About the work
Gyges und sein Ring is a tragedy in five acts by Friedrich Hebbel, written in 1854 and published in 1856. The blank-verse play did not reach the stage until 25 April 1889, at the Vienna Burgtheater — more than 25 years after Hebbel's death in 1863.
Plot
The Greek Gyges gives the Lydian king Kandaules a ring that grants invisibility. Kandaules urges Gyges to use it to steal unseen into the chamber of his wife Rhodope. When Rhodope discovers the deed, she first demands Gyges's death, then Kandaules's: Gyges kills the king in a duel and inherits the crown and Rhodope, who takes her own life in the temple.
Cultural significance
Hebbel follows the ancient accounts of Plato, Herodotus and Cicero to build a tragedy of shame, honour and the limits of seeing. Proceeds from the belated 1889 Vienna premiere funded a memorial plaque for Hebbel at the Burgtheater.