
and put to sleep again,
and in many different situations.

38)
Ultimately, the gold and Wotan, who woke up at the beginning of The Rhine, sleep together. Since the story begins with the gold and Wotan waking up at the beginning, the last 15 hours can be said to be the story of the beginning when they both wake up and the end when they both go to sleep.

With his spear, Wotan symbolises political power, while gold symbolises the economy. The story begins with politics and the economy waking up simultaneously and ends with them sleeping simultaneously.

39)
Anyway, the author spent 20 years on this work. It is elaborate in its way.
The fact that it is so elaborate and yet so empty is a limitation of my talent as a writer,
But if you understand that it's a script he tried to make in a structured way, you will have a much better perspective.

40)
Three-step synopsis understanding
I have prepared three different synopses. They get longer and longer. You can master them by reading them in order.

41)
Synopsis Ver1.

Many people kill each other over the 'Ring of the Nibelung', a treasure that can rule the whole world. In the end, the Ringring is turned into gold bullion and returns to the bottom of the Rhine, where it belonged. This is the end of the killing spree.

42)
Synopsis Ver 2.
It's a slightly longer version. The Nibelung's Ring is made from gold at the bottom of the Rhine.

Whoever possesses it gains unlimited financial power. In other words, it makes you the ruler of the whole world. But if you have it, you will die from a curse. If you die, you can't become a ruler. It is a very difficult treasure to possess and not to want to have. The gods, underworlders, giants, human men and women all get involved in the fuss over this treasure.

43)
The underground people first made Ringring, but the gods robbed them and gave them to the giants, who in turn stole the gods again, and so on. In the process, there are many victims.

In the end, the Ringring is purified by fire and turned into bullion by a woman who realises that 'it is all the fault of this ring' and returns to the bottom of the Rhine. The fuss is over.

44)
Synopsis Ver 3.
This is a more extended version.
Alberich, the Underground Man, falls in love with the Rhine Maidens but is angry when they reject him.

45)
Suddenly, he hears that if he gives up love in life entirely and makes a ring from the gold at the bottom of the Rhine, he will become the world's ruler. Alberich, the Underground Man, loves women but is absurdly angry, so he gives up love and carries out the ring-making process.

Having succeeded in making Ringring, Alberich, the Underground Man, starts to collect money by making fun of other underworlders. However, the God Wotan robs Ringring.

46)
The God had the giants build a castle but was having trouble paying for the construction. God did not have any money either.

Alberich, an underground man, is so disappointed that he places a 'death curse' on Ringring. The God Wotan gives Ringring to the giants as a building payment, but Ring's curse suddenly kills one of the two giants. It is terrifying.

47)
God, Wotan thinks.
"If I leave Ringing out in the world as it is, I fear my rule over the world will end. Let me make many children and let them rob Ringring."　

48)
The plan succeeds, and despite all that has happened, his grandson, Siegfried, succeeds in robbing the giants of Ringring. The grand-boy becomes man and wife to God's daughter Brünnhilde. The next generation of world rulers is now determined. Power is transferred from God to God's grandson.

But Alberich, the Underground Man, also wanted to have a child and have Ringring robbed. Hagen, the son of Alberich the Underground Man, uses a wicked trick to kill Siegfried, the grandson of God. After the transfer of world dominion, his successor dies a sudden death.

49)
Hagen, the son of the Underground Man, also tries to take back Ringring, but Brünnhilde, God's daughter, takes it in her hand and jumps into the fire with him.

Ringring is taken by Brünnhilde, God's daughter, who jumps into the fire with her. I will cleanse it with fire. She is a great girl. The gold, purified by fire, is swallowed by the Rhine flood and returns to its original riverbed. Thus, the source of the trouble is gone.

50)
If you have read this far, please go to the following link and read the synopsis with proper names.
https://tsvocalschool.com/classic/nibelungen/

Synopsis and commentary of The Ring of the Nibelung (Wagner)
Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung is a massive work in four parts, taking approximately 15 hours.

51)
The story of a woman named Brünnhilde growing up
Even after reading the synopsis, it wasn't easy to see the story's point. Ninety-five per cent of the appeal of this long story is the heroine, Brünnhilde. Although she does not appear in the first 'Gold of the Rhine', it is practically Brünnhilde's story. Let's try to understand the synopsis with Brünnhilde at the centre.

52)
Brünnhilde, the daughter of Wotan, is a 'war-maiden' with an unaffected personality who is faithful to her father's commands.

She follows her father's orders and tries to take the brave Siegmund's soul to the heavenly castle Valhalla. However, Siegmund is not convinced.

She doesn't want to be separated from her sister and lover, Siegmund, who is on the run with her. 'I hate it if I'm not with my beloved Sieglinde. I would rather kill her and die than be separated from her. Brunnhilde is also a woman and is moved by love. She is chivalrous and tries to save them both for the first time, even if it violates her father's orders.

53)
But he fails and Siegmund dies. Her father, Wotan, is furious at his daughter's betrayal. Brünnhilde is downgraded from a god to a human woman as punishment for violating his orders and is put to sleep. It is a sleep that can only be awakened by a male kiss.

54)
Only a brave man can approach her as she sleeps, surrounded by flames. Brünnhilde sleeps alone for more than a decade. But Sieglinde's son, Siegfried, was a fearless hero. Brünnhilde is awakened by his kiss, having overcome the flames.

She thanks heaven and earth, thanks Siegfried, and falls deeply in love with him.

55)
But Siegfried suffers amnesia from a potion from Hagen, the son of an underground man. Having lost his memory, Siegfried loses his heart to another woman. In despair, Brünnhilde looks forward to Siegfried's death.

Siegfried regains his memory at the worst possible moment and is killed by Hagen, the son of an underworlder, as a breach of his oath.
Brünnhilde realises everything and sets fire to a pile of wood around Siegfried's corpse. She then dives into the fire with her beloved horse and the Ring that started the tragedy.

56)
'Siegfried! Siegfried! Look, look! I am so happy. My wife is waving to you!'
He tries to purify everything through his sacrifice. Then, what do you think? The castle of the gods will burn and perish in the same way.

The whole story ends with a suspicion that a new world is about to take its breath away after the destruction.

57)
A girl who was under the protection of her father,

Awakened to love,
separated from her father,
eventually falls in love with a man,
After being filled with the joy of love,
love is broken,
Finally, he grows to the point where his thoughts reach the whole of society at large.

58)
And by sacrificing herself, she opens the door to the next age. This is Brünnhilde's story of growth. It is a story that is not coherent and incomplete, but there is no doubt that she is the most fascinating character Wagner has ever created. If it had not been for Brünnhilde, the work would have been buried in history as a long, lousy work.

Add info)

Natsume Soseki's "Sorekara (Then)" Synopsis. A NEET who discovers love and decides to look for a job!

https://ddnavi.com/serial/1093254/a/

A)
Description of "Sorekara"

This full-length novel by Natsume Soseki was serialised in the Asahi Shimbun in 1909. Together with Sanshiro and The Gate, it is considered to be a trilogy of Natsume Soseki's earlier works.

Although there is no direct connection due to the protagonist's circumstances, this work is read as a sequel to Sanshiro. Also, it depicts a young man struggling with love in a totalitarian society of the Meiji era.

B)
Main characters in "Sorekara"

Nagai Daisuke is 30 years old, single, and a high school nomad who lives off his father's money and house.
Hiraoka Tsunejiro: Daisuke's best friend. He loses his job and is heavily in debt to a loan shark.

Hiraoka Michiyo: Tsunejiro's wife, who once had feelings for Daisuke.
Toku Nagai: Daisuke's father. He tacitly approves of Daisuke's freewheeling lifestyle because he plans to use him as a pawn in a political marriage.

C)
Synopsis of "Sorekara".
Nagai Daisuke is 30 years old and lives comfortably on the support of his father. For Daisuke, who can live without studying or working, marriage to the daughter of a conglomerate recommended by his father is unimportant. He has a soft spot for his friend's younger sister, Sanchiyo, who has been left alone in the world, but he wishes her happiness by marrying her to his best friend, Hiraoka.

D)
However, the story takes a turn when Hiraoka is accused of embezzlement and forced to resign. While Michiyo is ill after the death of her child, Hiraoka is preoccupied with entertaining the geisha, regardless of the family's finances.

Dousuke, who brought the two together, is tormented by remorse and secretly visits and comforts Michiyo in Hiraoka's absence. The two continue to meet in secret, knowing it is a crime, but feeling guilty, Daisuke confides everything to Hiraoka and bows to him.

E)
Hiraoka agrees to Daisuke's request to give up Sanjiyo but tells him he will never see her again. Furthermore, Daisuke's father breaks off his marriage proposal, a political manoeuvre, and disowns him when he discovers that he has been interfering with other people's wives.

Hiraoka had reported the circumstances of the marriage in a letter to Yosuke's parents. Having abandoned his privileged life and family in favour of adulterous love with Sanchiyo, Yosuke is now in a position where he has to face the world.

When Dairisuke leaves the house, saying he's going to look for a job, he can't help but feel uneasy, as if the world is turning red, as if to remind him of the ordeal he's about to face.

The Ring of the Nibelung synopsis [Wagner].

'The Ring of the Nibelung' Synopsis [Wagner].

Ring Ring of the Nibelung synopsis and commentary [Wagner].

'Ring of the Nibelung' Commentary.

'Then and There' Synopsis and commentary [Soseki Natsume].

About 'Then and There' directed by Yoshimitsu Morita

Then and Then

Natsume Soseki's "Sorekara (Then)" Synopsis. A NEET who discovers love and decides to look for a job!