In the Magic Flute there is a celebrated “break” at the point where - apparently without warning - the “good” Queen of the Night suddenly becomes "evil", where the “evil” Sarastro becomes “good", and where the three boys change sides; they were, after all, provided by the Queen as guides for the two wanderers - now we suddenly find them in Sarastro’s camp, giving warnings and advice. The literature on Mozart has for nearly 200 years been providing innumerable explanations for this “break". It is suggested that the radical reconstruction of the plot occured in the middle of the composition of the work because another magic opera on a similar subiect had just appeared, or in order to lay stress on the rites and ideals of Freemasonry etc. All these hypotheses are based on the assumption that such a break exists. My view, however, is that there is no reason to assume - particularly with such fairy-tale material - that such a mistake was made. To alter the concept without reconstructing the part which had already been written would really have been an incomprehensible mistake, although in a Viennese work of this type one cannot expect strict consistency or realistic logic.
I am reminded of the time when friends of ours were getting a divorce: During the morning the husband visited us and explained everything from his standpoint; we understood his point of view and were ready to condemn his wife as his antagonist. In the afternoon we were visited by the wife and we succumbed also to her arguments: now we considered the guilt to be his alone, he was at fault. That is exactly what happens to Tamino in the Magic Flute.
One can imagine the background to the story as being that of a mighty, mysterious family with strange castles and fortresses, ruling with a great following and retinue both day and night and a whole fairytale world. Sarastro may well have been an interesting friend of the family with his own power base in the exclusive men's club of 'initiates' and with eccentric hobbies, such as going out hunting every day in a chariot drawn by lions or, when the fancy took him, turning himself into an animal. His later contempt for women may have been attributable to the fact that he was attracted to the lady of the house - the Queen of the Night - or perhaps that she was attracted to him; whatever the circumstances, the ’affair’ ended in hatred and jealousy. On the death of the old 'King’ his dominions were broken up, the Queen inheriting everything except power over the clay, the ‘all-consuming’ orb of the sun. The old man had left this lo Sarastro, the friend of the family, who may well also have had an eye on their little daughter Pamina, as was to appear later on. - The property, the entourage, (the boys, the ladies the slaves lions etc.) and the fortresses were all divided up more or less clearly ,but in such a way that an exchange, a transfer of allegiance to the other camp, was possible without too much trouble. The original community of interest is still clearly apparent on each side. - In the end Sarastro abducted Pamina, ostensibly to remove her from the evil influence of her mother, but the fact that he was in love with her is likely also have played its part.
Tamino bursts in upon this domestic drama and since he first hears the story from the lips of the Queen, he initially becomes her dedicated supporter and an opponent of Sarastro. But when he enters his territory and there hears the arguments of the other party, he allows himself to be persuaded of their validity and to be ’converted’. The widely quoted break is, therefore, nothing other than the subtle protrayal of a common human pattern of thought and behaviour.
Neither of the two groups emerges morally blameless from the affair. Just as in human relationships love very easily turns to hate, so it is here: the Queen has a mortal hatred for Sarastro and his adherents, and she has certainly been badly treated. - Although Sarastro surrouds himself with an aura of love and wisdom, in his domain there are slaves, fetters, punishment and a truly rnurderous lecher. The fate of his prisoners is terrible; they are 'impaled or hanged'; 'their deaths would involve appalling torture’; the ordeals are said to be so severe that not every aspirant survives them. Threats of these dangers are quite cynically employed. Pamina is told to bid her beloved 'a last farewell'. Sarastro is, therefore, by no means so virtuous and devoted to truth: although he solemnly sings of his love for humanity and abjures all thought of revenge, he has Monostatos flogged and destroys the Queen of the Night and her followers. Indeed, he obviously lies on one occasion, when he says 'that is the reason why I took her (Pamina) by force from her proud mother’, implying that he did it in order to bring her and Tamino together - in fact he abducted Pamina because he wanted her for himself. 'I do not wish to force love upon you... you greatly love another'.
Neither does Sarastro's intense passion for hunting fit in very well with the picture of the sage who lovingly protects all forms of life. - The only representative of perfection in this fairy-tale, in which women are so reviled, is the girl Pamina.