Hartmann von Aue

Syphilis, sin and the social order: Richard Wagner'sParsifal

“…It is important, given that this is a 'soldier's disease', to note that the Grail Knights, the men who are so closely linked musically and narratively to the Flower Maidens, are traditionally discussed in terms that are both monastic and militaristic. 41 But they also stand for the larger society that Amfortas's sin has troubled. Wolfram's source text has often been read as presenting a world shaken by erotic passion; according to James F. Poag, 'In the figure of Amfortas, the Grail world too suffers the burden of sexual disorder.…”