The Romance of Tristan by Beroul is filled with misinterpretation themes and passiveness: the characters misunderstand each other, and also misinterpret events and signs. The story contains several misinterpretations that reveal the author’s true sympathies. Tristan never feels remorse for the events and people that have happened to him. Although this is Tristan’s story, the reader should not empathize with him. King Mark also misinterprets situations, but for different reasons. While his indecisiveness can be endearing, he ultimately portrays himself in a better light than our titular protagonist.
Tristan doesn’t make many decisions. Broul exposes Tristan repeatedly to the readers, but the characters of the text don’t notice his flaws. Tristan is the hero. The only reason he loves Isolde is a potion. Tristan is not shown to be able to choose whether or not he wants to marry Isolde. Even the way Tristan falls in love is a bad thing. Tristan can escape execution thanks to Governal. The latter gives Tristan a blade and a hood and advises him against returning to Tintagel. Tristan is on the verge of making a rash and foolish decision. However, when he receives advice, he changes his mind and reunites with Isolde. Isolde is the one who devises the plan to disguise Tristan as a lesper (Broul 262), which frees them from their justified accusations. Tristan did nothing: he was a fugitive who is at odds both with his uncle and lord but this is because of the hatred that the King’s Barons have for him. The barons are cursed even though they did everything they could to inform the king that Tristan was involved in illicit activity.
Tristan, Isolde and Governal flee to the forest together once they become outlaws. Governal kills a baron who was Tristan’s nemesis and then gives him the head (Broul 246). The baron’s hunters retreat to court when they find him chopped up. This incident is now known throughout Cornwall. Broul uses a particularly powerful diction here. Broul writes that they realize the baron beheaded “had caused troubles between Tristan and king”. Because they don’t know who killed the baron, Tristan is blamed in their minds. The people avoided the forest …[for they feared the valiant Tristan might find them” (Broul 246). Tristan is assumed by both the baron’s hunting party and the Cornwallians to have dispatched their baron. The baron’s hunters, along with the people of Cornwall, assume that Tristan is the one who dispatched the baron.
Tristan & Isolde enjoy free reign of the forest because people fear entering it. The fact that the two are the only ones living in the forest, however, casts a negative light on them. Although the forest has been associated with darkness and evil, it is now the home of two criminals, who have won the sympathy of the population. Broul’s choice of word “fear,” which describes the public’s reaction to Tristan, tells readers how they should feel about these lovers. The author says that the fear the people feel is not admiration, but rather awe for a “valiant”, knight. Tristan’s danger is real, even if the accusation against him is false. Broul may have chosen not to simply have Tristan kill the baron because he offers glimpses into Tristan’s personality that the other characters are unaware of. This allows the reader to make moral judgements with greater objectivity. Tristan appears inactive to the readers, but not the characters.
Inertia causes the reader to begin to see Tristan as uncourtly: “The unwelcome accidental love between Tristan and Isold[e], at first unwelcome both to them, is uncourtly.” It is not a love that has been earned or welcomed. According to the courtly love criteria, a man has to earn a woman’s affection by “purifying labor in her service… before he is worthy and entitled to his reward”(Kunzer 142). Tristan is unworthy because he does not have to serve Isolde. The lovers do not possess the virtues of loyalty, patience or discipline. Tristan shows no loyalty to anyone, and is very impatient and unmovable.
In the first lines of the novel, Mark’s character is compared to Tristan: a man who constantly changes his mind. The very first lines of the story reveal this. We see Mark leaning on a tree and listening to his wife’s pretend lamentations. “He was overcome with pity, and nothing could stop him from crying.” He was deeply hurt and hated Tintagel’s dwarf (Broul, 230). Mark is a character who is easily affected by emotions and passions. The dwarf is a person who is easily moved by emotions and passions. The reader knows the dwarf’s truth. This tactic is used to build tension by revealing truths while hiding them for the characters. The reader can also recognize the character’s human folly. Mark’s vulnerability to deception is immediately apparent. Mark is also prone to making decisions based solely on what other people tell him rather than his own beliefs and thoughts. The language he uses in the first encounter with him warns the reader that he’s a very impressionable person. “The dwarf deceived my! He made to climb the tree and shamed me. He convinced me of a falsehood” (Broul, 230). It is possible that the king has a tendency to be overly trusting if someone can “make him” climb a branch. The dwarf never forced the king to accept his information. He was a willing recipient and believer. Mark could have easily chosen not to believe his veracity. Mark is now left feeling foolish for believing the dwarf. Mark is easily misled, but despite this, his ability to recognize his faults makes him seem more likeable. When Mark makes judgments, they usually come from compassion or pity.
Mark discovers that the lovers are clad and a knife is between them. Mark realizes that his mistake was that Tristan & Isolde weren’t really lovers. So he gives Isolde rings, trades swords with Tristan & leaves his glove as a token that he didn’t mean to harm them (Broul 249). Mark’s grossly misreading the situation happens for a variety of reasons. It is also a way to prolong the end of the story. It is more difficult for the characters to communicate with each other verbally or through dueling if they don’t face off. Mark’s interpretation is meant to demonstrate that he feels, and that these feelings are genuine, not induced by a potion. He confesses that “[n]ow I’ve seen how they act together, I don’t know what to say” (Broul 249). Tristan tends to rush into decisions without a second thought or feeling. Mark’s folly comes from the fact that he has a heart. This is evident in his genuine desire to win approval. He claims that if he had woken them up and someone had died, “people would have condemned my actions”(Broul 249). Mark can stop and change his emotions, even in the heat. Tristan doesn’t do it, and he never even tries. Mark is very gullible. He will be swayed into any direction if he hears a convincing argument.
Mark is a kind, compassionate and generous person. He states, “I would not like them to die, by myself or any of the men I have” (Broul 248; despite being within his rights) – despite being perfectly entitled to kill both of them on the spot because they betrayed him. Tyson says, “His desire to shield Isolde [from the sun] is apparent” (Tyson 71). He “gently put [his] hands on Isolde to block off the sun” (Broul 259). Mark’s misinterpretation is a simple, human and naive interpretation. It returns him to his original state: a cuckold who is kind but a little simple-minded.
Tristan, upon awakening Isolde and Tristan, makes the most important mistake of his life. Tristan, despite Mark’s good intentions in leaving his belongings behind, jumps to an entirely different conclusion. He tells Isolde he believes “[Mark] will come back and take us later…I know he’s planning to do that” (Broul 260). Mark’s comment just moments earlier contrasts starkly with Tristan’s assumptions. Tristan makes rash, irrational decisions and never asks himself questions. Why would Mark have left a sword behind when he planned to return and capture them? Why would he lend Isolde the ring? Why didn’t the king kill them in sleep, as he was entitled to do? Mark’s character was misunderstood by his lovers: Broul wrote that “they were aware that the king possessed a violent and enraged nature” (Broul 251). Broul chose the word “they”, to emphasize that the description is their perception, not necessarily the truth. Mark, in reality, is rational and calm. As he holds his sword ready to strike, Mark takes a moment to assess the situation. He pauses for a moment to calm down and think, something Tristan never does. Tristan, on the other hand, makes a hasty decision. It is one of only a few decisions that he takes by himself in the story. He flees to Wales with Isolde. Tristan is the only one who decides that the lovers will remain in exile. Tristan’s decision to flee is not only uncharacteristic of him, but also insensitive. In courtly romances, the knight must undergo adventures to prove his knightly qualities. This is done by engaging in battles with other knights. Tristan’s story is void of these adventures, which can only be interpreted as a degrading of Tristan and his knightly values.
Tristan does not want to make the reader feel sorry for him. He’s ineffective, makes bad decisions and doesn’t take responsibility for his fate. Mark may seem weak-minded, but he is a good, rational king who acts like a king. Mark is a good king who listens to advice, punishes a disloyal vassal or adulterous spouse, and thinks about the situation. His pity and kindness, his love and his ability to imagine others’ suffering contribute to his tragedy, as they interfere with his objectivity. Tristan is the opposite, lacking all these positive traits. He fails to redeem himself, even when given the opportunity. They fail when Broul takes the power away from the potion. Tristan ends the story by heading to Isolde’s house for another tryst. Broul’s characters are interpreted by us based on the many misinterpretations, and the passiveness they display. Broul allows the reader to understand the true nature of the characters by reading them from different perspectives.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Texts
Messages
Broul. Tristan’s romantic story. The Romance of Arthur. Ed. James J. Wilhelm. New York and London Garland Publishing Inc. released a publication in 1994. 225-76
SECONDARY EXTRA WORKS
Curtis, Rene L. Tristan Studies. Mnchen: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1969.
Goldschmidt Kunzer, Ruth. The Tristan of Gottfried von Strassenburg: A Perspective from an Ironic Point of View Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Tyson, Diana B. Annuale Mediaevale 20, 1981, pp. 67-75.
