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 BEAUTIFUL
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 LOATHLY
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 HERODIAS
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 MAGDALEN
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 ORGELUSE
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 PRAKRITI
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 SIGUNE
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hen
we compare Richard Wagner's Parsifal with his most obvious source, the epic poem
Parzival of Wolfram von
Eschenbach, we find that Wagner has simplified considerably (before adding material from
other sources). Wolfram's poem contains two strands, wound about one
another like a double helix, with direct and indirect links between them. In one of these
strands, Parzival learns that it is his mission
to release Anfortas (of the Grail Castle; where his own grandfather is, unknown to Parzival, the old, unseen king who is served by the Grail) and the realm of the Grail. The other
strand concerns Gawain, whose mission is to
release Orgeluse and the women of the Castle of Marvels (which is
also the Castle of Women, and where unknown to Gawain, his own sister and grandmother are among the
captives). Wagner cast aside the second of these threads. After reading Wolfram and then turning to Wagner's music-drama, like Amfortas we miss the presence of Gawain. Wagner also merged the characters of Gurnemanz and Trevrizent into one, who is a guide and tutor to young Parsifal in the first act and an elderly hermit in the
third act; it is more than possible that when he did this Wagner was thinking of the missionary
Barlaam who became a hermit and who was found again by Josaphat.
Wagner also merged together three female characters, so that cousin Sigune and Condrie the sorceress became the Kundry of the first act, while Orgeluse became the seductive Kundry of the second half of the second act. Wagner's
inspiration, two years after his "Good Friday" conception of the drama, to introduce Kundry
into the second act might have been found when re-reading Parzival in which Gawain's sister is called "sweet Condrie" (die
süezen Cundrîê). By transferring the name of Condrie to Orgeluse, then
identifying this character with Condrie the sorceress (Cundrîe la surziere), Wagner made
Kundry at one stroke a more complex and intriguing individual than the Schopenhauerian metaphor
of his initial conception.
n Wolfram's poem, Orgeluse has been married to Duke Cidegast. As her name
suggests, she is a proud lady. Her husband was killed by Gramoflanz, who also usurped the
sacred grove in which he now reigns as King of the Wood (Rex Nemorensis). For details of this
ancient legend, the reader is advised to consult the first chapter of Frazer's The Golden
Bough. Orgeluse (who can be seen as the classical Diana Nemorensis) seeks a champion who
will enter the sacred grove and take from it the garland (the golden bough of Frazer's title),
then accept the resulting challenge from the King of the Wood and slay him. The victor will
then reign with her as the new Priest-King of the Wood.
his is the
mission of Gawain, which parallels the mission of
Parzival (to succeed as Priest-King of the Grail). The two missions are interconnected by Wolfram. For example, Parzival arrives at the Castle of Marvels, where he
defeats five of the knights serving Orgeluse. She asks him to be her champion, but Parzival tells her that he already has a mission; she
lets him go on his way. There are indirect connections, too, through two distant poles: in the
west, the peripatetic court of King Arthur, from which both of Wolfram's heroes have set out; in the east, the court of Queen Secundille,
whose magic mirror was stolen by Clinschor, and who sent gifts to Anfortas, one of which was her servant Condrie.
olfram's
sorcerer Clinschor is often seen as the model
for Wagner's Klingsor. As with Condrie the sorceress, however, on close examination
these characters do not have much in common with Wagner's roles, beyond their names. There is
no direct connection between them in Wolfram, although we can
speculate that they have met in India. In Wolfram it is Orgeluse (and
the ladies of the Castle of Marvels) who are in the power of Clinschor, an ally of the usurper Gramoflanz.
For Clinschor has the art of necromancy at
his beck unfailingly, so that he can bind men and women with his spells.
So the Kundry who is in the power of Klingsor, in act 2 of Wagner's drama, is to some extent
based on Orgeluse. In Klingsor's castle,
however,the women are not imprisoned princesses, but magic creatures
created by Klingsor from flowers.
nother link
between the two strands of Wolfram's Parzival is the wounding of Anfortas. The young Grail King, like many others, gave his heart to the proud
and beautiful Orgeluse. In her service, he was attacked and wounded by the poisoned spear of a heathen knight. His wound will not heal. This version of the wound
was of no interest to Wagner, however; in his Parsifal the spear is a holy relic carried by Amfortas; while he embraces the beautiful Kundry, the sorcerer Klingsor
steals the spear and wounds the Grail King, who escapes with the help
of his squire, Gurnemanz. In Wolfram's story, the cause of this dolourous stroke seems to be that
Anfortas fell into a trap of pride, which as we
know, comes before a fall. In Wagner's reworking, the cause of the misfortune seems to be that
Amfortas used the holy spear as a weapon. After it has been guided by an Unseen Hand into the care of
Parsifal, unlike Amfortas he carries it with
reverence: denn nicht ihn selber durft' ich führen im Streite, unentweih't
führ' ich ihn mir zur Seite
.
n Wolfram's poem Parzival the reformed Orgeluse marries Gawain, the
knight who liberated the Castle of Women. In a separate literary
tradition it is not Orgeluse but the Loathly Damsel who marries
Gawain. Although she corresponds to Wolfram's Condrie there is no suggestion in his Parzival that Orgeluse is the
Loathly Damsel in disguise. Wolfram's Condrie actually marries someone else, as does Repanse the Grail bearer. There is no direct
precedent for Wagner's identification of Orgeluse (as the beautiful maiden) with Condrie the
messenger of the Grail.
essie Weston,
in her unfinished study of the Perlesvaus, reviewed the variants of this story to be
found in the Grail romances. In the Vengeance Raguidel of Raoul de Houdenc, Gawain
arrives at a castle of a lady (La Dame du Gaut d'Estroit) who holds a grudge against him: her
hand was the prize at a tourney won by Gawain, who had left without claiming his prize. He is
recognized and warned by a maidservant, on whose advice he pretends to be someone else, and so
escapes unharmed. In that version, the tale makes sense: hell hath no fury like a maiden
scorned
. The same story is recognizable in the Perlesvaus, although the motivation
is unclear; the lady explains that she holds a grudge not only against Gawain but also against
Lancelot and Perceval! She demonstrates a hidden guillotine with which she hopes to decapitate
all three of them. Gawain is grateful that nobody at the Castle asks his name. In both
Chrétien and Wolfram, the lady is scornful rather than scorned, and there is no suggestion
of any previous encounter with Gawain.
much later
version of this tale is found in the compilation known as the Dutch Lancelot, which
was probably based on a French original. Here the castle is identified with the Castle of
Maidens, which has already been liberated by Galahad. The lady fails to find Gawain and so
imprisons another knight, in the hope that Gawain will come to rescue him. Weston concludes,
What the original story was it is impossible to say -- whether it was simply a version of
the traditional story, or one more analogous to Chrétien and Wolfram of a series of tests
imposed on Gawain by a scornful maiden ... the hero of the story was undoubtedly Gawain and the
attempt of our author [of the Perlesvaus] to bring the tale within the general
framework of his romance by introducing all three questers, Gawain, Lancelot and Perceval, as
objects of the lady's affection has only resulted in reducing it to an absurdity ...
.
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