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By Root 5217 0

the instinctive feminine value on its own is not enough. It must be strengthened, disciplined, given a firm framework of rational understanding by the masculine value: this is the only way that true wisdom and higher consciousness can be reached. Up to now we have seen the feminine value uppermost, as Tamino is in the familiar position of closeness to the feminine value represented by the Mother and hostility to the masculine values represented by the Father. But now the balance has to be redressed. Tamino has to realise his full masculinity. He therefore now begins to see the masculine values represented by Sarastro as light, as Sarastro becomes the Father-figure and Wise Old Man guiding him to his goal. Meanwhile the Queen of the Night, representing the natural world of unconscious dependence on instinct, switches over to become the chief dark figure through the rest of the story; because she now stands for the infantile state of dependence which is the chief thing Tamino has to escape from if he is to reach real self-knowledge and autonomy. Such is the theme of the second and final act.

To emphasise this, Act Two is almost entirely dominated by the contrast between Tamino and Papageno. Sarastro has set them a series of tests to prove their steadfastness and self-control. On each occasion Tamino passes the test triumphantly, emerging as a true man. Papageno, on the other hand, representing the instinctive impulsiveness of nature, fails miserably. He has no self-discipline and therefore never comes to any real understanding or higher state of consciousness; even though he is eventually rewarded, in the way of nature, with a little feathered and good-natured `other half', Papagena, just like himself. And their only joint thought, in the way of nature, is to reproduce and to bring into the world dozens of little Papagenos and Papagenas.6

But for Tamino a very different destiny is in store, because he represents man who has truly risen above the state of nature, to the very highest state a man can aspire to. As we see him refined by his series of ordeals into a strong, austere, selfdisciplined figure, entirely true to the great ego-transcending cause to which he has dedicated himself, he is at last united with his Pamina. They go through the final ordeal, the opposites of fire and water, together, showing that they have transcended all opposites and achieved a state of total unity: not just on an instinctive level, like Papageno and Papagena, but in full conscious understanding of their union with the unseen mystery of creation itself. Tamino has at last attained to the full state of wisdom.

At this point, in a rocky landscape in the darkness, we see the dark forces of nature, the Queen of the Night now allied with Monostatos, preparing to make their last terrifying assault on the Temple of Wisdom. Amid the raging of a great storm we see them plunging to destruction. Out of the darkness Sarastro's temple reappears as `the Temple of the Sun' and he himself sings `the sun's radiant glory has vanquished the night, the powers of darkness have yielded to light'. The magical notes of the flute have finally led us up to a perfect image of the consciouslyrealised Self.

Although it may be easy to be misled by the playful way The Magic Flute comes over almost like a pantomime, this is to miss the psychological subtlety with which the opera is constructed. Symbolically it finds a uniquely ingenious way to encompass both the light and dark aspects of `Mother' and `Father' in the archetypal family drama, as it presents such a luminous account of a man travelling the full road of inner human development, from birth to complete maturity.

In this second part of the book we have concentrated on the central drama of storytelling as it unfolds to its most positive conclusion. But what of those countless stories which are exceptions to this pattern; where the outcome is nothing like so happy or so certain?

We must now turn to the other face of storytelling: to consider all those types of story which show the hero or the heroine in one