Ilijeva Natalya Valbegovna- student of the Faculty of French at Moscow State Linguistic University.
Annotation: this work sets itself the task of tracing the development and reflection of the legend from the first evidence of its existence in the works of French writers: the Norman trouvère Béroul, whose novel has reached us only in the form of a rather large excerpt, and the Anglo-Norman Tom, whose poetic novel has been translated in full, but conveys only several episodes of a once extensive work. The combination of features of these two poems in the novel by Joseph Bedier will also be analyzed.
Keywords: European literature, legend, poem, chivalric romance, storyline, trouvères, philological analysis, French literature.
The medieval legend about the love of the young man Tristan of Leonois and the Queen of Cornwall, Isolde Blonde, is one of the most popular stories in Western European literature. Having arisen in the Celtic folk environment, the legend then gave rise to numerous literary fixations, first in Welsh, then in French, in adaptations from which it entered all major European literatures, not passing through Slavic ones.
Examining the novel “Tristan and Isolde,” we can say that this work is the embodiment of a number of features belonging to a chivalric romance.
Saint Samson Island;
The parallel between the battle of Tristan with Morold of Ireland and the battle of David with Goliath or the battle of Achilles with Hector (in addition, the description of the battle is an integral part of any chivalric romance);
Sail motif taken from the ancient Greek tale of Theseus.
Secondly, a description of Tristan's personality as a hero endowed with knightly qualities:
Knowing your place;
Hierarchy of ranks;
Knowledge of etiquette;
Excellent ability to find common language;
Horse fight;
Sword Mastery;
Hunting knowledge.
Thirdly, the presence of fairy tale motifs in the work:
Morold of Ireland's three-fold demand to go to battle with him;
“For seven days, seven nights, Tristan quietly carried.”
Predetermination of fate is also clearly expressed in the novel:
Tristan's departure in a boat towards healing or death;
Mark's decision to marry the girl who owns the curls brought by the swallows.
And finally, despite the unusual circumstances of the emergence of feelings between Tristan and Isolde, the theme of love is at the center storyline novel.
Speaking about the difference between the concept of love in “Tristan and Isolde” between Tom and Béroul, it should be noted that Tom’s Roman, preserved in fragments, tells the story of the tragically unchanged and hopeless love of a knight for the wife of his overlord and uncle (“almost father”) King Mark. A fatal passion, criminal in all respects, the cause and symbol of which is a love drink drunk by mistake, does not in any way affect the system of ethical values: both King Mark and Isolde Belokura, whom Tristan marries in order to overcome his love for Isolde Belokura, and both protagonists retain all high spiritual qualities, but at the same time suffer from an omnipotent feeling that irresistibly carries the heroes to death. Tom's version, usually called “courtly,” is in fact far from the ideals of courtly lyricism and chivalric romance: the lady in “The Romance of Tristan” is not an object of semi-sacred worship and does not inspire the hero to deeds in her honor. The center of gravity is shifted to the psychological torment that the heroes endure, connected by family and moral ties and endlessly, against their will, transgressing them.
The love of Tristan and Isolde is described somewhat differently in the so-called “epic” version of the plot, which includes Béroul’s “The Romance of Tristan.” He, explicitly focusing on the poetics of “gestures” with its formality and appeal to the listeners, portrays Mark as a weak king, dependent on rebellious barons. At the same time, the passion of his lovers partially loses its fatal character (the effect of the love potion is limited to three years), acquiring, however, an intrinsic value that justifies it in the eyes of not only the commoner characters - townspeople, palace servants, unborn knights - but also of divine providence, thanks to which they invariably avoid traps and exposure, including at “God’s court.” However, even such love, triumphant, almost ignorant of mental torment and not directed towards death, does not fit into the system of courtly norms.
It is worth noting that when they talk about love in the novel about Tristan and Isolde, we are talking not only about feelings between a man and a woman, but also about love for their land, their people, and most importantly, for their relatives. In this case, the love between uncle and nephew, Mark and Tristan is implied.
To justify Tristan, the idea arises that he drank a magic potion, which helped to inflame the passion between Tristan and Isolde. On the one hand, this is the author’s rebellion against the foundations that have developed in feudal society: obedience to the heart, following feelings to the detriment of duty to one’s family, and on the other hand, the representation of love between a man and a woman as chemical reaction, which deprives them of reason: despite the fact that they do not want to hurt their loved ones, despite all the customs and traditions, their duty to those who sheltered and loved them, they cannot go against the passion that has forever taken possession of them.
As for Mark, he “was never able to drive either Isolde or Tristan out of his heart,” “there was no poison or witchcraft - only the nobility of his heart inspired him with love.” Although there was a moment in the novel that it was possible that Mark was subject to the magic of a love potion, these assumptions were immediately refuted:
“The storytellers claim that Brangien did not throw the jug of wine into the sea” and “as if King Mark drank a lot, and Isolde quietly poured out her share. But know this good people that these narrators spoiled and distorted the story. If they made up this lie, it was because they didn't understand great love, which Mark always had for the queen."
Thus, Mark's love is sacred, innocent, but the forbidden love between Tristan and Isolde is not. Being a noble knight, and Isolde a pious queen, they would never have betrayed the king’s love if not for a miracle potion that prevents them from following their duty. They try to resist their feelings, but they are beyond their control, because there is nothing stronger than magic.
But even before the herbal infusion, the young people liked each other. But then they were controlled by reason, not feelings. Tristan, without any regret, went to get Mark the Blonde Isolde, cleverly deceived her, and she instantly hated him. And only a potion could prevent their nobility.
Since Mark was not under the magic of the drink, despite his feelings, he was unable to forgive the betrayal, unable to resist the hatred and envy towards his once beloved nephew. He sees it as his duty to execute the lovers, and would have done this if not for Tristan’s dexterity and intelligence. But these qualities of Tristan are nothing compared to God, fate, who were on Tristan’s side and will help him avoid execution. But luck did not accompany him for long, for it was not for nothing that his mother named him Tristan: “I gave birth in sadness, my first greetings to you are sad.”
Thus, the problem of choosing between duty and feeling looms before each of the heroes of the novel, but each acts in accordance with the circumstances that fate has prepared for them, because it is absolutely impossible to resist it.
However, as befits a chivalric romance, love is presented here as a symbol of the victory of good over evil. It has already been said that the theme of love in the novel is presented different ways. And, as it turned out, thanks to the machinations of fate (or despite them), love won. She defeated the enmity between Tristan and Mark, she defeated the machinations of Tristan’s ill-wishers, she defeated the envy of Isolde Belorukaya towards her rival, she defeated death. Despite the fact that the main characters suffered a fate, their love also won, death could not separate them: “at night, a thorn tree grew from Tristan’s grave, covered with green foliage, with strong branches and fragrant flowers, which, spreading across the chapel, went into the grave Isolde"
And again a reference to a chivalric romance: the idea that lovers remained together even after death is presented in not a single work, which can not always even be attributed to a chivalric romance: these are various kinds of tales, this is the story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, this and "Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris» Victor Hugo.
The victory of love over death is also demonstrated in Mark's attitude towards the dead: it was he who ordered Tristan and Isolde to be buried together and forbade the cutting down of the thorns that grew between their graves.
Despite the fact that the theme of love in the novel about Tristan and Isolde is presented somewhat differently than in other chivalric novels (if only due to the lack of true harmony between feelings and reason), it is central to this work. No wonder Joseph Bedier wrote the following ending in his interpretation of the novel:
“Good people, glorious trouvères of bygone times, Berul and Thomas, and Eyolgart, and Maester Gottfried, told this story for all those who loved, not for others. Through me they send greetings to you, to all those who are yearning and happy, who are offended by love and who thirst for it, who are joyful and who are sad, to all those who love. Let them find here consolation in impermanence and injustice, in annoyances and adversities, in all the sufferings of love.”
In conclusion, it must be said that Tristan and Isolde is not a typical chivalric romance. In this work there are both similarities with this genre of literature and some deviations from the accepted canons. Moreover, it should be noted that there are at least two versions of the legend - epic and courtly - by Thomas and Béroul, as well as a novel by Joseph Bedier, which is a kind of combination of the above options. Each work is not without a subjective assessment of the author, which, for example, in Bedier’s novel is often supported by arguments.
It is difficult to say which of the works better reflects the content of the original source. Initially, legends were transmitted only orally; they were not recorded in any written sources. But even with the oral dissemination of the legend, each narrator added something of his own, somewhat distorting the plot.
One thing remains unchanged: love, no matter what it is, no matter how it is presented, it is always in the center. She justifies everything, any actions of the heroes. She overcomes all obstacles. All other features of a knightly romance depend on it: valor is of no use to a knight if his heart is not full of love for his beautiful lady. Love for their subjects contributes to the generosity of rulers and their desire to protect their people. Losing loved ones can hurt and kill more than any weapon.
Bibliography
1. Bedier J. Tristan and Isolde - M.: Wolfson Studio, Atticus Publishing Group LLC, 2011. – 148 p.
2. Mikhailov A.D. The legend of Tristan and Isolde and its completion. Studies in language and literature. L., 1973. Abstract to the work of J. Bedier “Tristan and Isolde [Electronic resource] - URL: http://libok.net/
3. Barkova A.L. Tristan and Isolde [Electronic resource] – URL: http://mith.ru/
4. Berul. A novel about Tristan. Per. from early French Linetskaya E.L. [Electronic resource] – URL: http://wysotsky.com/
5. Dictionaries and encyclopedias on Academician [Electronic resource] – URL: http://medieval_culture.academic.ru/
6. Volumes. A novel about Tristan [Electronic resource]: URL: http://wysotsky.com/
7. Tristan and Isolde: Notes [Electronic resource]: URL: http://fbit.ru/
The history of the novel.
The medieval legend about the love of the young man Tristan of Leonois and the Queen of Cornwall, Isolde Blonde, is one of the most popular stories in Western European literature. Originating in the Celtic folk environment, the legend led to the creation of numerous literary works, first in Welsh and then in French, in adaptations from which it was included in all major European literature.
This legend arose in the region of Ireland and Celticized Scotland. Over time, the legend of Tristan turned into one of the most widespread poetic tales of medieval Europe. In the British Isles, France, Germany, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Italy, it became a source of inspiration for writers of short stories and chivalric romances. In the XI-XIII centuries. Numerous literary versions of this legend appeared, which became an integral part of the creativity of knights and troubadours widespread at that time, who sang romantic love. The Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde was known in a large number of adaptations in French, many of them were lost, and only small fragments of others survived. New versions of the legend of Tristan and Isolde expanded the main plot, adding new details and touches to it; some of them became independent literary works. Subsequently, by comparing all the fully and partially known French editions of the novel, as well as their translations into other languages, it turned out to be possible to restore the plot and general character the oldest French novel that has not reached us mid-XII century, to which all these editions go back. This is what the French writer Joseph Bedier, who lived at the end of theXIX– beginningXXcentury.
I think it is worth listing the surviving fragments and raevil works, with the help of which later authors were able to restore the legend of Tristan and Isolde. These are fragments of Welsh texts - the earliest evidence of the folklore existence of the legend of Tristan and Isolde ("Triads of the Isle of Britain"), a novel by the Norman truvère Béroul, which has come down to us only in the form of a fragment in which the text is slightly damaged in places, and the anonymous poem "Tristan- holy fool." Also, one cannot ignore fragments of the poetic novel by the Anglo-Norman Tom, an excerpt from the great poetic novel Tristan by Godfrey of Strasbourg, and a small courtly short story by the poetess of the late 12th century. Marie of France “Honeysuckle” and the French adventure novel “Tristan” by Pierre Sala. And this is not all the works that describe the love of Tristan and Isolde. Therefore, analyzing such a vast and long-forming literary layer is quite difficult, but interesting. So let's get started.
Heroes and the beginning of the conflict in the novel about Tristan and Isolde.
In order to understand what underlies the conflict of the work, it is necessary to remember the plot of the novel and its main fragments. The novel begins with the birth of the main character, which costs the life of his mother. She names the child Tristan, which means sad in French, because a boy is born in sad times when his father dies in the war. Tristan is raised by Marshal Roald, and later the boy lives with his uncle Mark. He is trained as an ideal knight: he is a hunter, a poet and a musician, an actor, an architect and an artist, a chess player and a polyglot. Tristan throughout the novel shows himself as a man loyal to friendship, generous to enemies, selfless and kind. He is patient and unforgiving, constantly strives for something new and bravely fights his enemies.
Having accomplished many feats, Tristan goes to find a bride for his uncle, King Mark. On the way back, Tristan and the king's fiancée, Isolde, accidentally drink a love elixir intended by Isolde's mother for her and her fiancé, and fall in love with each other. Their love is forbidden, because Isolde is destined to be the wife of King Mark. But they can't do anything anymore. All other years, love brings them a lot of suffering and separation, and only death unites lovers.
Having analyzed the events described in the novel, we can finally determine that the plot of the story about the love of Tristan and Isolde is based on a clash of duty and personal feelings. This main conflict works, it also entails the development of a conflict occurring between individual aspirations and norms of behavior established over many centuries. It is interesting that in different versions of the novel the attitude of the authors towards the characters varies greatly - it depends on which side they themselves take in this conflict. For example, the German moralist Gottfried of Strasbourg condemns young people who constantly lie, cheat and violate public moral laws. In many versions, on the contrary, King Mark is presented as an insidious, vile man who strives with all his might to prevent the love of the heroes. That is why the heroes are justified when they simply fight Mark with his own weapons, and Isolde simply prefers the honest and brave Tristan to her treacherous husband. In most versions, the sympathies of the authors, of course, are on the side of those who love.
Features of the conflict. Its distinctive features.
As I have already noted, the main conflict of the novel is not a love one, as it seems at first glance, but a social one. After all, in the novel we see a clash social norms and true feeling, which these norms interfere with. But we should not forget that the love conflict is closely related to the main contradiction of the novel. It is very important to note the presence of a love potion in the novel. Although we see condemnation of moral laws that interfere true love, the author himself is not yet completely sure that he is right. After all, he shows us the love of Tristan and Isolde not as a mature feeling, but as something magical, something over which the heroes themselves have no control. And despite the fact that they are tormented by the consciousness of their sinfulness, they cannot do anything about their feelings. Love here is a dark, demonic feeling; we can remember that the same perception of love was characteristic of ancient myths. This is completely contrary to the courtly understanding of love. It is interesting that death also has no power over this love: two bushes grow from their graves and intertwine with branches that cannot be separated just like the heroes themselves.
Why is their love criminal? We remember that Tristan should not love Isolde, because she is the wife of his uncle, King Mark. And Isolde not only cannot love Tristan because of her marriage, but also because it was he who killed her uncle Morold in battle. But the love potion makes the girl forget everything and fall in love with the hero. It is love that pushes the girl to terrible and desperate actions - she almost kills her maid Brangiena simply because she knows about the love of Tristan and Isolde and, moreover, helps them and even goes to bed with the king instead of Isolde on their wedding night in order to take them away. from the girl there are suspicions of infidelity.
It is very important how Tristan’s uncle and Isolde’s husband, King Mark, appears before us in this conflict. As I wrote above, in some versions of the novel he appears to be an insidious villain, but in most versions we see a humanly kind and noble person. Despite everything, he loves his nephew, and even realizing that the behavior of Tristan and Isolde spoils his reputation, he maintains human dignity. You can remember the episode when he sees Tristan and Isolde sleeping in the forest and does not kill them, because there is a sword between the lovers. Mark's image is very important to us. After all, if he is not an insidious villain and takes pity on his lovers, then he could well forgive them and let them go in peace, and he is hindered only by the slander of the evil barons at the king’s court and the accepted norms, which attributed to Mark the need to kill the lovers who were deceiving him. Joseph Bedier’s novel says that “when King Mark learned of the death of his lovers, he crossed the sea and, arriving in Brittany, ordered two coffins to be made: one of chalcedony for Isolde, the other of beryl for Tristan. He took the bodies dear to him to Tintagel on his ship and buried them in two graves near one chapel, to the right and left of its apse. At night, a thorn tree grew from Tristan’s grave, covered with green leaves, with strong branches and fragrant flowers, which, spreading across the chapel, went into Isolde’s grave. Local residents cut off the thorn tree, but the next day it was reborn, just as green, blooming and tenacious, and again went deep into the bed of blond Isolde. They wanted to destroy him three times, but in vain. Finally, they reported this miracle to King Mark, and he forbade cutting the thorns.” This also shows the king's nobility and the fact that he was able to forgive Tristan and Isolde.
To sum up, we can say that the novel about Tristan and Isolde is not just wonderful work about the love of loved ones European literature heroes. Indeed, in the novel we will find not only the story of the relationship between Tristan and Isolde, but also an innovative perception of social norms, because of which lovers cannot be together. In fact, the author always remains on the side of the heroes, understands and does not condemn them. Of course, he makes Tristan and Isolde feel pangs of conscience because of their sinful love, but still he does not blame them, thus recognizing that love is above all social foundations.
Discussion is closed.
a) Plot history
Origin - Celtic (Drustan and Essilt). We find parallels to the motifs of the novel in the tales of ancient Eastern, ancient, Caucasian, etc. But this legend came to the poetry of feudal Europe in a Celtic design, with Celtic names, with characteristic everyday features. This legend arose in the region of Ireland and Celticized Scotland and was first historically associated with the name of the Pictish prince Drostan. From there it moved to Wales and Cornwalls, where it acquired a number of new features. In the 12th century. it became known to the Anglo-Norman jugglers, one of whom, around 1140, transferred it to French novel(“prototype”), which has not reached us, but served as a source for all (or almost all) of its further cast adaptations.
Directly going back to the “prototype” are: 1) the intermediate link we have lost, which gave rise to - a) the French novel by Béroul (c. 1180, only fragments have survived) and b) the German novel by Eilhart von Oberge (c. 1190); 2) the French novel by Thomas (c. 1170), which gave rise to: a) the German novel by Godfrey of Strasbourg ( beginning of XIII c.), b) a short English poem "Sir Tristrem" (late 13th century) and c) a Scandinavian saga about T. (1126); 3) the episodic French poem "The Madness of Tristan", known in two versions (about 1170); 4) a French prose novel about T. (c. 1230), etc. In turn, later editions go back to the listed French and German editions - Italian, Spanish, Czech, etc., up to the Belarusian story “About Tryshchan” and Izhota."
The plot is the tragic love of Isolde, the wife of the Cornish king, for her husband's nephew. First processed by French poets, including Béroul and Thomas (70s of the 12th century). The latter has enhanced the psychological development of characters, emphasizing the conflict between the feelings of the heroes and the feudal and moral duty weighing on them. Book of Tom at the beginning of the 13th century. revised by the Alsatian Godfrey of Strasbourg.
b). Main versions, significance of Bedier's reconstruction
By comparing derivative versions, a number of researchers (Bedier, Golter, etc.) restored the content and design of the “prototype” in its main features. It told in detail the story of the youth of T., a Breton prince, who, having been orphaned early and disinherited, came to the court of his uncle, the Cornish king Mark, who carefully raised him and intended, due to his childlessness, to make him his successor. Young T. renders a great service to his new homeland by killing in single combat the Irish giant Morolt, who was exacting a living tribute from Cornwall. Himself seriously wounded by Morolt's poisoned weapon, Tristan gets into the boat and sails at random in search of healing, which he receives in Ireland from Princess Isolde, skilled in healing. Later, when the vassals force Mark to marry in order to obtain a legitimate heir, T. voluntarily looks for a bride for him and brings I. But on the way, he mistakenly drinks a love drink with her, which her mother gave her to ensure lasting love between her and her husband. From now on, T. and I. are connected by a love as strong as life and death. A series of secret meetings take place between them, but they are finally exposed and convicted. They run and wander in the forest for a long time. Then Mark forgives them and returns I. to the court, but tells T. to leave. T. leaves for Brittany and there, captivated by the similarity of names, marries another I.-Belorukaya, however, true to his feelings for the first I., he does not get close to his wife. Mortally wounded in one battle, he sends a messenger to his I. with a plea to come and heal him again. They agreed that if the messenger managed to bring I., a white sail would be displayed on his ship, otherwise - a black one. T.'s jealous wife, having found out about this, tells the maid to say that a ship with a black sail has appeared. T. dies immediately. I. goes ashore, lies down next to T.’s body and dies too. They are buried in two adjacent graves, and the plants that grew from them overnight are intertwined.
The author of the "prototype" extremely developed the Celtic legend in terms of plot, adding to it a number of additional features, taken from various sources - from two Celtic legends (T.'s voyage for healing), from ancient literature (Morolt the Minotaur and the motif of sails - from the legend about Theseus), from local or eastern tales of the novelistic type (the cunning of lovers). He moved the action into a contemporary setting, incorporating chivalric customs, concepts, and institutions and, for the most part, rationalizing fairy-tale and magical elements.
But its main innovation is the original concept of the relationship between the three main characters. T. is constantly tormented by the consciousness of his violation of his triple duty towards Mark - his adoptive father, benefactor and overlord (the idea of vassal fidelity). This feeling is aggravated by the generosity of Mark, who does not seek revenge and would be ready to give in to I., but defends his rights only in the name of the feudal concept of the prestige of the king and the honor of his husband.
This conflict between the personal, free feeling of lovers and the social and moral norms of the era, permeating the entire work, reflects the deep contradictions in knightly society and its worldview. Portraying the love of T. and I. with ardent sympathy and portraying in sharply negative tones everyone who wants to interfere with their happiness, the author does not dare to openly protest against the prevailing concepts and institutions and “justifies” the love of his heroes by the fatal effect of the drink. Nevertheless, objectively, his novel turns out to be a deep criticism of Old Testament feudal norms and concepts.
Various versions of the novel, primarily poetic (among them stand out the French novels of Béroul and Thomas, which are far from completely preserved, and written in German extensive novel by Godfrey of Strasbourg), began to appear in the late 60s of the 12th century. Around 1230, a prose French adaptation of the plot was made. Many knights have already appeared in it Round table, and thus the legend of Tristan and Isolde was included in the general context of Arthurian legends. The prose novel survives in several dozen manuscripts and was first published in 1489.
This social content of the “prototype” in the form of an artistically developed tragic concept passed to a greater or lesser extent into all subsequent treatments of the plot and ensured its exceptional popularity until the Renaissance. In later times it was also developed many times by poets in lyrical, narrative and dramatic forms, especially in the 19th century. The largest adaptations of it here are Wagner's opera "T. and I." (1864; after Gottfried of Strasbourg) and compositions J. Bedier "Novel about T. and I.", basically reproducing the content and general character of the “prototype”. Joseph Bedier, following the reconstruction of the novel, performed the same operation with the legend as a whole. He called what he was looking for a “prototype” (or “archetype”). It must be said that Bedier explained some points in the novel that were presented very briefly, confusingly or illogically in the legend. For example, he included the motif of a love drink that Tristan and Isolde drink on the ship (instead of Tristan and Mark). This explains the further behavior of the heroes.
The chivalric courtly romance has been a theme since its inception literary phenomenon, which had a fairly bright social connotation. It was addressed to a certain circle of people, and certainly not the peasant or merchant class. So, he glorified friendship, brotherhood and mutual assistance - but only knights. He called for spiritual nobility, but at the same time subtly and consistently emphasized that only the inhabitants of castles could possess these qualities. However, “The Romance of Tristan and Isolde” goes beyond the predetermined “social framework”. It was addressed to representatives of various classes.
main topic This work is a bright, all-consuming love, before which even death is powerless. There are many moments in the novel that captivate with their realistic authenticity: the relationship between peasants and feudal lords, descriptions of medieval castles and their everyday life, images of details of knightly morals. The experiences of the main characters are shown quite realistically. Here there is a desire for psychologism, an interest in the logic of the development of certain human characters, and this applies even to minor characters.
But at the same time, the novel is characterized by a combination of realistic elements with purely fantastic and fabulous features. Thus, Tristan had to fight not only with armor-clad opponents, but also with a fire-breathing dragon. Tristan's fiery love for Isolde, his uncle's fiancée, which arose during their marriage sea travel, is explained by the fact that both of them mistakenly drank a magic drink that arouses mutual feelings of love. This drink was intended for Isolde and King Mark, they were supposed to drink it on their wedding day.
In many places in the novel it is emphasized that Queen Isolde is a girl of strict moral rules, for whom the feeling of long means a lot. So, not yet being the bride of King Mark, she learned that Tristan had killed her uncle Morkhult, who had come to the lands of King Mark demanding tribute, in battle. She demands severe punishment for Tristan. But he performs a series of brilliant feats aimed at the benefit of his homeland, the kingdom of Ireland, and Isolde softens, for the good of the fatherland is above all. Here, for the first time in courtly literature, a theme is outlined that many years later will be developed by classic writers (the theme of love and duty, if I understand correctly).
But the sense of duty to the family comes into conflict with the feeling of love. Ultimately, Isolde is unable to resist her heartfelt inclination. If the reasons for the heroine’s feelings are motivated by fairy-tale reasons, then its further development is again distinguished by great realistic authenticity: suffering married woman, loving one, but forced to be the wife of another, are shown quite convincingly.
The love of Tristan and Isolde is a tragic love. They both have to endure many misadventures, and in the name of their feelings they both die. In the subtext of the novel, the idea clearly emerges that outdated feudal norms and rules, disfiguring and destroying natural human feelings, have no prospects for further development. The idea was quite bold for its time, hence the great popularity of this novel among various segments of society.
“The Romance of Tristan and Isolde” is highly poetic, and it undoubtedly has its origins in oral folk art, where, in particular, great attention focuses on the relationship between man and nature. Either she seems to sympathize with human experiences, or she condemns them, especially when it comes to lies or deceit.
There are no lengthy descriptions of nature in the novel: its specificity is such that plot collisions and the characters’ experiences associated with them come first psychological plan. The sea, the water element, occupies a prominent place in the novel. At the very beginning of the novel, the seriously ill Tristan entrusts his fate to the sea, as a friend and impartial judge. He asks to be loaded into the boat and pushed away from the shore. The sea, in his deep conviction, never betrays or deceives; it will take him exactly where he needs to go. On the ship, Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion. By sea waves Isolde hurries on a ship under white sails to the dying Tristan.
A prominent place in the novel belongs to the symbolism of certain images or everyday situations. The following episode is quite typical: after the death of Tristan and Isolde they were buried in the same chapel. A thorn bush grew from Tristan’s grave, the branches of which reached Isolde’s grave, gave roots and grew into it. This bush and these branches were pruned several times, and several times they grew again. The subtext of the symbolic image of love: know how to appreciate this high feeling both in a powerful knight and in a humble artisan, and in a peasant walking behind the plow.
1) Plot history. The novel belongs to the Breton cycle. And some of the novels in this cycle were based on Celtic legends. Parallels to the novel in the Irish sagas: The expulsion of the sons of Usnecht, the Persecution of Diarmind and Grainne.
2) Versions of the novel The Celtic legend of Tristan and Isolde was known in a large number of adaptations in French, but many of them were completely lost, and only small fragments of others survived. By comparing all the fully and partially known French editions of the novel, as well as their translations into other languages, it turned out to be possible to restore the plot and general character of the most ancient French language that has not reached us. the novel of the mid-12th century, to which all these editions go back. Which was successfully accomplished by the Frenchman. scientist Bedier (he lived in the XIX-XX century. Vannikova asked not to call him a trouvère or troubadour.) The most known versions poetic versions of the Frenchmen Béroul and Thomas, an extensive novel by Godfrey of Strasbourg n. XIII (German, you understand). A prose French adaptation was saddled around 1230. The Knights of the Round Table appeared in it, and thus the novel was included in the circle of Arthurian novels.
3) Composition. In romances of chivalry, the composition is usually linear; events follow one another. Here the chain breaks + symmetry of the episodes. Each episode at the beginning of the novel corresponds to mirror reflection in darker tones: the story of the birth of T. a story about death; sail of Morol-da (victory, rejoicing) sail of Isolde (deliberate deception, death), the Dragon’s poison, from which I.’s wound from a poisoned weapon heals, but I. is not nearby, etc.
4) Concept of love and nature of conflict. Love is presented here as a disease, a destructive force over which human power has no control (this is an ancient mythological concept). This contradicts the courtly understanding of love. Death, by the way, also has no power over her: two trees grow from the graves and intertwine their branches. The conflict between duty and feeling (a real tragedy of the classicists! True, in the textbook this is not called a dog, but public morality. Judge for yourself what is closer to you.): T. should not love Isolde, because she is the wife of his uncle, who raised him and loves how own son, and trusts in everything (including getting Isolde). And Isolde shouldn’t love T. either, because she’s married. The author's attitude to this conflict is ambivalent: on the one hand, he recognizes the correctness of morality (or duty), forcing T. to suffer from guilt, on the other hand, he sympathizes with her, portraying in positive terms everything that contributes to this love.
Retelling:
King Mark reigned in Cornwall. One day he was attacked by enemies and his friend, the king (of the county, kingdom, who knows) Loonua Rivalen, went to help him. And he served Mark so faithfully that he decided to marry him to his beautiful sister Blanchefleur, with whom Rivalen was head over heels in love.
However, as soon as he got married, he learned that his old enemy, Duke Morgan, had attacked his lands. Rivalen equipped a ship and, together with his pregnant wife, sailed to his kingdom. He left his wife in the care of his marshal Roald, and he himself ran off to fight.
During the battle, Morgan killed Rivalen. Blanchefleur was terribly upset, and Roald calmed her down. Soon she had a son and she named him Tristan (from the French Triste - sad), because. “he was born in sorrow.” And then she died. Tristan was taken in by Roald. At this time, Morgan and his army surrounded their castle, and Roald had to surrender. To prevent Morgan from killing Tristan, Roald married him off as his own son and raised him with the rest of his sons.
When the boy was 7 years old, Roald gave him to the care of the stableman Gorvenal. Gorvenal taught Tristan to wield weapons, keep his word, help the weak, play the harp, sing, and hunt. Everyone around him admired little Tristanche, and Roald loved him like a son.
One day, evil Norwegian merchants lured poor little Tristancheg onto their ship and took him away as prey. But nature rebelled against this, and a storm occurred that drove the ship in an unknown direction for 8 days and 8 nights.
After this, the sailors saw a shore in the reefs, on which their ship would inevitably crash. They somehow realized that Tristan was to blame for everything, because... the sea resisted his abduction. The sailors put him in a boat and sent him to the shore. The storm subsided, the sailors sailed away, and Tristancheg moored to the sandy shore.
Tristan climbed out onto the ground and saw an endless forest in front of him. Then he heard the sound of a hunting horn and the next moment, right in front of him, the hunters brutally stabbed the poor deer to death. Tristan didn’t like what they did to the deer and he decided to help them %) he tore the skin off the deer, tore off the tongue, that’s all. The hunters admired his skill. They ask him where he is from and whose son he is. Tristan replies that he is the son of a merchant and would like to become a hunter too. The hunters take Tristan to Mark's castle (this was the island where his parents got married). Mark throws a party and invites Tristan. Tristan plays the harp and sings there, and everyone admires the fact that he, the son of a merchant, can do so many things.
Tristan remains in Mark's castle. Serves him as a singer and hunter. “And over the course of three years, mutual love grew in their hearts.” The blue line “Tristan and Mark” should begin here, but no =(At this time, Roald went in search of Tristan and sailed to Cornwall. He showed Mark the carbuncle that he gave to his sister Blanchefleur as a marriage gift. In general, they found out that Tristan is Mark's nephew Mark knighted Tristan, he went to his kingdom, expelled and killed Morgan, and began to own his rightful lands. But his conscience tormented him: he decided to give his possessions to Roald, and return to Mark himself, for “his body belonged to him. Mark" (understand it as you wish). Tristan returns to Cornwall, and everyone there is in sadness, because the Irish king is gathering an army against Cornwall because Mark has stopped paying him tribute (he was supposed to send him young men and women). into slaves). The Irish giant Morold arrives in Cornwall and says that Mark has the last chance to fulfill the will of the Irish king. Morold offers to fight one-on-one with any of Mark’s warriors on the island. Each of them sails to the island on his boat, but. Morold ties his boat, and Tristan pushes it away from the shore with his foot. When Morold asks why he did this, Tristan replies that only one of them will return and one boat will be enough for him. They fought for a long time. Finally, at noon, Morold's boat appeared on the horizon. And Tristan stood in the boat, with two raised swords. General rejoicing. Morold's corpse was sent to Ireland, where he was mourned by his family, including his niece Isolde. They all cursed Tristan. And in Cornwall it turned out that Morold had wounded Tristan with a poisoned spear, and he was getting worse day by day. Tristan asked to be put in a boat along with a harp and sent adrift. For 7 days and 7 nights the sea carried him, but finally, but finally, he found himself near the shore. He was picked up by fishermen and given to Isolde's care. Isolde healed him, Tristan realized where he was and urgently ran back to Mark. There were several barons at Mark's court who hated Tristan. Mark was childless and they knew that he would bequeath his entire kingdom to Tristan. And they began to incite other barons against Tristan, calling him a sorcerer (for he could not defeat Morold, recover from his wounds, etc.). As a result, they convinced the barons and they began to demand that Mark marry. Mark resisted for a long time. One day two swallows flew into his room and one had a long golden hair in its beak. Mark told his barons that he would only marry the one to whom this hair belonged. Tristan, seeing the hair, remembered the golden-haired Isolde and promised Mark to find a princess with such hair. Tristan equipped the ship and ordered the helmsman to sail to the shores of Ireland. He shuddered because... knew that after the death of Morold, the king of Ireland ordered the seizure of all Cornish ships and the hanging of the scoundrels. Sailing to Ireland, he passed himself and the helmsman off as English merchants. One day Tristan heard a terrible howl and asked a girl passing by who was roaring like that. She replied that this is a terrible monster that comes to the city gates and does not let anyone in and does not let anyone out until they give him a girl to eat. The King of Ireland announced that he would marry his daughter Isolde to someone who could defeat this monster. Many knights tried, but died in the battle. Tristan defeated the monster, cut off its tongue, but it turned out to be poisoned and our dear Trestancheg fell without any signs of life. It must be said that Isolde had one admirer who sought her hand. Every morning he ambushed him and wanted to kill the monster, but fear overcame him and he ran away. Seeing the murdered monster, he cut off its head and took it to the king of Ireland, demanding Isolde's hand. The king did not believe it, but invited him 3 days later to the castle to prove his heroism. Isolde did not believe this coward, and went to the monster’s lair. There she found Tristan and her servants carried him to the castle. Isolde’s mother comes to Tristan’s chambers and says that he must prove his heroism in a duel with the imaginary winner of the monster, and then he will receive her daughter’s hand. Isolde treats Tristan, rubs him with all sorts of ointments. Finds his sword and sees jagged marks on it. She takes out a fragment of the sword with which Morold was killed from the casket, puts it on Tristan’s sword and sees that they are coming together. Then she ran to Tristan’s chambers, raised her sword over him and promised to kill him immediately. He tells her that she has the right to kill him, because... saved his life twice. The first time he pretended to be a merchant, and now. He is trying to prove to her that the fight with Morold was fair, and besides, he killed the monster for her sake. Isolde asks why he tried to get her, Tristan shows her the golden hair brought by the swallows, Isolde throws away the sword and kisses Tristan. In 2 days everyone gathers for a duel. The coward who allegedly killed the dragon, seeing Tristan, immediately admits to lying. When the audience learns that the winner is Tristan, their enemy who killed Morold, they begin to grumble. But Tristan declares that in order to establish peace between the kingdoms, King Mark of Cornwall will marry Isolde. Isolde was offended that Tristan, having obtained her, neglected her. When the time came to sail to Cornwall, Isolde's mother prepared a love potion, gave it to Isolde's maid, and ordered her to pour the potion into the cups of Mark and Isolde before their wedding night. On the way to Cornwall, the sailors decided to stop on one of the islands. Only Tristan, Isolde and the maid remained on the ship. It was hot and they were thirsty, so they asked the maid for wine. She took out a jug, not knowing that there was a love potion in it, and gave it to Tristan and Isolde. When Brangien, Isolde's mother's servant, saw what had happened, she threw the jug overboard and began to lament. Well, Tristan and Isolde had fun money and, it seems, they did everything they could. Soon they sailed to Cornwall and Mark took Isolde as his wife. On their wedding night, Brangien, for the sake of her mistress, went to Mark’s room, and Isolde went to Tristan. Mark didn't notice anything. In general, this is how they lived. None of those close to her noticed anything strange, and Isolde continued to sleep with Tristan. But Isolde was afraid that Brangien might betray them and started a betrayal. She called two slaves and promised them freedom if they took Brangien into the forest and killed her. They did so, but took pity on her and only tied her to a tree. Instead, they killed the puppy and cut out its tongue. When they returned to Isolde and stuck out their tongues at her (supposedly the Brangiens), she began to call them murderers, and said that she could never order such a thing to them. Isolde promised to tell everyone that they killed her, but then the frightened slaves confessed that Brangien was alive. She was returned to the castle, she and Isolde hugged, and everything became wonderful again. The barons who hated Tristan found out about his love for the queen and told Mark about everything. But he didn’t believe it, believing that they were simply jealous of Tristan. However, he still remembered what they told him, and began to involuntarily follow Tristan and Isolde. But Brangien noticed this and warned T. and I. Mark called Tristan to him and, telling him about the machinations of the barons, asked him to leave the castle for a while. Tristan realized that he could not go far and settled in a nearby city. Both Tristan and Isolde grieved terribly. As a result, Brangien decided to help them. She came to Tristan and taught him how to get into the castle. He sawed off tree branches and sent them down the river that flowed past the castle. Isolde saw the branches and made her way into the garden, where she met with T. At this time, Brangien distracted Mark and the barons. But the barons found out where Isolde was disappearing and went to the dwarf wizard Frosin. Frosin suggested that the barons and the king organize a hunt and, as if by chance, go out to T. and I. When they found themselves in the forest, Frosin suggested that the king climb the tallest pine tree. And so, the king sits on a pine tree, and our Trestancheg makes his way into the garden. Throws branches into the water and sees the reflection of the king. But he can no longer stop the branches, and soon Isolde appears in the garden. She also sees the king's reflection in the water. They act out a scene where Tristan asks Isolde why the king hates him and drives him out of the castle. The king believed them and calmed down. Tristan returns to the castle. The barons again find him with Isolde and go to ask Mark to kick Tristan out. Again they invite the dwarf Frosin, who tells Mark what to do. He offers to send Tristan as a messenger to another kingdom and see how Tristan goes to say goodbye to Isolde. Evening came, the king and Tristan went to bed (they slept in the same room, and the queen in the same room). At night, Tristan saw the dwarf covering the floor with flour so that Tristan's footprints would be visible when he went to the queen. The king and the dwarf came out, and Tristan decided to jump from his bed to the king's bed. The day before, he was wounded by a wild boar in the forest, and during a jump the wound opened and blood began to flow. The king comes in and sees blood on his bed. He says: “That’s it, Trestancheg, don’t persuade me, tomorrow you will die!” Tristan asks for mercy from the queen. The barons tie them both up. Mark orders the fire to be lit. The bound Tristan is led out of the castle. The horseman Dinas, the “glorious seneschal,” rushes after them and orders Tristan to be untied (for it was not proper for him to go tied up). Tristan sees a chapel near the shore and asks the guards to go there to pray. He jumps out of the chapel window straight onto the rocks, but God saves him and he lands softly on a rock. On the shore he meets Gorvenal, who gives him a sword and armor. Isolde stands in front of the fire, but then some sick man appears and offers Mark another way to punish her (so that she suffers longer). Mark agrees. The leper asks Mark to give them the queen so they can have fun with her. The sick take Isolde away, but Tristan attacks them and wins back the queen. Tristan and Isolde settle in the forest. One day they came across the hut of the hermit Ogrin, who begged them for a long time to repent. By the way, Tristan still has a dog in the castle, which stopped eating as soon as its owner disappeared. The dog was untied and took Tristan's trail. But Mark’s warriors did not dare to enter the thicket of the forest. Tristan couldn't figure out what to do with the dog, because... because of her barking, they and Isolde might be found. As a result, Tristan trained the dog so that it hunted without barking. One day one of the barons snuck into the castle and Gorvenal, who lived with T.&I. killed him. Since then, no one dared to enter their forest. One day a forester came across their hut and found T. and I sleeping there. He ran and informed Mark about this. They got to the hut, Mark went inside and saw that there was a sword between T. and I., and this was a sign of chastity, etc. He realized that he could not kill them, but decided to make sure that they understood that he was here. He left the mittens given to him by Isolde, exchanged wedding rings with her, and also exchanged Tristan’s sword for his own. When T. and I. woke up, they realized what had happened and decided to flee to Wales. They ran away, and their conscience began to torment them. That they are guilty before Mark, and before each other. And they decided to return to the hermit Orgin. Tristan asked Orgin to reconcile him and Mark, in return he would return his wife to the king. Orgin wrote a message to Mark on behalf of Tristan, and the latter went with this message to the castle. He left it outside Mark's room and ran away.
Mark passes the letter he received from Tristan to the chaplain, who reads a message to those gathered, in which Tristan cunningly deflects all crimes from himself - they say, he did not kidnap Isolde, but freed his queen from the hands of lepers, and disappeared from under the convoy, jumping from the church with rocks so that you can drink some water and not die under Mark’s hot hand; Tristan says that now he is happy to give Mark his wife (I used it - I didn’t like it, “cashback”, in general), and those who will bring a blizzard and vilify Tristan or Isolde, he is ready to win according to knightly traditions in a legal battle (in in general, “you have to answer for the market”). None of the rams decide to risk their lives and all are happy to take the queen back; however, they advise sending Tristan out of the country to somewhere far away (to Siberia, for example, to the uranium mines). Mark orders a message to be written and nailed near the forest, expressing his ardent love for Tristan and his consent to the deal.
Having received the note, Tristan began to say goodbye to Isolde, and the couple exchanged gifts - Isolde gets Tristan’s pitiful mongrel named Hysden, and Tristan receives Isolde’s gold and jasper ring (here he is, honest and open market!), which, they persuade, will serve as a sign - if Isolde sees this ring on someone, it will mean that he is Tristan’s messenger. Meanwhile, while the doves are cooing, the old hermit Ogrin walks through the boutiques so that the crowds of long years a hermit and beggarly life, there is enough money to buy luxurious fur coats and other trinkets for Isolde.
Three days later, as agreed, Tristan hands Isolde over to Mark and goes into hiding, allegedly leaving the country, in fact, just in case, at Isolde’s request, he hides in the house of a friend of the forester Orry and pretends to be a brownie for conspiracy.
After some time, the villainous barons cannot sleep at night, and a sudden itching in some part of the body forces them to start whispering to Mark again that something bad happened to Isolde, she cohabited with some guy for several months, and now the mattress is warming up in the royal bed again. They offer to check Isolde on the latest achievement modern technology, a medieval-style lie detector - the red-hot iron test. Mark invites Isolde to engage in this entertaining masochism, and she agrees, since she has already been frankly tortured by the barons’ slander, and the guarantors of her honor will be none other than the star international scale, the dream of slender girls and fattened matrons, the sex symbol of the last 3 centuries, he is also King Arthur, as well as several of his peers. The performance is scheduled in 10 days, and tickets for it are selling like hot cakes with kittens.
Isolde sends her errand boy PERINIS to say hello to Tristan, and also ask him to be nearby on the day of the inspection, and somewhere dressed in a stylish homeless man’s suit, Tristan agrees; PERINIS, on the way back, stumbles upon the same forester who at one time rented out Tristan and Isolde’s safe house to one of the bars, and to celebrate, the young man accidentally stabs the informer and, probably wanting to inform him to the clinic, also accidentally drops him into a wolf pit filled with stakes.
Ten days later, on the shore of the island, on which the unpleasant but necessary procedure will take place, both parties gather - Mark with his retinue and Arthur, surrounded by peers and admirers; as luck would have it, just at this moment the sailors run out of ladders, and in order to go ashore, Isolde has to ask one pilgrim, standing and staring on the shore, to pick her up from the ship and carry her to the shore; which is what Tristan, dressed in a homeless man’s suit from the latest spring-summer collection from Pucci and Gibbon, does, unrecognized by anyone except Isolde. When the ritual begins, Isolde swears that no one touched her body except her beloved husband Mark and that other pilgrim, actually Tristan, after which she grabs an iron ingot heated in the fire with her hand, walks 10 steps and throws it down, dropping it at the curious spectator sitting below. why the air begins to smell of burnt meat; after the incident, not a single burn remains on Isolde’s hands, and everyone admits that she told the truth, which means her honor has been whitewashed (they didn’t know about such a good material as asbestos), everyone returns home, dissatisfied with the happy ending.
Meanwhile, Tristan, in turn, developed an itch, albeit in a different place, somewhere on the left side of his chest, and he makes his way through the usual holes in fences and through vegetable gardens to the royal little house, where he regularly meets and builds an animal with two backs with Isolde, each time, freely hiding from the royal garden, running into several traps along the way, set by the king to protect him from stray dragons. However, after a while, the barons begin to suspect something, complain to Mark, but he does not want to listen, then they, on the advice of the gardener who constantly bumps into Tristan and Isolde, decide to lock one of them in the attic of the royal bedroom, so that from there they can engage in voyeurism, spying on While the couple is dating, a joyful opportunity falls to Baron GONDOiNU; The next day, Tristan, who was apparently awakened early in the morning by someone's car alarm screeching under the window, goes to Isolde a little early and on the way he sees GONDOiNA galloping towards the coveted attic, decides to finish him off, but then he sees Di-ethylene galloping nearby (Denoalena), whose head he cuts off with his sword out of his natural inclination towards cruelty. Arriving at the garden, he meets with Isolde, who notices the vile pervert GONDOiNA, and asks Tristan to “show his talent as an archer,” after which Tristan, without hesitation, points his epic bow, equipped with an optical sight and silencer, and hits the enthusiastically peeping baron with an arrow right in the eye without damaging the animal's skin. After which the couple is persuaded to finally separate for the 47th time, Tristan reminds Isolde of the identification mark - the ring - and, fortunately, still leaves Mark's island.
During his wanderings, Tristan serves with Duke Gilen, from whom, as a reward for killing a certain giant (wasn’t it Pantagruel, the bastard, killed him?) he receives a mutant dog of psychedelic colors with the cute name Petit-Crap (Petit-Cru), received by the Duke as a farewell gift from one of the past passions - a fairy, which comes complete with a magic rattle around the neck, as soon as you ring and stroke the animal, all the hardships and sorrows are forgotten (these are the unusual properties of the unusual dog and rattle; by the way, very similar to state of drug euphoria). Tristan sends the reward to Isolde, who, after playing with the tchotchke and the animal for a while, first throws into the water a unique rattle, worth no less than a fortune at antique auctions, saying that if Tristan refused in her favor from peace from misfortunes, then she will refuse, and he wants to send the dog after him, but then he takes pity on the creature.
The chivalric romance is a new epic genre that emerged in European literature in the 12th century. Originally, the word “novel” referred to works written not in Latin, but in one of the Romance languages (hence the word “romance”). However, later it began to designate a new epic genre that developed within the framework of knightly courtly culture. Unlike heroic epic, correlated with myth, the novel is correlated with a fairy tale. The core of the knightly romance becomes an “adventure” - a combination of two elements: love and fantasy (by fantasy in relation to this genre one should understand not only the incredible, fabulous, but also the unusual, exotic). For readers (listeners) of a chivalric novel there is no need to believe in the truth of the narrative (as was the case in the situation of perception of the heroic epic).
The central character of a chivalric novel is a knight (ideal or close to ideal by the standards of courtliness). He is shown in action - traveling alone or with minimal surroundings and performing feats. The knight's wanderings are a fundamental point that organizes the structure of the “roman novel”: during the knight’s movements, opportunities open up in any number of episodes to demonstrate his knightly qualities and talk about his exploits. The figure of the knight has not yet been individualized (the names of the main characters change from novel to novel, but their idealization makes them similar to each other), the hero appears rather as a function of the plot structure (“Road Romance”), but, unlike the knights from the heroic epic ( vaguely personal function of the epic world), the heroes of chivalric novels are endowed with personal motives for performing feats: not in the name of the country, people, clan, religious faith, but in the name of the Lady of the Heart or in the name of personal glory.
The most important feature of the chivalric novel, which distinguishes it from the heroic epic, is the presence of an author with a certain position and an emerging authorial principle in the choice of heroes, plots (which, at his will, can be freely combined, surprising medieval readers with the novelty and unexpectedness of plot twists), and artistic means.
In the 12th century, novels were written in verse (usually 8-syllables with paired rhymes). A special case is “Le Roman d’Alexandre” (“Le Roman d’Alexandre”, c. 1175) by Lambert Le Tors, completed after his death by Alexandre de Paris. It is written in 12-syllable verse with paired rhymes and a caesura after the 6th syllable. This verse, based on the name of the novel, was called “Alexandrian verse”; this is the main form of verse in French classic tragedies and comedies of the 17th–18th centuries, in the poetic drama of French romantics, neo-romantics and neoclassicists, in the works of many French poets and the poets of other countries, including Russians, who imitated them. Prose novels appeared only in the 13th century.
In the 13th century, the chivalric romance experienced a crisis, the signs of which were the parody of courtly norms and values (in the early 13th century story “Aucassin et Nicolette”). At the same time, the romance of chivalry has remained a favorite reading of the French for a long time.
Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde was known in a large number of adaptations in French, but many of them perished, and from others only small excerpts survived. By comparing all the French editions of the novel about Tristan, fully or partially known to us, as well as their translations into other languages, it turned out to be possible to restore the plot and general the character of the oldest French novel that has not reached us (mid-12th century), to which all these editions go back.
The author of this novel quite accurately reproduced all the details of the Celtic story, preserving its tragic overtones, and only replaced almost everywhere the manifestations of Celtic morals and customs with features of French knightly life. From this material he created a poetic story, permeated with general feeling and thought, which captured the imagination of his contemporaries and caused a long series of imitations.
The success of the novel is due mainly to the special situation in which the characters are placed and the concept of their feelings. In the suffering that Tristan experiences, a prominent place is occupied by the painful consciousness of the hopeless contradiction between his passion and the moral foundations of the entire society, which are obligatory for him. Tristan is tormented by the knowledge of the lawlessness of his love and the insult that he inflicts on King Mark, endowed in the novel with traits of rare nobility and generosity. Like Tristan, Mark himself is a victim of the voice of feudal-knightly “public opinion.” He did not want to marry Isolde, and after that he was by no means inclined to suspicion or jealousy towards Tristan, whom he continues to love as his own son. But all the time he is forced to yield to the insistence of the informers-barons, who point out to him that his knightly and royal honor is suffering, and even threaten him with rebellion.
Both this first novel and other French novels about Tristan caused many imitations in most European countries- in Germany, England, Scandinavia, Spain, Italy and other countries.
Along with the traditional features of medieval society, the courtly novel in general and Tristan and Isolde in particular also reveals a kind of innovation. The woman in them occupies a fundamentally different place in love than in an official feudal marriage. Courtly love is impossible between husband and wife. It is outside the official sphere, it is illegal, but, nevertheless, it affects deeper inner world of an individual, more deeply reveals the content of his soul. The chivalric romance gives a new interpretation of human dignity and this shows its main influence on all medieval art. As a result, new ideas about the appearance of men and women and their relationships are ripening.
The chivalric cult of the Lady merges with the process of liberation of the individual and the growth of her self-awareness, and merges with the rethinking of value orientations that contributed to the spiritualization of earthly, and not just afterlife, joys. All these changes are reflected in the art and worldview of medieval people.
Analyzing the novel “Tristan and Isolde” from the point of view of its genre originality, one can notice that the main character is only Tristan. It is his childhood, youth, exploits and suffering that come to the fore in the novel. According to literary historians, this is not inattention to Isolde, this is a sign of the genre, this is its concept. Therefore, it would be correct to look at the structure of the plot not from the point of view of the relationship between the hero and heroine, but from the point of view of Tristan, his personal fate.
A distinctive feature of the novel is the increased attention that the author pays to the courtly upbringing (formation) of Tristan. If you compare Tristan with other heroes of courtly literature, you cannot help but notice that he surpasses them all in versatility and learning. He is a knight and a hunter, a poet and a musician, an actor and a navigator, a pharmacist and an architect, an artist and a chess player, as well as a polyglot... He has excellent spiritual qualities. Tristan is also distinguished by dissatisfaction, or rather, a constant desire for the new, unknown, and dangerous; he seems cramped within the framework of ordinary everyday life, ordinary human norms. In this sense, he is close to the heroes of many chivalric novels of the era, but unlike them, he does not seek either personal gain or strengthening his position. All the wonderful qualities of Tristan are revealed already at the beginning of the story. As it progresses, they are sharpened and refined. But no new ones appear, Tristan is not a developing, but an unfolding hero. It is important to note his exclusivity, which is the basis of the conflict of the legend: Tristan seems to belong to another world, he has different life principles, a different morality, a different idea of good and evil.
Some researchers of courtly literature believe that the relationship between a man and a woman in Tristan and Isolde is strikingly different from the trivial courtly one. If in other chivalric novels love conflicts are included in courtly norms and even the trials to which lovers are subjected take place within the framework of these norms, then in this work everything that happens essentially shocks courtly morality, destroying the concepts of marital and vassal fidelity. This allows us to conclude that the novel in question rather moves away from the courtly theme in art and creates its own genre direction.
In the event plan of the novel it is also clearly visible that the courtly is not the most highest level ideally human. In Tristan and Isolde, the typical knight is contrasted with a knight with the soul of an artist. The passionate love of Rivalin, Tristan's father, does not allow him, however, to refuse to fulfill his vassal duty for the sake of happiness. Tristan has also been a loyal vassal of King Mark for a long time. But his feeling, bright and strong, the like of which no other soul can know, prevails over all concepts. It is obvious that the deviation from the courtly stereotype reflects the fluctuation of the courtly world order under the influence of a person’s more vivid self-perception and sense of self. Moreover, the author of the novel not only does not refute this world order, but, on the contrary, wants to establish it on the basis of something more stable, unshakable, eternal.
According to J. le Goff, despite the fact that Tristan and Isolde are typical heroes of the Middle Ages, one can say a product of their era, their story “remained a significant image-symbol of love for modern times and is by no means limited to the Middle Ages, since in this "The myth, more clearly than any other, reflected the medieval image of a woman, the image of a couple in love and the image of that feeling that, along with the feudal duty of vassal loyalty, remains the greatest and truly valuable legacy that only the Middle Ages left to Western culture - courtly love." .
According to O. Bogovin, courtly literature is “an organic component of the discourse of the Western European Middle Ages, one of the key texts of which is the novel “Tristan and Isolde.” An active exponent of the leading ideas of this “beautiful tale of love and death” is Tristan, in whose image the semantic “core” of the medieval story is concentrated. Consequently, the individual supra-linguistic code of the novel “Tristan and Isolde” is formed at the level of the image of Tristan and accumulates a semantic paradigm in which the central place belongs to the concept of “love-illness.”
Isolde and Tristan are the main characters of many works of courtly literature of the Middle Ages. The legend about the beautiful and poetic love of Queen Isolde (who was first the bride and then the wife of Mark, the Cornish king) and the knight Tristan (who was this king’s nephew) appeared in the 8th-9th century in the poetry of the British Celts, and was also included in the epic about the knights of the Round table" and King Arthur.
History of literary adaptations of the plot
The legend of Tristan and Isolde was first processed literary in France, where the legend was probably brought by the descendants of the British Celts, the Breton jugglers. A French romance about these lovers first appeared in the mid-12th century, but has not survived. Later, the legend of Tristan and Isolde was used by many French poets of the 12th century, for example, the juggler Béroul, Trouvère Thomas (aka Thomas), Chretien de Troyes, and in the early 13th century, Godfrey of Strasbourg and many others. There are known Italian, English, Spanish adaptations of this legend dating back to the 13th century, Czech adaptation (14th century), as well as Serbian (15th century) and others. Novels about Tristan and Isolde were very popular. Their plot is the story of the relationship between three characters: Isolde, Tristan, and also Mark.
Tristan and Isolde: the content of the story
Let us retell the plot of the most ancient novel of the 12th century, which has not reached us, but to which all other versions go back. The brilliant knight Tristan, raised by King Mark himself, frees Ireland from the need to pay tribute, while he himself is seriously wounded and asks to give his boat to the will of the waves.
Meeting with Isolde
So the young man ends up in Ireland, where the queen, the sister of Morolt, the Irish hero he killed, heals Tristan of his wounds. Returning to Cornwall, he tells Mark how beautiful the princess is, and then goes to woo the beautiful Isolde for his uncle. The Queen of Ireland, Isolde's mother, gives her a love drink before leaving, which she must drink with Mark.
Fatal mistake
However, on the way to Cornwall, Isolde and Tristan drink the potion by mistake and immediately fall in love with each other. Having become Mark's wife, the girl continues secret meetings with Tristan. The lovers are exposed, the trial begins, at which Isolde, to prove that she was only in the arms of the king, must swear and take a piece of red-hot iron in her hands to confirm the truth of her words. Tristan appears disguised as a pilgrim at his trial. Isolde suddenly stumbles and falls straight into his arms, after which she takes the iron in her hands and swears that she was only in the arms of the pilgrim and the king. Isolde and Tristan are triumphant.
Isolda Belorukaya
Tristan soon goes on a journey and marries another girl, whose name is the same - Isolde (White-armed). But he cannot forget his love. The story of Tristan and Isolde ends with the death of first the wounded Tristan (the second Isolde deceived him, saying that the ship was moving under black sails - a sign that the girl did not want to respond to the call of this hero), and then his beloved, who could not survive this death . Isolde and Tristan are buried nearby. The thorn tree that grew on Tristan's grave grows into the girl's grave.
Brief Analysis
The conflict between the free personal feelings of lovers and the requirements of public morality, which permeates the entire work, reflects the deep contradictions that existed at that time in the knightly environment and the worldview of the era. Portraying this love with ardent sympathy, and everyone who tries to interfere with happiness - sharply negatively, the author at the same time does not dare to openly protest against existing institutions and concepts and “justifies” the heroes with the fatal effect of the love drink. However, objectively, this work is a deep criticism of feudal concepts and norms.
Legend Meaning
The story of Tristan and Isolde is a treasury of human culture. The French writer and scientist J. Bedier in 1900 recreated the original version of the novel (dating back to the mid-12th century) from surviving sources. Were created and musical works according to this legend. One of them, the opera "Tristan and Isolde", was created in the 1860s great composer Richard Wagner.
Contemporary art also uses this plot. For example, recently, in 2006, a film adaptation was released of this work, created by American director Kevin Reynolds.