A Study of Tristan's Evolution in Gottfried's Tristan and Isolt

True love always engenders suffering. In Charles Dicken's A TALE OF TWO CITIES, Sydney Carton becomes a hopeless alcoholic after falling for the comely Lucie and ultimately dies for her; during the Middle Ages, monks and nuns engaged in self-mutilation in order to express their devotion to God; many modern lovers often find themselves on the verge of suicide and participate in all sorts of harmful behavior (anyone familiar with Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain can testify to this). Gottfried's TRISTAN AND ISOLT is not exception to this Western prerequisite for love; in fact, many scholars argue that the poem even set the pattern for it. The legend's protagonist, Tristan, goes from being the classic hero of antiquity---strong, audacious, determined, and loyal to his king---to a sensitive lover who continually subjects himself to emotional destruction. Love has broadened his emotional spectrum and allows him to experience pain he has never felt before.

The authenticity of Tristan and Isolt's love is still highly contested among literary scholars today (considering that their love was artificially induced by a magic potion and not a natural process), but despite what cynicists may say, Tristan exhibits all the angst of a man truly in love. The deeper in love with Isolt he falls, the more he distances himself from the society from which he sought constant praise for his bravery in warfare. Sometimes that means distancing himself physically, such as when he and Isolt escape to their romantic love grotto in the woods, but more importantly it means distancing himself emotionally from the rest of King Mark's court. While he is still concerned about his reputation to a certain extent, his relationship with Isollt is far more significant to him. Tristan strays from convention and therefore destroys a part of his reputation. He grows more from the sweet nourishment of Isolt's looks than from one thousand compliments from King Mark's court.

Because his concern for his public reputation diminishes, Tristan is no longer the great warrior he once was, so he loses a sense of honor in that respect. He also loses a sense of honor because his forbidden affair with Isolt becomes increasingly obvious to the court. From a Christian perspective, Tristan and Isolt's love is completely adulterous, immoral, and by no means justified, but, again, Tristan cares less and less about what others think. Eventually, he destroys the Christian inside of him and reverts to the primeval pagan instilled within him. The scene in which Tristan and Isolt escape to the wilderness and sleep in their love grotto is also characteristically pagan. Gottfried emphasizes the natural surroundings Tristan and Isolt are in, stressing the beauty of this Eden-like forest. The love grotto itself is described almost like a pagan temple, where love sits proudly on the altar, not God.

Tristan is no longer a good warrior or a good Christian or even emotionally sound. Tristan destroys himself emotionally by repeatedly placing obstacles between Isolt and himself. He even goes so far as to marry another woman to create another barrier between Isolt and him, even if only unconsciously. Tristan is under the illusion that the more he distances himself from Isolt, the more impossible he makes the chance of them ever becoming a happy couple for the rest of their lives, the more passionate their love for one another will become. Like a true romantic, he clings to the adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder," thus inflicting emotional wound upon emotional wound upon himself. The more he comes to love Isolt, the more of an effort he makes to hurt himself.

But why does Tristan take every opportunity to hurt himself? Because love is an all encompassing emotion----it consumes the heart, mind, and body, combining every emotion ever felt into a new emotion that he has never felt before. The modern cliche is that love is an emotional roller coaster and Tristan hopes that once he has endured the roller coaster's final hill, he will achieve transcendence. Upon reaching this transcendence, Tristan will no longer suffer any worldly pains. His heart will be so noble that no earthly consequence can ever hurt him again---figuratively speaking, anyway. Tristan will undoubtedly experience hunger, thirst, and other lusts, but they will not consume him the way they did before he fell in love with Isolt because she will always be at the front of his mind.

Tristan's longing for external love, even transcend love, with Isolt is finally satisfied when Isolt and Tristan die. In death, they can no longer be parted because no longer have to face societal constraints. Their reputations in the court do not matter; Christian criticism of their adulterous affairs do not matter; nothing matters save for their love for one another. The vines over their two graves become entwined forever. For the text, this ultimately glorifies love and reveals its purity and nobility, expressing the beauty of transcendence it brings.