Dal libro: Scheda sul personaggio. Tristano (primi cinque capitoli)

Scheda sul personaggio.

Tristano (primi cinque capitoli)

Figlio di Biancofiore e Rivales re di Loonois. Con la morte del padre, ad opera del duca Morgan , egli viene allevato dal siniscalco Rohalt.

Vittima di un inganno da parte dei Vichinghi, viene fatto prigioniero sulla loro nave , ma lui invoca in suo soccorso il mare, che inizia ad agitarsi fino a spingere i suoi carcerieri a lasciarlo libero, mettendolo su una barca e affidandolo al mare. Giunge così nella terra di Cornovaglia, dove viene accolto con grande stima e considerazione, per le sue qualità e virtù, dal popolo di quella terra e dal re Marco, grande amico di re Artù, capo dei famosi cavalieri della Tavola Rotonda. Tristano si presenta come figlio di un mercante, ma la sua abilità nel canto e quella nello scuoiare un cervo fanno pensare a re Marco che egli fosse figlio di un cavaliere. Scoprirà, in un secondo momento, che Tristano è suo nipote, esattamente da Rohalt, giunto in Cornovaglia dopo essere sfuggito al crudele Morgan.

( Agnizione)

Prove di coraggio e prodezza:

Tristano dà prova per la prima volta del suo coraggio e della sua forza, decidendo di affrontare Morgan in combattimento. Si recherà così a Loonois, ucciderà Morgan e concederà il trono al buon Rohalt, mentre lui accetterà di rimanere al fianco di re Marco.

Seconda prova: dovendo la Cornovaglia pagare un debito al re d’Irlanda, il re Marco era piuttosto affranto: doveva cedere seicento giovinetti in qualità di schiavi . Tristano non accetta tale situazione e decide di affrontare l’uomo temibile e spaventoso inviato dal re d’Irlanda a ritirare quanto dovuto. Si tratta di Moroldo, uomo forte, grosso, spavaldo e orribile, che reagisce con rabbia e con sdegno quando Tristano gli nega i seicento fanciulli, tanto da pretendere un combattimento con lui dopo tre giorni. Anche in questo caso Tristano sconfiggerà Moroldo e libererà dal debito la Cornovaglia, ma, giunto tra i suoi, perde le forze per le ferite.

Pochi giorni dopo si scoprirà che si tratta di veleno e che nulla potrà più salvarlo. Viene allora messo su una barca e lasciato in balìa del mare, finchè non lo trovano dei pescatori in terra d’Irlanda e lo accompagnano da una maga, sperando che lo possa ancora salvare. La donna riesce a guarirlo e Tristano, prima di essere trovato dal nemico, scappa e ritorna in Cornovaglia, dove non viene accolto favorevolmente dai rivali di corte, aspiranti al trono.

Presentazione del personaggio:

mista, ossia diretta in alcuni punti, indiretta in altri

Descrizione fisica:

bello, forte, robusto, sano e vigoroso

Descrizione psicologica:

coraggioso, cortese, valoroso, sprezzante del pericolo

Origine:

di nobili origini

Cultura:

Viene istruito da Governale nell’uso della spada, arco e lancia; da lui impara anche a leggere, scrivere, recitare poesie e suonare l’arpa.

La sua caratterizzazione è data anche dal contesto socio- culturale e storico nel quale è inserito.

Il suo ruolo all’interno del romanzo è quello di protagonista

Backgrounds to Romance: "Courtly Love"

"Romance" originally referred not to a specific literary genre but to the vernacular French language which was called romanz (meaning that it was derived from the language spoken by the Romans, i.e. Latin). French and other languages derived from Latin, such as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, are still referred to as "Romance Languages" today. In the 12th century, literature which was written down in the French vernacular was referred to as "romance" to distinguish it from "real" literature, which was invariably written in Latin. Gradually, the term "romance" began to refer not to any narrative written in the French vernacular, but to the specific sort of narrative literature that was most popular among the French-speaking court audiences of France and Anglo-Norman England: stories of the chivalric adventures of knights and their ladies, often set at the court of King Arthur (see Translatio handout for early development of Arthurian literature and of the genre known as "romance"; see also Anglo-Norman Literature and French Literature: Anglo-Norman).

The audience for these early vernacular narratives was largely made up of women--the queen, duchess or countess and the other ladies of her court. These women naturally tended to be interested in stories in which women played more central roles than was true in Germanic epics such as Beowulf (which centered almost exclusively on the exploits of male warriors). Because the vernacular language poet's livelihood depended upon pleasing his/her audience, the vernacular narratives written for these courts ("romances") tended to focus on other plot developments than the fighting and male-bonding emphasized in epic poetry. The narratives still concern the deeds of brave warriors, but the Middle English knight (unlike the Old English thane) is motivated by love for his lady. Accordingly, women play an increasingly important and active role.

Two women who had a particular influence on the development of romance were Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen first of France and then of England, and her daughter Marie, Countess of Champagne (in Eastern France). Eleanor brought to the English court her interest in poetry, music and the arts, all of which were cultivated at the court of Aquitaine where she grew up (her grandfather William was the first known troubadour poet). In the vernacular narratives that were written for and/or dedicated to Eleanor--early "romances"--we find an emphasis on the sort of love relationship that is depicted in troubadour poetry, commonly known as "courtly love" (fin'amors in Provençal, the language of troubadour poetry).

The "courtly love" relationship is modelled on the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege lord. The knight serves his courtly lady (love service) with the same obedience and loyalty which he owes to his liege lord. She is in complete control of the love relationship, while he owes her obedience and submission (a literary convention that did not correspond to actual practice!) The knight's love for the lady inspires him to do great deeds, in order to be worthy of her love or to win her favor. Thus "courtly love" was originally construed as an ennobling force whether or not it was consummated, and even whether or not the lady knew about the knight's love or loved him in return.

The "courtly love" relationship typically was not between husband and wife, not because the poets and the audience were inherently immoral, but because it was an idealized sort of relationship that could not exist within the context of "real life" medieval marriages. In the middle ages, marriages amongst the nobility were typically based on practical and dynastic concerns rather than on love. The idea that a marriage could be based on love (as in the "Franklin's Tale") was a radical notion. But the audience for romance was perfectly aware that these romances were fictions, not models for actual behavior. The adulterous aspect that bothers many 20th-century readers was somewhat beside the point, which was to explore the potential influence of love on human behavior.

Social historians such as Eric Köhler and Georges Duby have hypothesized that "courtly love" may have served a useful social purpose: providing a model of behavior for a class of unmarried young men that might otherwise have threatened social stability. Knights were typically younger brothers without land of their own (hence unable to support a wife) who became members of the household of the feudal lords whom they served. One reason why the lady in the courtly love relationship is typically older, married and of higher social status than the knight may be because she was modelled on the wife of the feudal lord, who might naturally become the focus of the young, unmarried knights' desire. Köhler and Duby posit that the literary model of the courtly love relationship may have been invented in part to provide these young men with a model for appropriate behavior, teaching them to sublimate their desires and to channel their energy into socially useful behavior (love service rather than wandering around the countryside, stealing or raping women like the knight in the "Wife of Bath's" tale).

The behavior of the knight and lady in love was drawn partly from troubadour poetry and partly from a set of literary conventions derived from the Latin poet Ovid, who described the "symptoms" of love as if it were a sickness. The "lovesick" knight became a conventional figure in medieval romance. Typical symptoms: sighing, turning pale, turning red, fever, inability to sleep, eat or drink. Romances often contained long interior monologues in which the lovers describe their feelings.

A Latin-language work from the late 12th-century, Andreas Capellanus's "Art of Courtly Love", has sometimes been taken as a serious treatise describing the "rules" of courtly love, supposedly written for Countess Marie of Champagne (daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the person to whom Chrétien de Troyes dedicates The Knight of the Cart, the romance in which the love of Lancelot for Guenevere is first introduced). It is now clear that the work is not a serious treatise but a satire mocking the conventions of courtly love, written within a university milieu hostile to the conventions of courtly literature. Nonetheless, the treatise attests to the popularity of the literary conventions of "fin'amors" within courtly society--for you can't satirize something that does not exist!

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1998-2002

The Rules of Courtly Love - by Master Giles de Laval

Courtly love developed during the 12th century in France, and quickly became an ideal of courtly society throughout Europe for the rest of the Middle Ages. It described an intensely idealised form of sexual passion: the kind of "falling in love" familiar to every society in every age.

The ideal of courtly love was embodied in a highly elaborate, sophisticated and aristocratic code of behaviour that permanently influenced western culture and the way we look at romantic love.
The concept of courtly love originated with the troubadours of southern France who, rather than the more prevalent martial epics of the time, sang about love and the women they loved, inventing as they did so an almost religious "cult of love".

This was proving revolutionary because it placed women, who were almost completely powerless in medieval society, in a position of complete dominance over their lovers.

Between 1184 and 1186 AD, the ethos of courtly love was codified and written down by Andreas Capellanus, who was probably court chaplain to Marie de Champagne, in his book De Arte Honesti Amandi (On the Art of Honorable Loving).
It is now believed that Capellanus' book, which drew heavily on the Roman poet Ovid's satirical Ars Amatori (The Art of Loving), was intended as an elaborate intellectual joke, full of the outrageously distorted arguments and paradoxes so loved by medieval courtly society.

Although we know that medieval people found Capellanus' treatise screamingly funny, we can not discount it: a parody can not exist without the object it parodies.

Examples from Book I of De Arte Honesti Amandi.

1. Flee from avarice like a noxious plague, and embrace its opposite.
2. You must keep yourself chaste for your beloved's sake.
3. You must not try to break up a love affair between a woman suitably joined to another man.
4. Take care not to choose for your love a person whom a natural sense of shame would prohibit you from marrying.
5. At all costs take care to avoid lies.
6. Do not have many people in the secret of your love.
7. Being obedient in all things to the commands of ladies, always study to be enrolled in the service of love.
8. When fulfilling and receiving the pleasures of love, always let modesty be present.
9. Speak no evil.
10. Never publicly expose lovers.
11. Show yourself in all things polite and courteous.
12. When you are engaging in the pleasures of love, do not exceed the desires of your lover.

Examples from Book 2 of De Arte Honesti Amandi.

1. The state of marriage does not properly excuse anyone from loving.
2. He who does not feel jealousy is not capable of loving.
3. No one can love two people at the same time.
4. It is well known that love is always either growing or declining.
5. Whatever a lover takes against his lover's will has no savour.
6. A male does not fall in love until he has reached full manhood.
7. A mourning period of two years for a deceased lover is required of the surviving partner.
8 No one should be prevented from loving except by reason of his own death.
9. No one can love unless they are compelled by me eloquence of love.
10. Love is accustomed to being an exile from the house of avarice.
11. It is unseemly to love anyone whom you would be ashamed to marry.
12. A true lover does not desire the passionate embraces of anyone but his beloved.

The Countess of Champagne was asked what gifts it was fitting for ladies to accept from their lovers. She replied "A lover may freely accept from her beloved these things: a handkerchief, hair band, a circlet of gold or silver, a brooch for the breast, a mirror, a belt, a purse, a lace for clothes, a comb, cuffs, gloves, a ring, a little box of scent, a portrait, toiletries, little vases, trays, a standard as a keepsake of the lover, and to speak more generally, a lady can accept from her love whatever small gifts may be useful in the care of her person, or may look charming, or may remind her of her lover, provided however that in accepting the gift it is clear that she is acting quite without avarice."


Andrea Hopkins, The Book of Courtly Love, Harper Collins, 1994.
John F. Nims, Sappho to Valery: Poems in Translation, Rutgers University Press,1971
Theresa Sheehan, "The Lovers Lesson" in Tournaments Illuminated Issue #118, N. Beattie ed., Society for Creative Anachronism, 1996.
Nigel Saul ed., The Age of Chivalry, BCA London, 1992.

Tristan and Isolde Questionnaire part one

Answer to the following questions

• Tristan is a hero in this tale. Examine the role of heroes in our society and how they are portrayed in tales, fairytales and legends.

• Who is your hero? What qualities make him/her a hero?

• Is there a comparison between Tristan and your hero?

• How is your ethnic background different from the story of Tristan and Isolde?

• How are gender roles established in the story?

• Is it our society different/similar?

• In this story princess Isolde is a prize for the strength of a warrior.Do we have anything similar in our culture?

Tristan and Isolde

Notes about the character of Tristan:

Tristan (TREES-tahn), the courtly son of Rivalin and Blanchefleur. Orphaned at birth, he is raised by Rual the Faithful until he joins King Mark’s court after his escape from Norwegian kidnappers. He serves his lord well by killing Duke Morolt and winning the hand of Isolde the Fair for Mark. Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion by accident and fall helplessly in love. The two lovers deceive Mark until Tristan is forced to run away. Later, he marries Isolde of the White Hands, but it is a marriage in name only, because he is still deeply in love with Isolde the Fair.




Notes about the character of Isolde:

Known as Isolde the Fair, she is the heroine in the Tristan legend. Isolde was the daughter of King Gorman of Ireland and the Elder Isolde, sister of Morholt (Marhaus). Isolde knows how to brew potions and whip up remedies from all sorts of poisons , she learnt this skill from her mother, who actually prepared the love potion. Isolde's loyal companion and maidservant (or lady-in-waiting) was named Brangwain. It was Brangwain who was responsible to carry the love potion made by the queen of Ireland to help her daughter fall in love with King Mark of Cornwall, who was older than Isolde, after the wedding. Brangwain has a main role in the whole story, since she falls ill during the journey back to Cornwall. While she is asleep Tristan and Isolde drink the love potion thinking it’s water and fall deeply in love. This will change their faith and will lead them to death.



Physical description
Isolde is a beautiful and charming woman with long fair hair, pale skin and rose cheeks.

Psychological description
The bottled-up fury, the sour regret, the quick intelligence running to irony. Proved to be an eager and gifted pupil, playing the harp exquisitely, Isolde the fair is regal, she is passionate, she is generous but she is also filled with fury at her situation at the beginning, ready to kill Tristan because he caused the death of her uncle Morholt, and at the same time, filled with warmth and love in the second part of the story, when she is helplessly in love with Tristan.

Origins
She is the daughter of the king and queen of Ireland

Cultural Background
She was educated by her mother from whom she also learnt how to make potions and remedies with herbs

Role
She is one of the main characters

Warwick Castle - Thursday 25th February 2010

Homework:

1.) Read the following article and draw a mind-map about castles and how you think life in castles was during the Middle Ages. Use your dictionary to help you find the meaning of difficult words in the text.

Have fun!!!
Robi



Hint:

A Mind-map is a map and not a report. A mind-map is very useful to sum up and underline all the important information about a subject.

Warwick Castle (pronounced /wɒrrɪk/WORR-ik) is a medieval castle in Warwick, the county town of Warwickshire, England. It sits on a bend on the River Avon. The castle was built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The river and cliff form natural defences.

Warwick Castle is the subject of many ghost stories. Fulke Greville is said to haunt the Watergate Tower, despite being murdered in Holborn; the Watergate Tower is also known as the Ghost Tower and for most of the year it is home to "Warwick Ghosts Alive", a short, live-action show telling the story of Fulke Greville's murder. The show uses live actors, sound, lighting and visual effects.

When you think of the Middle Ages, you might imagine knights, lords and ladies, jousting competitions and bloody battles, probably taking place in or around a castle. Castles were important staging points for conquests and defences of territories in medieval times. The designs and constructions of these fortresses varied greatly, and many survive today.

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate dictionary defines a castle as a "fortified group of buildings". But a more practical definition is that a castle was a fortification of the High Middle Ages (10th to 15th century) equipped with high walls, towers and a moat (fossato). The word "castle" comes from the Latin word "castellum," which means "fortified place." The French popularized the term "castle" in the Middle Ages. Castles served a primarily military purpose, they housed armies. Many castles were part of fortified towns and sheltered (host) the surrounding villagers in times of war. As time went on, castles also became residences for lords and kings. Near the end of the Middle Ages into the modern era, castles lost their military function and functioned as residences for the nobility or were abandoned altogether.

Castles vs. Palaces

Castles and palaces were stately homes for nobles and kings, but only castles had high curtain walls, towers and moats. Although palaces are large residences and may have walls around them, they do not have high curtain walls and were not designed for military purposes.

Bailey or Ward

From a military standpoint, the bailey, or courtyard, was a wide-open space. So any invading soldiers who made it through the gate into the bailey would be exposed to arrow fire from the outer walls and towers and the inner walls and towers.

The bailey also served as a marketplace for festivals and fairs, a practice field for drilling soldiers and training horses, and an area for tournaments. In the tournaments, knights fought with swords and shields on foot and jousted in arenas called lists (or list fields). In the later Middle Ages, baileys featured gardens and fountains.

Some castles didn't have inner walls, so the bailey also contained the towers, the keep (main residence) and auxiliary buildings (great hall, chapel, knight and servant quarters, kitchens and workshops).

Inside a Castle

The keep and the auxiliary buildings that supported castle life varied from castle to castle. Sometimes buildings (like the chapel, great hall and kitchens) were integrated into the keep, and sometimes they were separated.

The keep was the main residence of the ruling lord. It was made of stone and could be square or circular. Keeps could be attached to walls or freestanding. They had many functions.

Residential apartments contained beds and furnishings. They were usually heated by fireplaces, and light came through glass windows.

The great hall could be located in the keep or in separate buildings. In the earliest castles, like the one described in the epic poem "Beowulf," great halls were used for eating and sleeping. Later, they were used for entertaining and holding court. They usually had high ceilings and large fireplaces. The floors were usually stone or dirt.

Storage of food, beverages and gold was usually in the lower levels of the keep.

Defense (arrow loops, armoury, battlements) usually occupied the top levels.

Prisoners were kept in the dungeon (derived from "donjon"). Dungeons were usually in the upper parts of the keep because it made escape more difficult, but they were later moved to the lower levels.

Religion was important in everyday life during the Middle Ages. People went to church every day, usually morning mass. Most castles had their own chapels and priests, either in-residence or visiting. Chapels could be simple rooms in the keep or elaborate separate buildings.

Horses were essential in medieval life. Knights rode them into battle. They pulled carts. They were transportation, like your car. So they needed a garage called stables.

Wells and cisterns were collected water for the castle. Wells could be located within the keep or in the bailey. Cisterns collected rainwater from the roofs. Some castles had rudimentary plumbing that channelled water from cisterns to sinks.

Castles needed many craftsmen and artisans, including carpenters, farriers and blacksmiths, to maintain the buildings and grounds. Their workshops were usually separate buildings within the bailey.

Medieval Sanitation

So what happened when nature called while soldiers were defending the castle during a siege? They had several options:

• Toilets were merely holes in the towers. Wastes dropped below -- into the bailey, the base of the outer wall, the moat or cesspools (pozzo nero) contained within the tower.
• The garderobe (or gardrobe) was a room that projected from a wall. A hole in the floor allowed wastes to drop below.

Some castles had sanitary towers in the inner or outer walls. The wastes would drop into a cesspool in a pit (hole).

Lo scopo di questo blog

Ciao ragazzi!

Lo scopo di questo blog è quello di darvi un rapido accesso a materiale e documentazione utile per il nostro progetto su Tristan and Isolde...

Qui potrete trovare appunto il materiale da scaricare, leggere e ovviamente commentare :) ogni commento verrà pubblicato senza censura e tenuto in considerazione...sono le vostre idee e sono assolutamente gradite e benvenute!!!

Spero che l'idea vi piaccia...si accettano commenti anche su questo blog e sugli eventuali contenuti che vi possono interessare e che potete richiedere di pubblicare.

Penso che inserirò anche una pagina dedicata espressamente all'inglese, dove postare materiale utile per migliorare le vostre capacità di utilizzo della lingua inglese e perchè no....curiosità sulla stessa lingua inglese.

Benvenuti e grazie per la collaborazione!!
Roberta