During the third act, Tristan “comes to terms with his own existence and its meaning” (Chafe, 237). Wagner focuses on Tristan alone for almost the entire third act, and uses three cycles for Tristan’s self-discovery. (Other authors have used one and two-cycle analyses; Chafe decides on three.) These cycles hearken back to the cycles of desire used in the prelude. However, the prelude was not closed; it could not be satisfactorily completed. The third act can, and is. During act 3, Tristan first views love as a “fearful torment,” but gradually begins to see it as “this most beautiful of dreams.” The transition between these two points of view is a symbol that this cycle of desire has been completed.

The following is an illustration that attempts to clarify Tristan’s three cycles in the third act.

 

 

All of the cycles include a vision, a curse, and a relapse into unconsciousness (or in the final cycle, death). “The basic idea is that of unconsciousness versus consciousness (awakening) in constant alternation. Consciousness s associated with desire, unconsciousness with metaphysical intuition and eventually the overcoming of desire” (Chafe, 239). Outside music is also present in each cycle; the alte Weise and the frohe Weise.

When Tristan’s cycles end, Isolde’s cycle begins. It is illustrated in the table below.

 

 

The “Curse” box is noticeably empty. Chafe reminds us that “[t]he idea of cycles, then, is a flexible one, not a fixed formal scheme involving immutable parallels.” It does break down a bit during Isolde’s cycle, “affirming that the transitional character of form takes precedence over the schematic.”