Explorations in Arthurian
Legends
A Literature Review
Part 4: Wolfram and
Gottfried
The English and French writers did not have a
monopoly on telling fantastic and successful Arthurian tales, though.
Germany produced some important contributions as well. The two
foremost are Parzival and Tristan, by Wolfram and
Gottfried, respectively.
|
Parzival, written in the early
13th century, portrays a world in which chivalry is the
ideal pursuit of all good men. Parzival's quests to achieve
greatness in both courtly and spiritually endeavors echoes
the writings of Chretien
de Troyes, as does much of
Wolfram's early story. Here, as in Chretien, Parzival is
ignorant of his dead father's knighthood; all he knows is
what his mother tells him. In a chance meeting with a
knight, the young Parzival convinces himself that this
obvious example of superior ability is God; no subsequent
amount of proof could prove him of something other than this
high regard for things chivalric. Wolfram makes the young
innocent out to be predisposed to be fired with passion for
knighthood. In this, we see the author's vision of life: One
person's destiny in life has everything to do with his
inheritance and his pre-ordination. Parzival can't help
himself in professing to adore chivalry: It's in his blood.
Following Chretien again, Wolfram has the
young innocent end up at the castle of the learned knight,
in this case Gurnemanz, who gives him the advice the
following of which will bring him his greatest sorrow, at
the Grail Castle. When Parzival meets Condwiramurs, things
start to heat up. The two marry and share an ideal kind of
love not seen in Arthurian stories up to this point. This
love seems to transcend the trappings of the body. When
Condwiramurs comes Parzival's room late one night, they
refrain even from kissing, preferring to revel in the
knowledge of their shared love; also, they wait until three
nights after they are married to consummate the marriage.
|
Parzival has more adventures, of course,
in case finding the Grail. But his finding an ideal love
before these adventures occur is significant: The idea here
is that the ideal love inspires the knight to do good and
seek goodness. Other tales recounting similar characters and
events spoke of this relationship in the reverse: Only after
the knight had become a hero did he win his lady's hand.
The story turns familiar again with the
tale of the Grail Castle, here called Munsalvaesche, owned
by the Grail-king, Anfortas. But no sooner does Wolfram
recount familiar images than he takes off on his own again,
describing the Grail as a stone of strange powers that took
up its position among men after a struggle between Heaven
and Hell. Parzival does not ask the fateful question and so
does not see the Grail. It takes him many tears before he
realizes that all his worldly success is discounted by his
own sins: killing a kinsman, causing the death of his
mother. Even the ideal love he feels and receives from his
wife is not enough to show him the way to spiritual
perfection.
That path is arduous, but in the
end Parzival achieves it. His companion, his half-brother
Feirefiz, is this story's Galahad:
as courteous as any knight of the Round
Table and as virtuous as any
Christian. He is the embodiment of what Wolfram is trying to
say: that two halves--earthly chivalry and spiritual
perfection-- do indeed make a whole.
|
|
Gottfried's Tristan, on the other hand
leaves almost nothing to chance: Tristan
is perfect; how could Isolde not love him? Their love, too, is above
normal conventions, existing almost in a dream world that is far and
away superior to the world of ordinary people and ordinary emotions.
They are also equal. Yes, Tristan is a knight; and yes,
Isolde
is a lady; but Gottfried leaves no room for the traditional picture
of a knight's serving at his lady's whim. As such equals, they are
free to transcend the normal loving experience and enter a rapturous
existence that, Gottfried suggests, gives them physical sustenance in
addition to the obvious spiritual well-being.
|
Even the theatrical high point is
different. In Gottfried, we share the lovers' banishment in
the Cave of Lovers--the picture of love incarnate. Banished
from the court of King
Mark,
they find that loyalty exists only between those who truly
love each other; nothing else seems to matter.
Tristan resonates with a very
physical awareness, bordering on eroticism. Tristan and
Isolde love each other in totality and hold themselves to a
higher standard than do others; as such, they feel free to
judge others by that higher standard. Thus, Mark is cruel
and bound by his wanton desire for Isolde. For Tristan,
Isolde is love itself; for Mark, she is an object to be had,
not held.
|
In the grand epic tradition, Gottfried did not
finish his poem. Tristan is forlorn at the end, wishing that he could
find some easy way out of his predicament: his own banishment from
Cornwall (his second). Echoing earlier themes, he is torn between two
Isoldes. He has known a higher love, and he cannot have it now. In
this scene (which could very well serve as a closing scene), we see
the peril of such high emotions laid bare: They have the power to
exalt two people above the cares of the day and exist only for the
arms of each other; and they have the power to wound more deeply than
is thought humanly possible when those arms are not
linked.
Parzival and Tristan focus mainly on
the doings of one knight. Another medieval poem to do such was
Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight.
Back to
Explorations in Arthurian History and
Legends
Main
Page
Other
Contact
author
© 2000 DW and DDTMedia
Productions, Ltd.