She gives her hand! I conquer you,
Dread powers of Hell, while she is true.'
Daland returns into the room in time to see that they have
agreed to marry, and proposes that their wedding should take
place immediately, and be celebrated at the same time as the
feast which he generally gives all his sailors at the end of
a happy journey.
The third act of this opera represents both ships riding at
anchor in a rocky bay, near which rises Daland's picturesque
Norwegian cottage. All is life and animation on board the
Norwegian vessel, where the sailors are dancing and singing in
chorus, but the black-masted ship appears deserted, and is as
quiet as the tomb.
When the sailors have ended their chorus, the pretty peasant
girls come trooping down to the shore, bringing food and drink
for both crews, which they hail from the shore. The Norwegian
sailors promptly respond to their call, and, hastening ashore,
they receive their share of the feast; but the phantom vessel
remains as lifeless as before. In vain the girls offer the
provisions they have brought, in vain the other crew taunt
the sleepers, there is no answer given. The provisions are
then all bestowed upon the Norwegians, who eat and drink
most heartily ere they resume their merry chorus. Suddenly,
however, the Dutch sailors rouse themselves, appear on deck,
and prepare to depart, while singing about their captain, who
has once more gone ashore in search of the faithful wife who
alone can save him. Blue flames hover over the phantom ship,
and the sound of a coming storm is borne upon the breeze. The
Norwegian sailors sing louder than ever to drown this ominous
sound, but they are soon too alarmed to sing, and hasten into
their cabins making the sign of the cross, which evokes a burst
of demoniac laughter from the phantom crew.
The storm and lights subside as quickly and mysteriously as
they appeared, and all is quiet once more as Senta comes down
to the shore. Erik, meeting her, implores her to listen to his
wooing, which once found favour, and to forget the stranger whom
her father has induced her to accept on such short notice. Senta
listens patiently to his plea, which does not in the least shake
her faith in her new lover, or change her resolution to live
and die for him alone. But the Dutchman, appearing suddenly,
mistakes her patience for regret, and, almost frantic with love
and despair, he bids her a passionate farewell and rushes off
toward his ship.
'To sea! To sea till time is ended!
Thy sacred promise be forgot,
Thy sacred promise and my fate!
Farewell! I wish not to destroy thee!'
But Senta has not ceased to love him. She runs after him,
imploring him to remain with her, protesting her fidelity
and renewing her vows in spite of Erik's passionate efforts
to prevent her from doing so. The Flying Dutchman at first
refuses to listen to her words, and rapidly gives his orders
for departure. She is about to embark, when he suddenly turns
toward her and declares that he is accursed, and that she has
saved herself, by timely withdrawal, from the doom which awaits
all those who fail to keep their troth:--
'Now hear, and learn the fate from which thou wilt be saved:
Condemned am I to bear a frightful fortune,--
Ten times would death appear a brighter lot.
A woman's hand alone the curse can lighten,
If she will love me, and till death be true.
Still to be faithful thou hast vowed,
Yet has not God thy promise?
This rescues thee; for know, unhappy, what a fate is theirs
Who break the troth which they to me have plighted:
Endless damnation is their doom!
Victims untold have fallen 'neath this curse through me.
Yet, Senta, thou shalt escape.
Farewell! All hope is fled forevermore.'
But Senta has known from the very beginning who this dark wooer
was, and is so intent upon saving him from his fate that she
fears no danger for herself. Passionately she clings to him,
protesting her affection, and when he looses her, and Erik
would fain detain her by force, she struggles frantically to
follow him.
Erik's cry brings Daland, Mary, and the Chorus to the rescue, and
they too strive to restrain Senta, when they hear the stranger
proclaim from the deck of his phantom ship that he is the Scourge
of the Sea,--the Flying Dutchman. The vessel sails away from
the harbour. Senta escapes from her friends, and rushes to a
projecting cliff, whence she casts herself recklessly into the
seething waves, intent only upon showing her love and saving him,
and thereby proving herself faithful unto death:--
'Praise thou thine angel for what he saith;
Here stand I, faithful, yea, till death!'
As Senta sinks beneath the waves the phantom vessel vanishes
also, and as the storm abates and the rosy evening clouds
appear in the west the transfigured forms of Senta and the
Flying Dutchman hover for a moment over the wreck, and, rising
slowly, float upward and out of sight, embracing each other,
for her faithful love has indeed accomplished his salvation,
and his spirit, may now be at rest.
[Illustration: TANNHÄUSER AND VENUS.]