Tristan, written by Gottfried von Strassburg, is a courtly romance in German Middle Ages. Tristan, the primary protagonist of the story, is the love child of Rivalin, the Lord of Parmenie and Blancheflor, the sister of King Mark. After his parents die, Rual claims Tristan as his child and offers him the princely education. Tristan shows himself as a prodigy by mastering various skills including music, languages, martial arts. After Tristan and King of Mark learn for their relationship as nephew and uncle, Tristan becomes Mark’s heir and a knight. During his combat with Morold, he is seriously wounded and his wound is poisoned. Since Queen of Isolde is the only one who can cure him, Tristan disguises himself perfectly, as a minstrel named Tantris, …show more content…
In Courtly Culture, Bumke argues the general ideas of the courtly knights in the Middle Ages and proposes the courtly concept of knighthood and the key qualities of the knights. Bumke indicates that the knights’ weapons, as the symbols of their knighthood, are instrumental for showing their social status, but Tristan abandons all his weapons when he gets on his skiff. His dependency on his harp rather than his weapons makes him distinguishable from the traditional character-type heroes and knights. Bumke also states that among the religious virtues, humility---being humble and without deception---ranks the first. (Bumke, 302) Apparently, in order to find the cure, Tristan deceives the Irish with his disguise and does not obey this knightly code at that time. Gottfried’s portrayal of Tristan shows him as a maverick who is not morally good within the stereotype of knightly virtues of being honest and humble. Furthermore, Gottfried’s emphasis on Tristan’s figure as a musician means that Gottfried starts a new approach in heroic epics that he is no longer concerned with worldly power. (Jackson, 365) Gottfried implants his responsibility of justifying the intellectual aspects and the aesthetic theories of the courtly heroes into Tristan’s character. When Tristan chooses to use his harp to achieve his goal, (…)