The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring

by Bernard Shaw

"The Perfect Wagnerite: A Commentary on the Niblung's Ring" by Bernard Shaw is a philosophical commentary published in 1898. Shaw offers a radical reinterpretation of Wagner's Ring cycle, reading it as a Marxist allegory about capitalism's collapse rather than a simple fairy tale. He argues the work depicts "the whole tragedy of human history" and contemporary dilemmas, accessible only to those with wider consciousness beyond domestic concerns and conventional thinking. Shaw also traces Wagner's shift from music drama back toward traditional opera.