As a knight, Tristan is everything you could want. He's been trained by the best, and he can do it all. His dad made this all possible by entrusting Tristan's education to that wise man Governal, who taught him "all the warlike and peaceful arts" (1.39). What are those, you ask? Awesome things like swordplay, jousting, hunting, music, and languages. So he's got all these amazing skills, and on top of that, he's an all-around good guy.
Tristan shows his amazing knightliness when he first arrives at King Mark's court. Tristan's mad skills and accomplishments set him apart from Mark's other knights right away, making him a favorite of the king even before he learns that Tristan is his nephew. In Ireland, Tristan's expert harping attracts the attention of the Irish king whose daughter, Yseut, manages to heal his poisoned wound. And oh yeah, did we mention that he received that wound by beating a scary Irishman in a fight? (Cough Yseut's uncle cough.) When it comes to his knightly skills, Tristan is the best of the best. It's hard to believe that Yseut needs a love potion to fall for this hunk. After all, here's a guy who can kill dragons and play the harp.
Now, Tristan may be a real quarterback of a knight, but what's even more important in this society is his relationship with his lord, to whom he owes loyalty, respect, love, and even his life. At first, Tristan is a great vassal: He's such a loyal vassal to his lord, King Mark, that the two have a real medieval bromace going on. (At least at first.) Tristan's the only one willing to fight Morholt, for one thing. He's also the only one who steps up to help find the woman Mark declares he wants to marry.
Tristan the Lover
Of course, that's where all the problems start. Thanks to a powerful love potion, Tristan falls in love with his lord's future wife as he's escorting her to marry him. Yeah, that's so totally crossing the line for any good vassal ever. And it's not like Tristan decides to love Yseut from afar; instead, she and he continue to meet secretly, sometimes in the king's own bed, even after Mark's suspicions get Tristan thrown out of the palace. Unlike Meatloaf, Tristan will do anything for love—and he will do that.
Despite this ultimate betrayal of his lord (oh, yeah, and also his adultery, which medieval people didn't like so much), this story isn't all that interested in making us think badly of Tristan's actions. As Yseut explains to the pious hermit Ogrin, she and Tristan can't help loving one another "only because of a draught that I drank and he drank" (7.79), a plot point that serves to lessen their guilt. Instead of the lovers looking traitorous, it's Mark's barons that get a bad rap for their "lies," and Mark who appears stupid and disloyal for believing them.
It's also possible that Tristan is destined for unhappy or unlucky love, since, after all, his mom died giving birth to him, and he got the name "Tristan"–basically, "sad dude"–because of it. So even from birth, love (he's the product of his parents' love, after all) and death are intertwined for him. It's another way in which Tristan seems to be fated to do what he does in the story. It's also possible that it's Tristan's very capacity for deep, tragic love that separates him from the other knights and makes him so awesome. Now there's a thought. There are all these hot dudes everywhere in medieval literature, but it's the one with feelings who turns out to be the most interesting.
Now, Tristan seems pretty perfect, but like Yseut, he does do a few things that even the love potion can't excuse. When he marries White Hands, it's not as if he's really thinking about her best interests, right? For that matter, what's up with getting healed by the niece of the Irishman you just killed, then winning her in marriage and turning her over to the guy who wanted that Irishman dead in the first place? And why is Tristan helping Kaherdin get it on with some other dude's wife? Tristan is definitely our hero, and we want to take his side, but it's complicated, you know?
Anyway, instead of condemning Tristan, we're encouraged to admire him. He's a lover, he's a fighter, and he's also pretty clever (though Yseut probably gets the gold star for cleverness in this story). Tristan comes up with all kinds of ingenious ruses to avoid capture. His elaborate performance of innocence and loyalty when he knows Mark is eavesdropping; spectacular escape from his captors and leap from a cliffside chapel to the seashore below; and successfully executed disguises as a leper and a clown mark Tristan's cleverness and skill. Never mind that these are all means by which he tricks his lord and continues to sleep with his wife: the point here is that Tristan is awesome. Love is the ultimate good in this story, and Tristan its most loyal knight.
Tristan Timeline
Tristan is born to Rivalen of Lyonesse and Blanchefleur, the sister of King Mark of Cornwall.
After his education as a knight, Tristan travels to Mark's court. While there, he defeats an Irishman who arrives demanding tribute, and receives a poisoned wound.
Tristan arrives on the coast of Ireland in a rudderless boat, looking for healing. The daughter of Ireland's king, Yseut, heals him and he returns to Cornwall.
Tristan defeats a dragon, winning Yseut for King Mark. Due to a magic potion, he and Yseut fall in love on their way to Cornwall.
Tristan and Yseut avoid discovery of their affair by pretending to be loyal to Mark when they know he is eavesdropping.
Tristan gets caught when drops of his blood betray his presence in Yseut's bed; on his way to be burnt, he leaps from a cliffside chapel to the sea, then rescues Yseut and escapes to the forest of Morrois with her.
Tristan, Yseut, and Governal live together in the forest until the love potion wears off, causing Tristan to regret what he and Yseut have suffered for love.
Tristan returns Yseut to Mark, then hides out in his friend's basement when Mark's barons refuse to let Tristan come back to Cornwall.
Tristan carries Yseut across a ford disguised as a leper so that Yseut can swear an oath that she's had no man between her legs but Mark and the leper.
Tristan continues to visit Yseut secretly until Mark's barons catch them. Tristan kills two of them, then flees to Brittany.
In Brittany, Tristan becomes friends with Prince Kaherdin and marries Princess Yseut of the White Hands. He refuses to consummate their marriage because of his love for Yseut the Fair.
Tristan returns to Cornwall disguised as a clown. After convincing Yseut that it's really him, the two make sweet love all night.
Back in Brittany, Tristan receives a poisoned wound while helping Kaherdin carry on an adulterous affair. He sends a messenger for Yseut the Fair, the only person who can heal him.
Yseut of the White Hands lies to Tristan about the color of the sails of the ship that bear Yseut. She says they are black, making Tristan believe Yseut has not come. He dies in despair.
Tristan's body is buried next to Yseut's in the chapel in Cornwall. Above his grave grows a tree whose branches intertwine with the one above Yseut's.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan
http://world-of-legends.su/keltika/keltika_geroi/id1911
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