THE EARLIER VERSIONS OF THE TRISTAN MYTH
The origin of the Tristan myth is lost in antiquity. The Welsh Triads,
of unknown date, but very ancient, know of one Drystan ab Tallwch, the
lover of Essylt the wife of March, as a steadfast lover and a mighty
swineherd. It is indubitably Celtic-Breton, Irish, or Welsh. There
were different versions of the story, into the shadowy history of
which we need not enter; the only one which concerns us is that of a
certain "Thomas." Of his French poem fragments alone have come down to
us, but we have three different versions based upon it:
1. The Middle-High-German poem of Gottfried von Strassburg, composed
about 1210-20. 2. An old-Norse translation made in 1226 by command of
King Hakon. 3. A Middle-English poem of the thirteenth century
preserved in the so-called Auchinleck MS. of the library of the
Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh, and familiar to English readers
from the edition published by Sir Walter Scott. The poem was probably
composed by the famous Thomas the Rhymer of Ercyldoune or Earlstown in
Berwickshire. A reliable edition by G. P. MacNeill has been published
by the Scottish Text Society, with an introduction giving a full and
interesting account of the legend in its various recensions.
In these versions the story of Tristan and Isolde has nothing whatever
to do with the Arthurian court or the quest of the Grail. It became
exceedingly popular and was told again and again in varied forms in
every language in Europe. But even before this Sir Tristan had
sometimes been included among the Knights of the Round Table, such
honour being deemed indispensable to the dignity of every knight who
had any pretensions to fame.
Wagner was well versed in all the Tristan literature, and composed his
own version for the stage out of the materials which he found. In
order to understand his way of dealing with his subject-matter it will
be worth our while to follow the outlines of the old story, which is
essentially the same in all the three versions, though the incidents,
and especially the names, are somewhat varied. I shall follow in the
main the most important of the three, that of Gottfried von
Strassburg, so far as it goes, with occasional supplementary additions
from the Norse and English.
There was a certain King of Parmenia named Riwalin Kanelengres (in the
Norse saga he is King of Bretland; in the English he is called Rouland
rise, King of Ermonric), who, leaving his own country in the charge of
his marshal, Rual li foitenant, joined the court of the powerful King
Marke of Cornwall "and of England" in Tintajol. There he falls in love
with Blanscheflur (Norse: Blensinbil), the king's sister, but, on his
being recalled to his own land to meet an invasion from his enemy
Morgan, she begs him to take her with him. "I have loved thee to mine
own hurt," she says. "But for my being pregnant I would prefer to
remain here and bear my grief, but now I choose to die rather than
that thou, my beloved, shouldst be put to a shameful death. Our child
would be fatherless. I have deceived myself and am lost." She is
married to Riwalin and placed for safety in his stronghold Kanoël
while he marches to battle. He is killed, and she, on hearing the
news, dies after giving birth to a son who, in allusion to the
melancholy circumstances of his birth, is named Tristan.
Tristan is instructed by his tutor Kurwenal in the seven arts and the
seven kinds of music, and in all languages. One day he is carried off
by some pirates, and, on a furious storm arising, he is put on shore
alone on the coast of Cornwall, and finds his way to King Marke's
court at Tintajol, where he is honourably received.
Meanwhile his marshal, Rual li foitenant, has set out in search of
him, and, after wandering through many countries, arrives disguised as
a beggar at Tintajol. Tristan brings him before the king, to whom he
relates the whole story of Tristan's birth and parentage, which he has
hitherto kept secret, showing how he is King Marke's own nephew. He is
now overwhelmed with honours, and dubbed a knight, but is soon obliged
to return to Parmenia to fight the old enemy Morgan. He is victorious
and after some time returns to Cornwall, where he finds that the
country has been subjugated by the King of Ireland, Gurmun the Proud,
who has sent his brother-in-law, Morold, to collect tribute--thirty
fair youths--from the Cornishmen. Tristan, on arriving, at once
challenges Morold to decide the question of tribute in single combat
with himself. They fight: Tristan is wounded; Morold calls upon him to
desist from fighting, saying that his weapon is poisoned, and that the
wound cannot be healed except by his sister Isot, the wife of King
Gurmun. Tristan replies by renewing the attack; Morold falls, and
Tristan severs his head from his body, and, on Morold's discomfited
followers embarking hastily for their own country, Tristan throws them
the head, scornfully bidding them take it as tribute to their king.
But on their reaching Ireland, Isot the queen, and Isot the Fair, her
daughter, cover it with kisses, and treasure it up to mind them of
vengeance upon the slayer of their kinsman. In the skull they find a
splinter from the sword, which they keep.
Tristan's wound refuses to heal, and he sets off for Ireland
accompanied by Kurwenal to be treated by Queen Isot. On reaching
Develin (Dublin), he puts off alone to the shore, in a small boat,
taking only his harp with him. He introduces himself to Queen Isot as
a merchant named Tantris; she receives him favourably, heals his
wound, and appoints him tutor to her daughter, at last, on his earnest
entreaty, dismissing him to return to his home.
On returning to Marke's court he finds that intrigues have arisen and
a party has been formed to overthrow him. As the nephew of the
childless king he is the next heir to the throne of Cornwall, but,
being in fear of his life, he persuades Marke to marry, that he may
beget a child to be his successor. Reluctantly King Marke permits him
to return to Ireland to obtain "the maiden bright as blood on snow,"
Isot the Fair ("by cunning, stealth, or robbery," says the Norse).
There now follows an episode of the regular type. On Tristan reaching
Ireland disguised as a merchant, he finds the country being ravaged by
a terrible "serpant," and the king has promised his daughter with half
of his kingdom to whoever shall rid them of the scourge. Tristan slays
the monster, a certain "Trugsess" or steward, who wishes to marry
Isot, claims to have achieved the deed, but his fraud is exposed
through the machinations of the women. Queen Isot and her daughter
have recognized in Tristan their former acquaintance Tantris, and when
polishing his armour the princess finds the sword with a gap in its
blade exactly fitting the splinter which she has taken from Morold's
skull. She now realizes who Tristan is, and, filled with anger and
hatred, she goes with the sword to where Tristan is in his bath,
determined to wreak instant vengeance upon the slayer of her uncle.
Tristan cries for mercy, obscurely hinting that he is able to reward
her richly if she will only spare his life. Her mother enters with her
attendant or companion, Brangäne (Norse: Bringvet); matters are
discussed, Brangäne argues with great eloquence that he will be much
more useful to them alive than dead, and at last a bargain is struck.
In return for his life Tristan promises that he will find the Princess
Isot a husband who is much richer than her father. They all kiss and
are reconciled, the princess alone hesitating to make peace with the
man whom she hates in her heart. Everything is speedily arranged, King
Gurmun consenting to the marriage of his daughter to his country's
enemy, the slayer of his kinsman.
Before they depart on the voyage to Cornwall, Queen Isot brews a
philtre, which she entrusts to Brangäne, directing her to administer
it to King Marke and his bride on the day of their wedding. On the
ship Isot continues to nurse her hatred for Tristan. "Why do you hate
me?" he asks. "Did you not slay my uncle?" "That has been expiated."
"And yet I hate you." By and by they are thirsty, and a careless
attendant finding the love-potion handy, gives it to them to drink. At
once they are overcome with the most ardent love for each other.
Brangäne is drawn into the secret, and on reaching Cornwall, is sent
to take Isot's place in King Marke's bed.
It will not be worth our while to follow the details of the rest of
the story, which is made up of a series of shameless tricks played by
the lovers upon King Marke, whereby they are enabled to enjoy their
love together in secret. At last Tristan is banished the court, and
takes refuge with a duke of Arundel in Sussex, named Jovelin, who has
a daughter, named Isot of the White Hand, of whom he becomes
enamoured. Here Gottfried's story ends, unfinished, but it is
continued in the other versions. Isot of the White Hand is married to
Tristan, but remains a virgin. We can omit the adventures with giants,
etc., which follow, but the end must be related. Tristan has been
wounded in a fray, and again no one can heal the wound but his former
love, Isot the Fair. A messenger is sent to bring her, with orders
that if he has been successful he shall hoist a blue-and-white sail
for a signal as the ship approaches; if unsuccessful, a black one. She
comes, and the blue-and-white sail is seen; but Isot of the White
hand, out of jealousy, informs Tristan that the sail is a black one.
Uttering the name Isot he expires. She enters too late, and dies with
her arms around him. "And it is related that Isot of the White Hand,
Tristan's wife, caused them to be buried on opposite sides of the
church, that they might not be together in death. But it came to pass
that an oak grew from the grave of each, and they grew so high that
their branches twined together above the roof."
Such is the story from which we are asked to believe that Wagner drew
the materials for his Tristan drama. The earlier part of Gottfried's
story is not unskilfully told; all that relates to Riwalin and the
birth of Tristan is worthy to stand beside the best products of German
mediaeval poetry. But from the time when Isot and her intriguing
mother enter on the scene the story is as dull as it is immoral. What
sane-minded person can possibly take an interest in a succession of
childish tricks played by two lovesick boobies upon a half-witted old
man? The plot is trivial in the extreme, and the characters are
contemptible; most contemptible of all are the hero and the heroine.
The spectacle of a knight on his knees before two women, imploring
them to have mercy upon him, and, in return for his life, promising to
find a rich husband for one of them would be hard to match. Add to
this the constant obtrusion of the poet's own personality, with his
moral reflections and trite philosophy, one can only wonder how the
much admired epic can ever have been listened to with patience. Deep
indeed must culture have sunk at the courts of Germany when princes
and nobles could take pleasure in such fustian while they possessed
the stories of the great epics, the Nibelungenlied, the Gudrunlied,
and the delicate lyrics of Walther von der Vogelweide.
Wagner's procedure in dealing with such a story as this is that of
Siegfried with the sword. Instead of trying to patch and adapt he
melts the whole down to create something entirely new out of the
material. Wagner's story is not the same as that of "Thomas" and
Gottfried, if for no other reason than that he has only one Isolde.
Whatever dramatic interest the older story may possess lies in there
being _two_ Isoldes, and in Tristan's desertion of one for the
other, of an unlawful mistress for a lawful wife. It seems from
certain remarks of Wagner[26] that he at first intended to preserve
this feature of the original, but discarded it as the emotional unity
of his subject-matter grew upon him.
[Footnote 26: Especially his remark on the kinship of the Tristan and
Siegfried myths (_Ges. Schr._, vi. 379), for the kinship lies in
the feature I have mentioned, the desertion of one love for another.]
The essential feature of Wagner's drama is that the love of the hero
and heroine remains unsatisfied. Their motives are consequently quite
different from what they are in Gottfried, and all the complex
intrigue which is the chief interest of the older story falls away of
necessity. On the other hand he has retained from Gottfried much more
than the names of the persons, many subordinate motives, not vital to
the story, and likely to be unnoticed by many, but which his skilled
eye detected as effective for scenic representation. Such are Isolde's
hatred and violent denunciations of Tristan before they drink the
philtre (Gottfr. 14539, 11570),[27] Brangäne's distress and remorse at
the effect of her trick (11700, 12060); the play upon his name,
"Tantris" for "Tristan." Kufferath quotes--unfortunately without
giving a reference--a _Minnelied_ of Gottfried, which is
obviously reproduced in the second act, where the lovers keep harping
upon the words "mein und dein." Many references which are obscure in
Wagner are explained in Gottfried's epic, such as the circumstances of
Tristan's first visit to Isolde in Ireland, with the splinter in
Morold's skull. Even the description of the boat in which he came as
"klein und arm" is accounted for by Gottfried (7424 seq.). Tristan's
motives for insisting upon Marke's marriage are, as we gather from
casual indications, the same as those set forth in Gottfried. He has
been entangled in political intrigues. Utterly free himself from any
sordid or selfish motive, he insists upon Marke's marriage as the only
possible means of obtaining tranquillity for his distracted country,
whereas in Gottfried he acts under fear of assassination.
[Footnote 27: I quote from the German translation of Karl Pannier in
Reclam, which is the most recent.]