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The narrative adheres to the basic framework of the traditional tale. Tristan's guardian Governal takes him to France , where he grows up at the court of King Pharamond . He later arrives at the court of his uncle Mark , King Of Cornwall , and defends his country against the Irish warrior Morholt . Wounded in the fight, he travels to Ireland where he is healed by Iseult , a renowned doctor and Morholt's niece, but he must flee when the Irish discover he has killed their champion. He later returns, in disguise, to seek Iseult as a bride for his uncle. When they accidentally consume the Love Potion prepared for Iseult and Mark, they engage in a tragic affair that ends with Tristan being banished to the court of Hoel of Brittany . He eventually marries Hoel's daughter, also named Iseult. Especially after this point, however, the traditional narrative is continually interrupted for side adventures by the various characters and episodes serving to "Arthurianize" the story. Norris J. Lacy, editor, ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia'', "Prose ''Tristan''". New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1991. When Tristan leaves Brittany and returns to his first love, he never sees his wife again, though her brother Kahedin remains his close companion. Tristan is compared frequently to his friend Lancelot in both arms and love, and at times even unknowingly engages him in battles. He becomes a Knight Of The Round Table (taking Morholt's old seat) and embarks on the Quest for the Holy Grail for a short time. Some manuscripts preserve the earlier version of the lovers' deaths, but others have Mark kill Tristan while he plays the harp for his paramour, only to see his Iseult die immediately afterwards. The Prose ''Tristan'' had a huge effect on subsequent medieval literature and treatments of the Arthurian legend. Characters like Palamedes , Dinadan , and Lamorak , all of whom first appear in the ''Tristan'', achieved popularity in later works, and Palamedes even lent his name to the '' Romance Of Palamedes '', a later work that expands on episodes from the ''Tristan''. This material is preserved in the ''Compilation'' of Rustichello Da Pisa and numerous later redactions in several languages. The Prose ''Tristan'' also influence the Post-Vulgate Cycle , the next major prose treatment of the Arthurian mythos, and served as the source for the Tristan section of Sir Thomas Malory 's '' Le Morte D'Arthur . REFERENCES |
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