This paper aims to discuss the passion and the end of death in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde in the light
of Schopenhauer’s ethical belief of denying will-to-live. Precedent studies mainly emphasize Wagner’s
romantic tendency and rather neglect humans’ dependency on will related to this work and its following
tragic factors. Interestingly, Schopenhauer’s voluntaristic interpretation has a lot of implications for this
aspect. Notably, the ending scene showing Tristan’s suicide and Isolde’s transfiguration comes into head-on
conflict with Schopenhauer’s criticism of suicide, which has not been covered much yet. The researchers
argue that Tristan and Isolde fall for each other before drinking the potion of love and merely confirm
their real emotions. After that, they face a tragic ending by pursuing ceaseless ecstasy rather than death. This thinking method asserts that this work is more based on Schopenhauer’s ethical view of denying
will-to-live than what is alleged Wagner’s eroticism.