The themes of misinterpretation and passivity are recurring in Béroul's text "The Romance of Tristan": the characters often misread signs and events, as well as than each other. There are several key misinterpretations in the story that reveal where the author's true sympathies lie. Because most of what happens to Tristan can be attributed to people or events beyond his control, he is not blamed by either the other characters or himself, and never takes on a truly penitent. While this may be the title of Tristan's romance, he is certainly not the character readers are meant to sympathize with. King Mark also often misinterprets circumstances, but to very different ends. His indecision is endearing at times, and although he is the enemy of our "hero", his character is ultimately presented in a more positive light than the titular protagonist. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The events that unfold in the text are rarely driven by Tristan's hand: Tristan makes few, if any, decisions on his own. A pattern emerges in which Broul repeatedly reveals Tristan's ineffectiveness to the reader, but because the other characters in the text do not see Tristan's flaws, he remains the hero. He is in love with Isolde, but it is only because of a potion: “[t]he wine they drank, which caused them so much torment” (Broul 250) is at fault. The fact that even though Tristan loves Isolde, he might choose not to give in to her desires is never brought up. In fact, “as a symbol, the potion is completely uncourteous since it represents an emotion totally foreign to courtly values” (Kunzer 149); even the means by which Tristan finds love cast him in a negative light. It is Governal who provides Tristan with a means of escaping his execution, by giving him a sword and a hauberk and encouraging him to refrain from returning to rescue Isolde: "If his master had not urged him to if he didn't go, he would have come back in spite of himself. of all the inhabitants of Tintagel, without fearing for his life” (Broul 238). Tristan is ready to make a hasty and reckless decision, and only stops because he is advised against it, which allows him to reunite with his lover. Later, it is Isolde who invents a plan (Broul 262) in which Tristan dresses as a leper, thus freeing them from the justified accusations brought against them. Nothing that happens is Tristan's doing: he is a fugitive, in conflict with his lord and uncle, but only because the king's barons are determined to destroy him out of hatred. Although they were well within the bounds of their duty in informing the king of Tristan's illicit activities, having actually witnessed “Isolde with Tristan in a compromising position; and on several occasions they had seen them lying naked in the bed of King Mark” (Broul 234), they are cursed as “wicked men”. Once Tristan and Isolde become outcasts and outlaws, the lovers run away with Governal to hide in the forest. At one point, Governal decapitates a baron who had been one of Tristan's enemies and brings the head to Tristan (Broul 246). When the Baron's hunting party finds him cut into pieces, they retreat to court and the incident becomes common knowledge throughout Cornwall. Broul's diction is particularly important here: he writes that the people realize that the decapitated baron was the one “who had sowed trouble between Tristan and the king” (Broul 246). They don't know who really committed it.the murder, but as the Baron is only identified in relation to Tristan, Tristan becomes the one responsible in the minds of the citizens. “Everyone was afraid and avoided the forest... [they] feared that the valiant Tristan would find [them]” (Broul 246). The Baron's hunters, as well as the people of Cornwall, assume that Tristan is the one who sent the Baron. Not only do they misinterpret the event, but they do not hesitate to quickly place responsibility on the most convenient head. The murder of the Baron unfolds along the plot; people are afraid to enter the forest, Tristan and Isolde have free rein of the region, without fear of being discovered. However, the fact that they reside alone in the forest casts them in a rather negative light: the forest is associated with evil and darkness and is now home to two people who, despite the sympathy of the people, are in fact criminals. The fact that Broul uses the word "fear" to refer to people's feelings towards Tristan tells the reader how he should feel towards the lovers. Although people may interpret their own fear as admiration for a "valiant" knight, the author describes it differently. Tristan is indeed dangerous, even if he did not commit the crime with which he is accused. Perhaps this is why Broul does not simply ask Tristan to assassinate the Baron: because Broul offers insights into Tristan's character that the other characters in the text are not privy to, the reader is allowed to be more objective when making moral judgments. If the reader sees Tristan as inactive, the other characters in the text do not see him that way. Due to his inertia, the reader begins to see Tristan in a very negative light: "Tristan and Isold[e's] accidental love, an initially unwelcome emotion for them both, is uncourteous" (Kunzer 149). Love is neither welcome nor deserved According to the criteria of courtly love, a man must earn affection through "purifying work in her service...before he becomes worthy and entitled to her. reward” (Kunzer 142). Even though the other characters in the text overlook his considerable flaws, Tristan is loyal to no one and displays remarkable impatience and immobility. From the beginning, King Mark is described as Tristan's opposite: a character in constant evolution: a "well-known characteristic of The King is his rapidly changing mood, the duality of his feelings" (Tyson 69). This is revealed in the very first lines of the text, where we first see Mark leaning against a tree, listening to the false lamentations of his wife and nephew. “He was so overcome with pity that nothing could stop him from crying. His grief was great and he hated the dwarf of Tintagel” (Broul 230). Mark is an emotional character, easily moved by feelings and passions. He is inspired to hate the dwarf within moments, despite the fact that this little person is only trying to help him. The reader is also aware that the dwarf is telling the truth. This tactic of revealing truths to the reader while hiding them from the characters not only creates tension, but allows the reader to recognize the human folly of the characters. We see immediately that Mark is as susceptible to deception as anyone else. Like Tristan, he often makes decisions based on what others tell him, rather than his own thoughts and beliefs. He is also extremely impressionable, and the language he uses when first encountered in the textwarns the reader to be wary of this tendency. He cries, "the dwarf deceived me! He made me climb this tree and completely shamed me. He made me believe a lie" (Broul 230). The fact that someone managed to "make" the king climb a tree is the first sign that the king may be a little too confident. The dwarf certainly did not force the king to believe his information; it was freely received and believed. Mark could easily have chosen to distrust its veracity. Instead, he feels like a fool for believing the dwarf. Mark is very easily mistaken, and even if it is a fault, the fact that he recognizes his faults makes him more sympathetic: "[He] is himself aware that he is gullible and that this impairs his judgment.. . he regrets having believed the dwarf" (Tyson 70), so much so that he swears that "he will never again distrust them because of what a slanderer said" (Broul 232). Although he is sensitive to the opinions of others, when he makes judgments himself, they usually come from pity or kindness. When Mark meets the lovers in the forest, they do not touch the bodies, they are clothed and a sword lies between the two. them. Seeing this, Mark assumes that he was wrong and that Tristan and Isolde are not really in love; he exchanges rings with Isolde and swords with Tristan, and leaves his gloves as a sign that he means them no harm (Broul 249). Mark's crude interpretation of the situation occurs for several reasons. On one level, it's a technique used to delay the end of the story. Without confrontation, characters must continue to read each other's behaviors (often incorrectly) rather than fighting or communicating through words. But more than anything, Mark's interpretation of the situation is meant to show us that he has feelings - feelings of his own that arise from true love, without the aid of a potion. He admits that “now that I have seen how they behave together, I don’t know what to do” (Broul 249). This admission contrasts directly with Tristan's tendency to make hasty decisions without thinking, or even feeling. Mark's madness is that he is human: we also see it in his sincere desire to be approved by others. He said that if he had woken them up and someone had been killed, “people would condemn my actions” (Broul 249). Even in the heat of passion, Mark is able to stop, change his mood and modify his emotions. This is something that Tristan not only doesn't do, but doesn't even attempt. Mark is deeply gullible, swayed in all directions by even a mildly persuasive argument, and naively blind to the illicit love fostered by Tristan and Isolde. Mark is also, however, an extremely friendly and kind person. He says, "I don't want them to be killed, neither by me nor by any of my men" (Broul 248), despite the fact that he has every right to murder them both on the spot for their treason. “In the episode of the forest cabin, his tenderness in wanting to protect [Isolde] from the sun is evident” (Tyson 71): he “delicately placed [his] gloves so as to block the sun's rays on her face. Isolde” (Broul 249). Mark's misinterpretation of the scene is just that: pure, human, naive misinterpretation. This leaves him exactly as he was before: a kind, somewhat simple-minded cuckold. When Tristan and Isolde wake up, Tristan makes his most crucial misinterpretation of a situation. Although Mark left his possessions out of good will, Tristan draws a very different conclusion. He tells Isolde that "[Mark] left us only to come back and capture us later...I'm sure he plans to capture us" (Broul 250). THE 20 (1981): 67-75