elf in
dreams, and sees the gentle figure of Peace moving among the company. He
describes her lovingly and with youthful tenderness, which approaches
ecstasy as he draws a picture of the ideal life of humanity made free.
Then he paints War and Death, and the disorder and darkness that they
spread over the world. He addresses himself directly to the Prince; he
shows him his duty, and how the love of his people would be his
recompense; he threatens him with the hate of the unhappy who are driven
to despair; and, finally, he urges the nobles to rebuild the towns, to
liberate their prisoners, and to come to the aid of their subjects. His
song is ended amid the profound emotion of his audience. Duke Robert,
feeling the danger of these outspoken words, orders his men to seize the
singer; but the vassals side with Guntram. At this juncture news is
brought that the peasants have renewed the attack. Robert calls his men
to arms, but Guntram, who feels that he will be supported by those
around him, orders Robert's arrest. The Duke draws his sword, but
Guntram kills him. Then a sudden change comes over Guntram's spirit,
which is explained in the third act. In the scene that follows he speaks
no word, his sword falls from his hand, and he lets his enemies again
assume their authority over the crowd; he allows himself to be bound and
taken to prison, while the band of nobles noisily disperses to fight
against the rebels. But Freihild is full of an unaffected and almost
savage joy at her deliverance by Guntram's sword. Love for Guntram fills
her heart, and her one desire is to save him.

The third act takes place in the prison of the chateau; and it is a
surprising, uncertain, and very curious act. It is not a logical result
of the action that has preceded it. One feels a sudden commotion in the
poet's ideas, a crisis of feeling which disturbed him even as he wrote,
and a difficulty which he did not succeed in solving. The new light
towards which he was beginning to move appears very clearly. Strauss was
too advanced in the composition of his work to escape the neo-Christian
renouncement which had to finish the drama; he could only have avoided
that by completely remodelling his characters. So Guntram rejects
Freihild's love. He sees he has fallen, even as the others, under the
curse of sin. He had preached charity to others when he himself was full
of egoism; he had killed Robert rather to satisfy his instinctive and
animal jealousy