Pluralité des points de vue dans la matière tristanienne, Multiplicity of views on the matter of Tristan

Abstract

Literary versions of the legend of Tristan and Isolde are suitable especially for an analysis of the issues connected with the point of view, particularly if it is understood in the literal, visual meaning, which is here closely associated with the narratological meaning. Lovers are constantly hiding, being followed, then found in the farthest recesses and exposed to gaze of the others, hostile or sympathetic. These gazes decide about their fate; a gaze is therefore an instrument of power, control, and judgment. In the first place, though, a gaze is the instrument of understanding and interpretation, which in many scenes are both shown as complex, problematic and non-obvious. Therefore, the opposition between favorable and hostile gazes is not always so strong: especially the gaze of King Mark, torn between the contradictory feelings for his wife and nephew, is characterized by ambivalence. This ambivalence can also be discerned in the changeable attitudes of some characters, hesitations of narrators and in numerous variants of particular versions of the legend.

Keywords

• Tristan and Isolde
• Point of view
• Gaze
• Sign