There are, it seems to me, two mysteries about Swan Lake. The good Odette and the bad Odile are danced by the same ballerina. Did Siegfried, when being seduced by Odile, see something of Odette in her? That would somewhat explain and excuse his infidelity. The other question, which has been much discussed, is about the ending. In the Kirov version Odette excuses Siegfried for his temporary lapse; she is rescued from swandom; and the two, presumably, live happily ever after. In the Fonteyn-Nureyev version also, Odette pardons Siegfried and they are prepared to live happily ever after--but the evil swanmaster, Rothbart, becomes incensed. He causes the lake to flood, floating Odette away as a swan and drowning Siegfried.

Neither of these endings seems quite right to me. As I understand it, Odette did not create the rule that she could only escape swandom if someone swore undying love. There must have been some higher authority. In that case, Odette could not, on her own, have forgiven Siegfried and become human. So, she was lost, even without Rothbart's anger. Siegfried was searching for an ideal and he found it, but because he was human he could not keep it. But he did not have to die. He could have remained in limbo, alive but without Odette--or Odile--who was a phantom anyway. That would not be a very balletic ending, but it would be a realistic one.