When Bruennhilde tells Wotan that she is one half of himself, his ageless part, to remind him that in subjecting her to a shameful punishment he would be shaming himself, this leaves no shadow of doubt that Bruennhilde is describing herself as Wotan’s own unconscious mind, for, as I noted in my discussion of a previous citation [See 448W for the complete citation], Wagner spoke in precisely these terms of Elsa’s relationship to her husband Lohengrin, describing Elsa as the involuntary and unconscious part of Lohengrin. According to Wagner, Lohengrin (like Wotan), wishes to redeem himself from his conscious thought (his intolerable knowledge of contradictions which undermine man’s belief in his divine origin and transcendent value) by retreating to his unconscious and undeliberate half Elsa, just as Wotan retreated to his unconscious mind through his confession to Bruennhilde:
In ‘Elsa’ I saw … my desired antithesis to Lohengrin, … the other half of his being … . Elsa is the unconscious, the undeliberate (Unwillkuerliche), into which Lohengrin’s conscious, deliberate (willkuerliche) being yearns to be redeemed.” [573W-{6-8/51) A Communication To My Friends: PW Vol. I, p. 346]
When Bruennhilde describes herself as Wotan’s ageless part, she refers to Wagner’s notion that while scientific truths, and political structures, change over time (in science’s case, though, toward greater accuracy), and religions die, the great, immortal artworks live on forever, fresh and new:
“… the wisest-constituted States fall through, ay, the sublimest Religions outlive themselves and yield to superstition or unbelief, whilst Art eternally shoots up, renewed and young, from out the ruins of existence.” [729W-{9-12/67} German Art and German Policy: PW Vol. IV, p. 80]
Wagner praised Feuerbach’s idea that the only true immortality is that of heroic deeds (such as Siegmund’s) and divine works of art (such as those which Bruennhilde will inspire the artist-hero Siegfried to create), and that what we have traditionally called “spirit” (i.e., Valhalla) is actually the product of our “aesthetic perceptions of the tangible world” (i.e., art):
[P. 430] “I found it elevating and consoling to be assured that the sole authentic immortality adheres only to sublime deeds and inspired works of art. (…) [P. 431] The fact that he [Feuerbach] proclaimed what we call “spirit” to lie in our aesthetic perceptions of the tangible world, … was what afforded me such useful support in my conception of a work of art which would be all-embracing while remaining comprehensible to the simplest, purely human power of discernment, that is, of the drama made perfect at the moment of its realization of every artistic intention in ‘the art-work of the future’ [i.e. the Ring] … .” [387W-{?/49} ML:p. 430-431]
Wagner praised Elsa’s breach of faith, her betrayal of her promise not to ask Lohengrin to share with her the unspoken secret of his true identity and origin, in the context of her longing to love Lohengrin and receive love from him, instead of worship him:
“I grew to find her [Elsa] so justified in the final outburst of her jealousy [i.e., her insistence on asking Lohengrin the question he forbade, to learn the secret of his true identity and origin, since she could not wholly trust him without full disclosure] that from this very outburst I learnt first to thoroughly understand the purely-human element of love … . … this woman, who … by the very
