When Dan Savage Meets Wagner: The Problematic Sexual Politics Of ‘The Flying Dutchman’

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim looks at the still-common dynamic that the opera explores via myth: as Savage puts it, “It’s a common delusion, particularly among women, that their love is transformative. That they can find their damaged man and, by loving him, they can save him, restore him, fix him, make him a better person.”