According to The Norton Anthology of English Literature, the romance genre “not only represents desire but activates desire in its readers: the pleasure we take in such stories derives from our desire for the reintegration of lives in a coherent and constructive narrative,” (Greenblatt 120). The genre is typically aimed at young adults, as a way of reassuring them that everything will turn out well in the end, despite all the odds. These types of stories also tend to emphasize how young people make mistakes due to their inexperience, which leads to even more of a desire to see a happy ending. Considering how confused young people can be about the future, it is no wonder that the genre has persisted for centuries. Tristan and Iseult is one of the most famous romances, and is an inspiration for many stories within the genre.
This story is known as one of the most classic romances in history, depicting a struggle, a separation, a person overcoming a problem, and the entire story coming together in a happy ending. Tristan and Iseult follows the famous tropes of romance in both obvious and subtle ways. The story is about two lovers, which is predictable for a romance plot. Circumstances and misjudgment cause the young couple to act rashly multiple times in the story. In fact, the most important aspect of Tristan and Iseult is the romantic trope of reassuring the audience. The story utilizes the idea of fate, and how heavenly forces are always on the side of the innocent, which can clash with societal norms. It is a way of telling the audience that, as long as they follow their hearts and are good people, their lives will turn out well, which is what ultimately makes Tristan and Iseult a powerful and effective romance.
The first paragraph of the story begins with the bard addressing the audience: “My lords, if you would hear a high tale of love and of death, here is that of Tristan and Queen Iseult; how to their full joy, but to their sorrow also, they loved each other, and how at last they died of that love together upon one day,” (Bédier). This quote is a basic description of Tristan and Iseult’s relationship. Their love is true, which is where the “joy” originates, but the “sorrow” has its roots in how their love is technically forbidden by society. Conversely, it is encouraged by heavenly forces, representing the main conflict of Tristan and Iseult. The last portion of the quote indicates how the couple’s happy ending is ironically their death together, as they can finally be with each other without the weight of the world’s expectations and restrictions forcing them apart.
Tristan is shown to be marked by God in the very first scenes of the story. For example, when Tristan is finished playing his harp for King Mark, the king relates Tristan to joy: “God loves good singers...For our joy did you come to this roof, stay near us a long time, friend.” Unlike King Mark, Tristan’s mother relates him to sadness on her deathbed: “In sadness came I hither, in sadness did I bring forth, and in sadness has your first feast day gone. And by sadness you came into the world, your name shall be called Tristan; that is the child of sadness.” These descriptions indicate that Tristan is associated with the contrasting emotions of both joy and tragedy. Tristan’s life will not be filled entirely with tragedy, despite his mother’s last words, and King Mark’s words act as reassurance for the audience that everything will be resolved. If Tristan’s life is only filled with tragedy, then it becomes hopeless, which defeats the purpose of a romance, a story meant to inspire hope and comfort.
For the romance’s target audience, the idea of the certainty of fate and destiny is vital. The audience’s intrinsic myopia causes them to fear that one mistake may have an irreversible influence on one’s life, while in actuality it may have a minor impact at best. So, when the concept of inevitable fate is present, the burden of not knowing the future can be alleviated. The audience holds credence and take comfort in the fact that everything happens for a predetermined reason. The idea of fate is also a reminder of how death, the one aspect of life that everyone has in common, is inevitable. In the context of the story, this reminds the audience of the character’s vulnerability, and subtly foreshadows how Tristan and Iseult’s love and death together is set into motion because of fate.
One of the main instances of fate intervening is how Tristan and Iseult came to meet. The collection of precise events that leads Tristan to Iseult strengthen the idea of fate, because realistically, these events are a collection of coincidences at best. The swallow bringing King Mark Iseult’s golden hair indicates that Iseult is meant to go to Cornwall. Tristan arriving in her kingdom to defeat a dragon, which coincidentally wins Iseult’s hand in marriage, is too contrived to be reality, unless heavenly intervention is involved. The story is only this carefully orchestrated when the plot reaches a point in which Tristan and Iseult are in need of heavenly intervention, such as when Tristan jumps off a cliff and is saved by a sudden gust of wind in a different part of the story, carrying him to safety. Without the presence of God or other heavenly forces, realistically, Tristan should die, and Iseult should never meet him. Another instance of fate guiding their destiny is how Tristan initially meets Iseult. His boat arrives in Ireland by sheer luck.
After his battle with the Morholt, Tristan is injured, and is sent away from Cornwall on a boat as he waits for death. The boat is unmanned, floating on the water without anyone steering it. The seven days and nights Tristan floats in his boat, and the forty days he waits before he leaves, is an allusion to the biblical story of Noah: God tells Noah to build an arc in seven days before He floods the world, and the flood will last for forty days (“Genesis”). In Tristan and Iseult, Tristan is akin to the world. He rapidly decays until he is brought to shore and healed by a potion, which is equivalent to the water pouring onto the Earth and healing it of man’s sins. The forty days is Tristan’s and the world’s rehabilitation period, until finally, they both are fully healed and are able to move on. The story of Noah is also similar to this portion of the story because it involves God’s interference, as Noah would have never known that his world would be flooded without God. After the flood, God promises to never flood the Earth again, but in Tristan’s case, his world is eventually flooded again with the elixir of love, leading to his love with Iseult.
The love potion is a plot device that furthers the idea of Tristan and Iseult’s fated but forbidden love. Initially, the love potion is a secret gift from Iseult’s mother to her servant Brangien. The intended use of the potion would have been to make Iseult fall in love with King Mark, which suggests that their marriage will lack a foundation of true love. In order to right this wrong, a heavenly force decides to shine the sun upon them, making the two thirsty and then providing the love potion as an innocent refreshment. As above, the potion represents the second forbidden flood of the Earth, the one that God promised would not happen. The question of how their love can be both intended and forbidden simultaneously arises. Fate believes the two should be together forever, but society opposes their romance. This is the major conflict of Tristan and Iseult, and is one that is only resolved by their death, which is why Brangien declares they “drunk death together,” by drinking the love potion (Bérdier). Now, it is only in death in which the two can properly be together, and in life they must be separated.
One of the most important aspects of a romance story is the intrigue of separation, because it acts as a potential challenge to a couple’s relationship. While apart, the lovers may be tempted by other people, or fear that the other has died, which makes it all the more satisfying when the couple reunites. The very first time Tristan and Iseult are separated is because the king’s advisors hate Tristan, and notice his love for Iseult. Seeing an opportunity to make Tristan suffer, they attempt to reveal Tristan and Iseult’s secret romance to the world. The text indicates that this separation is not what fate desires, because the bard describes Duke Andret, the King’s main advisor who initiates their separation, as someone “whom God shame[s].” The fact that these advisors are referred to as “felons” also designates how they are the villains of the story, going against the fated love of Tristan and Iseult. Duke Andret and the other advisors represent the society that wants to keep them apart, as they are the main reason the two are separated so many times.
Another instance of the couple being separated is when the King discovers the runaway couple sleeping together with a sword between them. As A Sword Between The Sexes explains, “There is...hidden or flaunted, a sword between the sexes till an entire marriage reconciles them,” (Van Leeuwen 56). In other words, it is a symbol that represents the separation between a man and a woman before they fall in love and get married, which is the reason it takes King Mark by surprise. He initially accuses them of being in love and defying him, but seeing this literal symbol of their separation convinces him that he is wrong, that they are in love but are not sexually active, and that he should forgive them. Ironically, it is a display of separation that saves the couple, which further implies that the only way the couple can live on Earth is through severance.
Society does not want Tristan and Iseult to be together, as it causes the leader's pain. One example is Tristan’s claiming of Duke Gilian’s dog. His act is a showcase for how much he loves and misses Iseult, to the point where he would make his new ruler suffer for her. This goes against what he learned from the Governal’s teachings, as a knight’s main duty is to serve his leader faithfully and completely. He even makes a plan to win the dog, because he knows how much the duke loves his dog and would not give it up under normal circumstances. While this does display how strong the love between Tristan and Iseult is, this scene delineates Tristan in a much more negative light than previously.
Tristan is always described as “honorable” and “brave” prior, but in this scene, he is never referred to as such. The only phrase that indicates Tristan’s knighthood is when the duke says he is a “God-sent guest”, but those are not the words of the bard. Ironically, this act against the duke is in vain, as Iseult realizes that Tristan now suffers instead of herself, and she throws the bell away. This indicates how much Iseult loves Tristan, but it also shows how Tristan’s act of defiance ends with both of them suffering again. Their suffering further implies how society’s rules do not wish for either to be happy in life, because it hurts King Mark and has now hurt Duke Gilian, which is a malevolent act in the world they live in, as the code of conduct indicates that Kings are to be respected.
Tristan’s disguise as a commoner also reflects his disobedience. What is ironic about the scene where Iseult screams “Fool!” at the disguised Tristan is that she does not know she is actually speaking to Tristan, but accurately describes Tristan with her insults. It is true that Tristan “wrong[s] all knighthood” for her sake, and it is true that he is a “fool from birth” because of his actions. Tristan’s ugliness as perceived by everyone else is also a representation of how society views him, as a dirty man who loves the queen and disobeys his kings. The only other characters to be viewed as such are the lepers, though to a much lesser degree, which shows how Tristan’s actions against his kings and dukes are extremely reviled in society. Tristan’s exit marks the couple’s final separation, as they will never see each other again until they die.
The next important aspect of a romance is how young people misjudge their actions and what the subsequent repercussions will be, which is displayed in Tristan and Iseult. The first instance of this is when Tristan and Iseult run away from their execution. They may be running away to escape from their deaths, but they flee without a plan. Neither knows where they will go, how to survive in the forest without the commodities, or what they will do should they get captured again. As it is told to the audience shortly afterward, they starve, unable to properly take care of themselves. God may have saved the couple from a shameful death via execution, but even when they are together, they are unable to live within the society that is against their relationship, and will constantly be running away. Nevertheless, they go on, venturing deep into “the Wood of Morois,” ready to encounter even more suffering in their journey.
Tristan’s refusal to repent when an old man recommends that he should is another sign of his shortsightedness and misjudgment. For a man raised as a chivalrous and honorable knight, it is rather odd that he feels no guilt over committing one of the most severe crimes a knight could commit. He even denies that he commits a crime. At this point, Tristan is not thinking logically. He is acting solely based on love, and he is ignoring the consequences. The logical action to take is to turn himself in, beg for forgiveness, and give Iseult back to King Mark. This is akin to how young people believe their mistakes can never be forgiven, and how they tend to run away from their problems as a result.
After they discover the king has found them, Tristan and Iseult finally become aware of their predicament. They are foolish for not believing the King could forgive them. This marks the resolution of their earlier myopia, because they realize they can no longer live this life of running away without hurting the other. It is a decision between living apart and reclaiming their honor, or living together and slowly dying. In the end, they choose the former, despite the despair it will cause them. Tristan’s last statement, that “it would have been much better if he had killed me in my sleep” indicates that he knows he can not be together with Iseult if the king is willing to forgive them, and that he has to go through the pain of giving her up, which is what eventually happens.
The couple’s attempt to stay in the same kingdom after King Mark orders Tristan to leave Cornwall is another example of their misjudgment. Unlike previously, they rapidly realize that their relationship simply will not work in society, signifying that the two fully understand the implications of their impossible situation. Iseult then swears to King Arthur that she no longer loves Tristan, and Tristan leaves. This is the beginning of their second separation, as they will only see each other once again before they both die. Instead, they must live the rest of their lives apart. Thankfully, fate does not intend for them to be separated forever.
When Tristan is on his deathbed, he wishes to see Iseult again. Iseult obliges, but her ship encounters a storm, and she cries out, “God does not will that I should live to see him, my love, once - even one more time. God wills my drowning in this sea,” (Bérdier). She later has a strange dream, and she reaches the conclusion that she “will never see her lover alive.” While this does contradict earlier instances in the story of God helping them stay together, such as when they escape their execution, it also furthers the idea that the couple will finally be together when they are dead.
God may be keeping the two apart to prevent Iseult from seeing her lover suffer and deteriorate from the poison, and instead see him perfectly happy and healthy in heaven. This is exactly what happens, as Tristan dies and Iseult passes away due to grief mere minutes afterward. It is made clear that the two are in heaven together by their burial tomb. The bard states, “But in one night [after their death] there sprang from the tomb of Tristan a green and leafy briar...it climbed the chantry and fell to root again by Iseult’s tomb.” The briar is a leafy and flowery plant that, in Tristan and Iseult, symbolizes the couple’s connection, even after death.
Tristan and Iseult is a romance because it fulfills many of the requirements of a typical work of the genre: young people who make bad decisions, reassuring the audience that everything will be okay through a happy ending, separating the couple to test their loyalty to each other, and ending with the couple reuniting. Many elements of the elements are not stereotypical of romance stories. Tristan’s disloyalty to his king and the ultimate deadly fate of the lovers are two examples. Tristan and Iseult is undoubtedly a romance, not because it follows the tropes, but because the story’s main message is that love will eventually conquer all, and if two people love each other, they will eventually be together, no matter what. Every story, regardless of genre, is normally about a protagonist overcoming a problem, and in romances, the problem usually has to do with love. In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” it is Gawain’s love for his knightly duties that eventually allows him to succeed. In The Odyssey, it is Odysseus’ love for Penelope and his kingdom that drives him to return home. In Tristan and Iseult, their love for each other is the problem, and the two have to learn how to live in a world that is averse to their relationship. The tragic love story of Tristan and Iseult is ultimately about the complex and enduring nature of true love, and its power to overcome all when driven by fate and challenged by society.
Works Cited
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Bédier, M. Joseph. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult. N.p.: Project Gutenberg, 2004. Print.
"Genesis 5:32-10:1." BibleGateway. Biblegateway.com, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed.
Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2006. Print.
Stewart, Van Leeuwen Mary. A Sword between the Sexes?: C.S. Lewis and the Gender Debates.
Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos, 2010. Print.
