Tristan And Isolde

Love can be a person’s greatest gift or curse that will bring them to their demise. It infects their mind, controls their actions and consumes their thoughts with the singular obsession of being around their love. In the love stories, Tristan and Isolde and Lancelot and Guinevere, the characters face problems of the soul, and that bring about monumental repercussions to everyone around them.

Marie de France wrote a story about the theme of a “Great love” even though the “love” displayed in the story cannot co-exist in the real world. Lanval is an outcast in his life, despite his loyalty to King Arthur, his generosity to the people he is not accepted in his world.

Although the definitions of evil vary, as well as its motives and causes, one who possesses characteristics of profound immorality, sinfulness, and corruption could be described as an evil individual. Evil is typically perceived as the dualistic opposite of good. While many characters in literature throughout history are conceived as evil, two distinct characters stand out from the rest; Macbeth in Shakespeare’s definitive tale Macbeth and Grendel in the legendary masterpiece Beowulf. These two literary figures both exemplify traits of gullible ambition, avaricious guilt, and true wickedness. The two pieces of literature depict the terrible effects that these traits, as well as many others, can have on an individual

Although the Lais of Marie de France may seem to be ordinary tales of knights and chivalry, each explores the complicated issues surrounding love, loyalty, and gender. Marie uses four stories in particular to make statements on the relationships between men and women of that time.

She wraps her female sexual fantasy of Guenever's humiliation around a woman's perception of a male masturbatory fantasy. A handsome, dejected knight withdraws to a forest meadow next to a stream to reflect on his ill fortune. When he wakes from a nap, two lovely maidens take him to a fabulous pavilion where he spends the afternoon making love to the most beautiful woman on earth who loves him "more than anything" (116). Moreover, his generous lover provides him with "a dowry" of inexhaustible means and the opportunity to have her whenever he wishes, knowing he will circumscribe his pleasures to discrete circumstances. Marie's lai reflects twelfth-century feminine tastes.

For Lanval, it all starts when the Queen attempts to seduce him and he rejects her in a very polite manner. However, his rejection enrages her and she starts slandering him, the things she says anger Lanval and cause him to strike back. After hearing what he says about her, she runs away weeping and lies to King Arthur telling him that, “He had shamed her! / He’d asked her for a love affair, and She’d said no” (Marie 317-19). Among these lies, the Queen also tells King Arthur the truth about how Lanval has claimed his lover is more beautiful than she, for these things, Lanval is put on trial and must wait for the judges to decide his

In "Lanval," the knight is asked to make a promise to his "ami" not to let anyone know of their affair. Although Lanval does not remain true to his word, the importance of the oath is made clear in the simple fact that his love trusts his word implicitly. It is important to note that, were it not for the implied oath of a knight to remain loyal at all costs to his king, Lanval would have kept his promise

Guigemar endures severe anguish to please his beloved, and his undying love inspires him to prove himself to her. This lay provides a good example of what Marie de France considers wrong and right in love.

Yet it is not Tristan's love for King Mark that is what he is remembered for, but his love for Iseult, which is portrayed as higher than the feudal system. The love between Tristan and Iseult clearly violates the social conventions of the Middle Ages. When he falls in love with Iseult, Tristan's initial reaction concerns his duty to King Mark, "Iseult is yours and I am but your vassal; Iseult is yours and I am your son; Iseult is yours and may not love me" (43). Thankfully, the Love potion that Tristan drinks excuses him from his duty to the king. It is necessary in the Middle Ages to assure that Tristan is not being disloyal. The purity of the love is strengthened by the fact that God sanctifies it, "love dropped upon them from high heaven" (57). This Love is God given and therefore excused from the restrictions of feudal society. This mirrors the Humanist belief that man was created in God's image, thus it is a form of worship to revere man.

Both Rivalin and Blancheflor and Tristan and Isolde undergo the torments of love which lead to their demise. Both sets of lovers fall madly in love and give themselves up to their passion for one another with a disregard for consequences in a similar fashion. The episodes of “Rivalin and Blancheflor” and “the Love Potion” by Gottfried is very similar to the episode of “the death of Tristan and Ysolt” by Thomas. Both Rivalin and Blancheflor and Tristan and Isolde die yearning to be with one another. In Thomas version in the episode of “the death of Tristan and Ysolt,” Tristan’s death comes from an inflicted wound which can only be cure by his lover, Ysolt. Thomas states, “He longs for the coming of Ysolt, desiring nothing

The admiration of courtly love is no more prevalent theme in Marie's lais than on “Yonec” and “Lanval”. These two lais are showing very aristocratic views on socially states; love of nobility. A love that cannot be explained by a commoner or peasant that cannot show status has nothing to offer, for courtly love because a peasant has no chivalry. This courtly love is often secret in that a knight and a lady are not married to one another but to a different partner making the story adulterous. That secret at the end makes the story ecstatic and tragic; the adhesive of the story is the passion of love that is displayed making the store ecstatic and the secret is the tragedy that love cannot be acknowledged. The principal argument of this essay is to understand courtly love in Marie de France’s lais.

Later in the story, the reader experiences the power of the queen when Lanval denies her offer to love him.

Because Isolde daughter was sad to leave all her family and friends behind in order to go to a new kingdom in which she did not know anyone. The purpose of this potion is that “whomever any man drank it he had to love [the person that drank it too] above all things, whether [they] wished it or no” (Strassburg, 192). But being more specific, the queen made this love potion in order for Isolde to be in love with Mark.

While the theme of love itself, may it be positive or negative, is reoccurring, Marie’s presentation of romantic relationships and their differing qualities can be considered a theme alone. In “Guigemar”, the relationship between the knight and his lady represents loyalty, and an ability to heal or cure. Yet, the relationship between the beast and his wife in “Bisclavret” demonstrates the selfish and traitorous behavior that can occur between partners, especially if one has proved to be adulterous.