Yvain (Last reading)

Yvain takes a new name simply because he needs to renew his reputation. Yvain is no longer a suitable name and beyond redeemable. Too much dishonor and shame has fallen that name. When the maiden spreads the healing... goo all over Yvain and restores him it's like being reborn. He's a new man, one who is self less and subservient to good and just people... what a real knight should be.

When it comes to the three sisters, problems arise when Gawain(sp) and Yvain must fight each other for the sake of the disputing sisters. They are each others equals and one cannot defeat the other thus presenting the king the decision. Which makes me wonder, if the king knew the eldest sister was in the wrong from the beginning... then why have these two fight?

The Knight with The Lion (Part Two)

We know that this culture, from the readings at least, is obsessed with self image and honor. Both their families and their own. For Yvain's wife's servant to come and tell him that she no longer loves him and call him evil and despicable is a great blow to his pride and Honor. This is why he goes Crazy.

He can not live properly without that perfect portrait of himself, nor can he live without his wife thinking highly of him.

When Lunette is captured, Yvain dose a very redeamable thing. Not only dose he in some ways multitask but he is able to stand up for something right and just.

He slays a giant and saves a noble family and the imediatly there after without thought for his own life he goes and slays the three knights who accuse Lunete of her treason.

His wife is there and cannot recognize him, even though he is the same person physicaly, he has changed. He wishes for them not to see him as Yvain but as The Knight with the Lion. This supports the fact that this word depends on names and reputations, not faces, so greatly that Yvain's own wife dose not recognize me.

Maybe by taking on another name, Yvain is trying to shatter this type of thinking, and even perhaps pass it on to people like Gaiwan because he tells him he dose not know him by his name but that they have met before and know each other well.

It's safe to say, only Lunette knows who he really is.

The Knight with the Lion (Reading One)

THe reason, I think there was no prologue, is that maybe De Troyes wants us to jump right into the story, keep us wondering and not speak of an eventual impending doom or some other kind of foreshadowing. Perhaps there isn't one, for this story thus far seems to be fileld with more action and less of a love story. It's one big montage about Yvain. I think perhaps George Luca named the Planet Yavin in his Star Wars after this knight, but that's completely off topic.

Plot and story are two different things. We are dropped right into the plot with Yvain where he proceeds to tell the begining of the story, or how he came to be shamed. THe story catches up with the plot once he rides off to avenge his defeat against the Knight who so easily beat him the first time.

All in all, this seems like one of those Film Nair movies, like from the 40's? But with a medieval twist accompanied by duals and knights in shining armor. We have the Feme Fatal(sp) who is the maiden whom he meets after following the retreating knight, who helps him in anyway possible perhaps out of desire for more personal gains. Though this is mostly speculation at this point in time.

Eric and Enide (Part Two)

Enide is only given a name when she's about to be married to Eric. It's said that a women can only be married if she has a given name. And so, in order for the union to take place, her name needs to be reviled to all as if to legitimize a sale. A sale from Enide's father to Eric.

The initial conflict between the couple starts with when Enide expresses discontentment with making Eric so much in love with her he's no longer attending to his nightly duties. After prodding, Eric is able to extract this information from her and so he goes off and dose the opposite. She then shows discontentment over this and shuns herself for even thinking of her lord in such a way.

In my opinion she's too focused on pleasing him, and worrying about what he thinks of her also combined with her effect on his life. When he's fighting the knight in the woods, she worries for him and doubts his skills. This is a major problem with any relationship, doubt.

Enide expresses discontent vocally, so Eric becomes agree reminding her the place of a women in the society they live in.

Eric and Enide (First Movement)

Of course society in this time is mainly masculine. If I had a dime for how often a women talked so far in this text I'd have , well, maybe about twenty cents. It's very prevalent in the first scene at King Arthur's court, when he decides he will get to kiss the fairest of the maidens. They really have no say in anything, again treated like nothing but mere property. However, I'm surprised by how gentlemen like Eric is, I could have a beer with him. However, because of the society he's raised in he still seems to make his maiden's decisions for her. An example would be when he makes her ware her rags when her cousin could have simply provided other more courtly garments. I agree there was some symbolism to this, but still it gives us an example of the way society worked back then.

Enied on the other hand comes off as shy and quiet girl, and I've noticed something... Why are all these beautiful women blonde? I certainly hope that not all the maidens at court are such and our race has always been obsessed with such hair color. As for who she is, it's possible that her name will not be reviled until later on depicting a change in personality through some spell or another. This story seems to lack and magic thus far. Or it could possible relate again to how women were viewed. She is only known by her beauty and fertility/well breeding stature and has no need of a name.

The Romance of Tristan (Parts 14-19)

I play on a game quite frequently called a MUSH based on Joss Whedon's Firefly/Serenity franchise. It's a game much like world of Warcraft but text based and more creative. You basically writing a novel for your character in poses. Anyways I had just got done reading the last few chapters and got into a discussion about it with another player. I had started posting the entire conversation but my computer got restarted because of updates and was only able to recover this in response to:

She did what she had to do to survive... ( In regard to me thinking Isolde stopped really loving Tristan and was nothing but a power grabbing slut, thinking of her self and playing everyone for dumb so she could get her jolly's. I figured she now only viewed Tristan as eye candy and a booty call. Excuse my language, it may not be up to proper literary standereds due to the relaxation and familiarity with this person. I'm certainly not a literary Major.)

She did that so she could have the finer things in life, at least from my understanding. When she was with Tristan in the woods, she lived and was in love and most importantly happy but as soon as that potion waned she started blaming everybody for problems she caused for herself, missing her life of luxury. I understand that the Potion is Supposed to represent true love and she dose indeed have feelings for Tristan still but they seem only superficial and based on the fact that she thinks he's hot or something. I've sort of been in Tristan's position though, however I found out that I was being played for a fool as I'm very good at finding those things out. The thing she said in her head at court regarding Tristan, “Now he can repay me for all the hardship /he/ put me through.” really just through me off her side. She wanted a quiet, normal life, embodiment of apatite, though she wanted to be a queen for she was so used to getting the best of everything in Ireland already. Love is supposed to make you give up everything as superficial as carnal pleasures so you can peruse it. And she did for a while, under the potion. She seemed happy, but once it shut off, she started blaming everyone for her own problems. That was just the start of it though. Tristan goes mad because he can't see his love, and she's there playing him for a fool. He says at one point, “If we had not known each other and we had fallen in love, you could not resist me.” I felt like puking. It's just terrible to see Tristan in such a mess over one girl and I've been through this kind of thing before. I think everyone has or will at some point in life and this is probably what the author is trying to portray. I had a hard time believing that if Mark and the others weren't in the picture that she really would have fallen for him. Used him maybe, to get something she wanted, but not fall in love with him. In the end though she seems to redeem her self by coming to his deathbed, though the other Isolde was rather in the right to send the lovers packing. One less Adulterating couple.

The Romance of Tristan (Parts 7-13)

While Isolde, Tristan, and Governal are in the woods the narrator tells us that Isolde's mother only meant for the potion to last three years. Her mother might have been thinking of the common things back then, like providing heirs. It's probably much easier to conceive a child if the two partners are, or think for that matter, that they're in love. The women in Isolde's family are thinkers after all.

So when it wears off, all guilt associated with their relationship comes back, as if the potion had somehow blocked their guilt. And so they repent, Tristan allowing Isolde to return to Mark after writing him a letter with the help of the Hermit.

This represents the effects of true love, where there are second thoughts about what the couple is doing and why they are doing it. They question whether this is real or just a physical manifestation of lust and if it's in the right or wrong of their current society and moral standing.

But perhaps, the way their love was, said love potion was not a love potion but a lust potion. But that's countermanded by the fact that they felt no guilt. Lust is a sin, especially back then, and if they were to feel it, the thought would strike fear into the two lovers. Though whether the lack of guilt the two showed is a effect of the potion is never stated.

However, they still have a fondness of one another, and do still love each other. So maybe, the potion was a catalyst for a spark between the two. Something that was already there.

The romance of Tristan, or from what is more commonly known thanks to Hollywood: Tristan and Isolde. The movie is an experience not new to me and I must say, the differences between this version of Tristan's exploits are rather staggering.

The most important difference between the beginnings of these two stories is how the two fall in love. It would seem that as Tristan is being healed and then bringing Yseut back to Mark to marry her to his Uncle, they appear to be friends and nothing more despite the fact that Tristan killed her uncle in fierce mortal combat. But the Potion they received, thinking it was wine, changed the course of their lives, making them completely infatuated with each other.

In the movie, they had fallen in love as strangers while he was being healed, and then upon realization during the tournament to win the hand of Isolde, they both realized whom the other were and were forced to keep it a secret.

The plots are rather different, the story having much more depth and little side adventures that were never included in the movie. One could also say that the movie is definitely more modern following that new age feel of Romance. The original is much more of an adventure romance, with an ancient feel to it. The language used was a little hard to get by in that aspect.

Some Questions...

I noticed something odd with the way it's set up. It's written oddly, not in your traditional format. Is this because it's a fairy tale, or the organization of old English/Welch(Irish) Gaelic?

Why is her name Yseut and not Isolde? Did the name change in translation? Or with the times?

----

All in all, It was an interesting few chapters, it runs on a bit and it'll take some getting used to. However, I found my self-laughing at how much I despise Tristan in this. His loyalties go out the window when it comes to his love apparently.

and perhaps the author could stop making comment in parentheses, no?