“I have wept him to death”
Undine“I have wept him to death” is Undine’s stark description of Sir Huldbrand of Ringstetten’s death in her arms. Spoken to the servants who encounter her after the fatal embrace, it joins grief to physical consequence: her tears have accompanied his death, and she presents that grief as what has killed him.
The phrase in its scene
Undine asks Sir Huldbrand to look at her once more, reminding him that she is as fair as when he wooed her on the promontory. He answers that he wishes it were so and that he might die in her fond embrace. Undine agrees, unveils her face, and kisses him. Holding him close, she weeps; his breathing ceases, and he falls back on the couch dead.
Meaning and consequence
The phrase turns the scene’s tender gesture into a fatal one. Sir Huldbrand has voiced a wish to die in Undine’s embrace, but the narration makes the death occur through the intensity of her weeping as she holds him. Her declaration to the servants names that consequence directly, without separating the love expressed in the embrace from its destructive outcome.
After the declaration
Undine speaks the words to servants waiting in the ante-chamber. She passes through the frightened group and walks slowly toward the fountain. The phrase thus marks both the immediate aftermath of Sir Huldbrand’s death and Undine’s departure from the people who have witnessed its consequences.
