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Amours est ausi conme li serpens: Pride and Love in the Prose Tristan1

To study the Prose Tristan2 without at some point examining the theme of love would be difficult, since the romance develops from verse legends which present a tragic, illicit love and since the prose romance retains many primary details of the verse love story. We still find, for example, the couple's frequent attempts to satisfy their passion while duping Marc, the many admirable qualities which make Tristan and Iseut a match, and of course the potion which binds the unwitting lovers in their passion and causes them to transgress numerous social and moral structures. Besides growing out of the verse Tristan romances, the prose romance was also influenced by other literature in which love plays an important role, particularly the romances of Chretien and the Vulgate Lancelot. But the prose writer transforms the original Tristan material by placing it in a radically different context. By adding a prehistory and numerous chivalric adventures, integrating Cornwall into the Arthurian world and Tristan into the Round Table, and interpolating the Grau quest at the end of the romance, the prose author produces a long work which at times recalls the twelfth-century verse stories and at times imitates the Vulgate cycle. The treatment of love is, however, fundamentally changed. Though love still figures significantly in the story, it causes great destruction and sorrow for all. More importantly, the prose author shifts our attention from love to pride and its consequence, lust, phenomena which are then closely linked from the prehistory through the conclusion. For purposes of Illustration, this discussion will focus on
An earlier version of this paper was given at the Sixteenth International Arthurian Congress in Durham, England (August, 1990). 2 The reader should recall that the Prose Tristan romance exists in numerous manuscripts, among which the differences are at times sigificant enough to suggest that this literature grew out of the literary visions of several people. For the sake of simplicity, we will here discuss the texts and writers in the Singular, refering to the romance s it appears in manuscripts Carpentras 404 and Vienna 2542. For the passages which occur at the beginning of the romance, see Renee L. Curtis' edition of Carpentras 404 (= Curtis 1963, 1976, or 1985). Passages occuring just after the end of Curtis' edition are quoted from Menard (Vienna I) and Chenerie/Delcourt (Vienna II). These volumes are the first two of the edition based on manuscript Vienna 2542 under the supervision of Menard. References to unedited passages will note the folio and column of the Vienna manuscript; the transcriptions of these passages are my own.
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three types of material: comments on love s various characters experience it, the prehistory, and the Grail quest. This material reveals that Tristan, formerly the victim of l-fated love, becomes in the Prose Tristan a pride-driven knight, doomed to fall on the Grail Quest for reasons he does not ponder because he is preoccupied with his own fame. Twelfth- and thirteenth-century French society was quite familir with discussions of love from various perspectives. The literary milieu of the verse Tristan included the works of Chretien and the Lais of Marie de France, plus abundant lyric poetry and many other works which treated love primarily or secondarily. The thirteenth-century prose Tristan was influenced by many of these works and developed within the context of the Prose Lancelot, Guillaume de Lorris' Roman de la Rose, and Andreas Capellanus' De Amore. While much energy went into the discussion of love, equal energy went into the condemnation of luxuria and other threats to moral and social order. With Gregory the Great in the early seventh Century, interest in codifying the vices and virtues passed from primarily monastic into more general circles (Bloomfield 1952, 72), and representations of the vices and virtues became common in medieval church architecture, manuscript illuminations, and literature, both secular and sacred3. Long before the thirteenth Century, pride was designated s the primary sin, the source of all others, the one which caused Lucifer's fall and the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden4. These ideas were commonplace in church writings, but were also
3 Emile Male (1958) gives a particularly helpful discussion of this topic. See also Aron Gurevich (1988) and Marc-Rene Jung (1971) 4 Several Biblical (including apochryphal and pseudepigraphal) texts designate pride s the root of all sins. Ecclesiasticus 10:15, for example, which Saint Augustine (early 5th C.) cites in his discussion of pride and original sind in The City of God, states quoniam initium omnis peccati est superbia. [Augustine cites this text s 10:13, however.] In the pseudepigrapha, 2 Enoch 29:4-5 also refers to this aspect of pride. See Charlesworth (1983). In addition, medieval society was quite familir with Proverbs 16:18, which states Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 29:23 and 18:12 contain similar ideas. Saint Augustine also discusses pride extensively in City, chapters 12 and 14. John Cassian (died c. 435) calls pride the root of all vices in his Institutes, of which book xii is devoted to pride (Bloomfield 1952, 69). Gregory the Great (d. 604) in his Moralia likewise calls pride the root of all vices (Bloomfield 1952, 72). Gregory is also responsible for establishing the order of the seven vices which is most commonly cited. In the mid-12th Century, the pseudo-Hugo of Saint Victor begins the fashion of using the tree image for vices and virtues in his Defructibus carnis et Spiritus. Here, pride is the root of the tree of vices (Bloomfield 1952, 84). Saint Thomas Aquinas (mid-13th C.) speaks of pride s the root of all sins in the Summa Theologica II, quaest. 35 ff. (Bloomfield 1952, 87). See also Russell (1984).

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available to the illiterate public in sermons, confessional practice, and liturgical plays like the Jeu d'Adam5. Within this context the author of the Prose Tristan worked, transforming much of what he found to make it fit the contemporary interest in Arthurian prose cycles and redirecting the presentation of love. One of the prose author's most intriguing changes concerns the love potion. In the verse material, the love between Tristan and Iseut has no cause other than the philtre, and Tristan's only rival for Iseut is his uncle, Marc. The prose romance presents both these points differently. In both prose and verse traditions the potion causes the couple to love each other exclusively and uncontrollably. But in the prose romance, Tristan has already become infatuated with Iseut and another woman before he drinks the potion, and several other main characters love Iseut just s much s Tristan does, though they have drunk no potion. By retaining the potion's effect s a unique event in an environment of widespread desire for Iseut, the author shifts the focus from fate (earlier symbolized by the potion) to lust, which thinkers like Saint Augustine interpreted both in general s desire and in particular s sexual desire which refuses to be governed by reason (1950, 464). This shift in the role of the love potion is symptomatic of an even more important change in Tristan's presentation. Just s Saint Augustine's analysis links lust and pride closely, so also in the Tristan these two capital faults work together to shape much of the romance. One need only recall how the medieval mind understood these concepts in order to appreciate this facet of the romance. The common Interpretation, which owed much to Saint Augustine, maintained that pride was the source of all evil, the first sin, because it was responsible for the human will turning away from God: For when the will abandons what is above itself, and turns to what is lower, it becomes evil - not because that is evil to which it turns, but because the turning itself is wicked6. He specifically labels Adam and Eve's transgression s an act of pride: Our first parents feil into open disobedience because already they were secretly corrupted; for the evil act had never been done had not an evil will preceded it. And what is the origin of our evil will but pride? (Augustine 1950, XIV: 13). In addition to understanding that pride was the first sin and the root of all others, the thirteenth Century also understood that sexual
Julleville (1896) gives numerous examples of didactic literature, sermons, and religious plays which address the topics in question here. Gurevich (1988) gives a detailed analysis of the type of doctrine concerning evil which actually made its way to the illiterate masses. 6 Augustine, 386. See also XIV: 13 for further discussion of this concept.
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desire was its logical consequence. Saint Augustiners well-known analysis of the first sin explains that only after Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit did shame develop and did the sexual organs become disobedient to human reason. In describing the couple's original innocence, Augustine states For it is written <They were naked and were not ashamed> [Gen. 2:25] - not that their nakedness was unknown to them, but because nakedness was not yet shameful, because not yet did lust move those members without the will's consent; not yet did the flesh by its disobedience testify against the disobedience of man (Augustine 1950, XIV: 17). While the Prose Tristan is chivalric narrative rather than theology, frequent reference to pride, several specific illustrations of pride, and the importance of the Grail Quest in the Tristan suggest that the roles of pride and lust merit closer attention. The remainder of this discussion will argue that from the presentation of Tristan's love to the presentation of his death, from the prehistory to the end of the Grail Quest, pride and its consequences occupy an important position in the thematic organization of the romance and especially shape Tristan's portrayal. The nature of Tristan's love for Iseut illustrates the link between pride and passion. The prose romance presents Tristan's attraction to Iseut in two stages: first Tristan's initial interest in Iseut, which springs directly from pride and jealousy, and secondly Tristan's overwhelming passion, which the potion causes. In the first stage, Tristan does not love Iseut. Though he had been near her during his entire stay in Ireland, Tristan had feit nothing for her beyond appreciation. Tristan's attitude changes only when Palamede arrives and falls immediately and madly in love with Iseut. In reaction to Palamede's obvious interest, Tristan vows to keep Palamede from having Iseut: Tristanz avoit mout avant regardee Yselt, et mout li plaisoit, mes son euer n'i avoit pas mis dusqu'a l'amer granment. Et neporquant, puis qu'il vit que Palamedes i entendoit si merveilleusement qu'il dit ou il morra ou il l'avra, Tristanz redit a soi meismes que ja Palamedes por pooir qu'il ait ne l'avra (Curtis 1963,165). Overcome with Orguel' and Tbobant' because he does not want someone eise to be a better knight than he in Iseut's presence, Tristan vows to defeat Palamede in order to impress Iseut, which he does a few days later. Iseut unknowingly increases Tristan's resolve to undo Palamede when she states that she considers Palamede to be a better knight than Tristan (Curtis 1963, 165). Thus the rivalry which animates most of the romance is born initially of Tristan's jealousy at the thought that Palamede's chivalric talent might surpass his own and thereby attract Iseut's attention. The second stage - Tristan's passion for Iseut - comes only with the potion. Back in Cornwall, Tristan forgets Iseut and pursues an-

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other woman, the wife of Segurades: Et Tristanz ama li sanz faule si durement qu'il ne li sovient mes d'Yselt la Bloie. II met Yselt arrieres dos et oblie dou tout por ceste (Curtis 1985, 178). Even when he returns to win Iseut to be Marc's bride, he still feels no particular love for her, a characteristic which distinguishes Tristan from Palamede, Kahedin, Marc, and others who all fall hopelessly in love with Iseut at first sight. These changes encourage us to look at the theme of love differently because pride is now in the forefront, followed eventually by the lust which strikes Tristan and his rivals. This contrast between the feelings of Palamede and Tristan recurs elsewhere. For instance, the Tristan author further highlights the shift from love to pride and lust by reworking Chretien's motif of the lover's strength in battle increasing s he contemplates his beloved. Two times during the tournament at Louveserp the text notes that Palamede's power grows s he thinks of Iseut (Vienna 311a, 315vc). Tristan's strength also grows, but his is inspired by a desire to defeat Arthur's forces in Iseut's presence rather than by the intense love he feels for Iseut7. Tristan even fights like li senglers ki s'orguele en l'assaut des ciens et donne estal hardiement8. As in their first encounter, Tristan wins, and Palamede leaves the battlefield an emotional wreck. Though Tristan, like Palamede, wishes to impress Iseut, Tristan is fired by OrgueiT and is preoccupied by the effect such a display will have on Arthur and his knights. It is not coincidental that Palamede figures in these important episodes, since Palamede rather than Tristan is the romance's most articulate analyst of love, and his comments on love provide important clues to the link between pride and amor9. In both of his love monologues, Palamede passionately condemns love, but the second of
7 In Paris B.N. 336, which closely resembles Vienna 2542 and is in the base family of the edition, the contrast between Palamede's Inspiration and Tristan's is even more clear: Tristan's strength increases out ofjealousy at the praise he hears of Palamede's astonishing strength and at the realization that Palamede's strength is inspired by his love for Iseut (336:f65). 8 Vienna 316vb, my emphasis. It is probably not coincidental that Tristan is here compared to a wild boar when he is excited to this battle frenzy by anger and jealousy at Palamede's overt display of love for Iseut. Frequently the symbol of sexual excess, the boar here reinforces the theme in question. For more on the symbolism of the boar, see Thiebaux (1974), Rowland (1973), and Cirlot (1962). 9 Baumgartner (1975, 168) has noted that Palamede's monologues on love do not offer innovative imagery. While the vocabulary is not original, some of the particular uses seem unusual, s this paragraph and following ones suggest. Palamede's two long and detailed monologues on love and his frustration with love cause us to wonder at Keith Busby's recent observation that Palamedes never conducts inner dialogues with himself about the hopelessness of his Situation in Lacy (1991, 274).

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these laments is particularly interesting for the vocabulary Palamede uses. Here Palamede rejects more conventional imagery for expressing the lover's misery and misfortune, focusing instead on terms which relate love to the serpent10 in the Garden of Eden:
Amours est ausi conme li serpens qui promist a n[o]stre [pere] que se il mengoit de la pome il seroit ausi conme Diex, et crut a la fausse proumesse. Si s'en trouva mort et honni, Amours, qui de celui serpent maintiens ades la coustume, car de li vient vostre conseil et tout li vostre fait en issent (Vienna 386c-va)u.

Though in the second part of his monologue Palamede backs away from his condemnation of love and transforms his comments into a self-condemnation, he still continues to liken his fate to that of Adam, recognizing that in both cases the cause of the problem was pride:
Amours, de ce que je dis ore que vous li serpens esties par qui conseil Adans fu mis hors de paradis ne dis je mie verite. Ains di tout encontre raison. Onques chertes serpent ne fustes. Onques de vous ne vint a home se bien non. Mais de ce voirement que je dis que je estoie com Adans, dis je bien voir. Li serpens ne mist pas Adan hors de paradis; ains le muist hr le siens pecies et la suie tres grant folie. N'estoit il faus apertement quant il voloit conme Diex estre? Convoitise l'avoit prisennie, l'aloit poignant, car convoiteus estoit il trop quant il convoitoit si grant cose q'il voloit estre pers a Dieu. Et pour ce fu il jetes hors de paradis vilainnement et tournes a honte et a doel. Que fist Adans? Je estoie en joie et en aise et [vc] en deduit et en soulas et estoie nouviaus cevaliers. Je avoie tout mon voloir car plus ne voloie du monde. Mais or sui faus, avers et caitis, dolans et eslongies de tout sens et de tous biens, et ce m'a ore mis en la fole sourquidance que Convoitise vint a rnoi et amena avoec li Envie s suer carnel. Ces .ii. sereurs traitres si prirent ensamble compaingnie et vinrent a moi pour moi traiir, et me donnerent conseil que je aprei'sse a voler au ciel. Et voil estre paraus a Dieu quant de la plus bele du monde, de cele qui plus a de biautes qu'il ri'ot onques em paradis, voloie avoir la compaingnie. Adans voloit il plus avoir quant il fu em paradis que je voloie cha en tere? A Dieu voloit estre paraus, li faus, et je le voloie autresi (Vienna 386vb-c).

In revising his accusation, Palamede begins to sound like a theologian. He reasons that though the serpent offered the temptation, Adam is ultimately responsible for his sin: he turned away from God in pride, desiring something for which he was unfit. Palamede understands that he also, like Adam, forgot his place in the natural order
10 Just after Palamede's first monologue, Kahedin also suggests this metaphor in warning Palamede of the dangers of loving Iseut: Celi me'ismes serpent qui m'a feru vos a point dusques au euer (Curtis 1985, 204). 11 The terms in brackets replace naistre premiere, which are clearly written in the manuscript but are without doubt scribal errors. Comparison with another manuscript of the base family, Paris B.N. 336, conflrms this.

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of things and therefore brought on his own disaster. Love, the new Temptor, brought in its wake 'Convoitise' and 'Envie', whose voices persuaded Palamede that he was good enough to deserve Iseut. In punishment for this pride, Palamede was expelled from the paradise of his beloved and condemned to live out his days in exile and suffering, like Adam after the Fall. Palamede's reference to Adam's exile from Paradise links his attitude to that of Tristan and Iseut, who also characterize in this same way their thwarted attempts to be together. For instance, s Iseut prepares to commit suicide during Tristan's absence, she sings a lai in which she states that her loss of Tristan surpasses Adam's loss of paradise: ne fist pas tel perte jadis / Adam quant perdi paradis / Com a fait Yselt ... (Curtis 1985, 227). Later, after Tristan recovers from his madness and must leave Cornwall, he bitterly likens his forced exile to Adam's expulsion from paradise: onques Adans, quant il fu de Paradis jetes, ne fu tourmentes si durement que je ne soie tourmentes (Vienna II, 79). The theme of pride and its penalty - exile from paradise - not only reinforces the link already suggested between the flaw in the lovers' mentality and Adam's flaw but also recalls Lucifer's fall12. According to tradition, Lucifer was the original victim of pride. Lucifer then became jealous of Adam and Eve's blissful, unblemished condition and, through the serpent, tempted them to disobey God, to 'turn away' from the instruction not to eat the forbidden fruit13. In medieval
12 The fall of the rebel angels is also alluded to in the romance. As Brunor le Noir, the Chevalier a la Cote Mautaillie, accompanies the Demoisele Medisant to accomplish her adventure, the two meet a lady who contests the Demoisele's vituperous comments about Brunor. In response to the Demoisele's categorical lack of respect for Brunor, the lady states that Brunor is worthy of respect simply because he is from Arthur's court. The Demoisele counters by comparing Arthur's court to the Kingdom of God: there are good and bad in both places; just s Lucifer was exiled from God's kingdom, so Brunor must have been expelled recently from Arthur's court: Cuidiez vos qu'en la meson dou roi Artus n'oit de mauves Chevaliers ausi come de bons? Le meson le roi Artus est tot ausi come la meson Dieu ou ot jadis des bons angles et des mauves. Li mauves furent gite dou ciel et mis en essil pardurablement, et li bon remestrent en la meson de joie qu'il n'en furent mie chacie, enz remestrent a toz jorz mes. Ore, dame, quant en la meson Dieu proprement ou autre chose qu'il ne dut, ce fu covoitise et envie, ce n'est mie mout grant merveille s'il a en la meson le roi Artus des Chevaliers les uns bons et leax, et les autres mauves (Curtis 1985, 702). The Statement is false for Brunor's case - he was not expelled from Arthur's court. But the observation that Arthur's court includes bad knights is accurate, and the Demoisele's willingness to say so makes her more interesting than her unrnitigated nastiness would otherwise allow. 13 Augustine, 458. Here Augustine is likely referring to the stories preserved in such pseudepigraphal material s 2 Enoch 29 and the Life of Adam and Eve

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Christianity, then, Lucifer's fall is directly related to that of Adam and Eve, and both result from the same type of transgression. Human rebellion, like that of Lucifer, is a sin of the will, and the first couple's moral rebellion soon led to the sin of the flesh. The Judeo-Christian creation stories thus furnish the Tristan author with a central metaphor for the lovers' suffering and fate. The new tempter is Love; the lovers, like the original couple, are overcome by pride; and their 'passio' is a type of exile from the paradise of the beloved. Lucifer, Adam and Eve, and the Tristan/Iseut/Palamede love trio all suffer similar fates. In characterizing their frustrated love s a type of exile, the central characters introduce a related concept, that their fate is a 'fair from a better state, imagery which links the lovers' 'original sin' (pride) and the vagaries of Fortune. In his first monologue on love, Palamede compares Amor to Fortune and his ill treatment to its changeability: Amors, por Dieu, por quoi iestes vos si tornant com vos iestes? Certes, la roe de Fortune n'est pas si tornant d'assez, ne plus muable! (Curtis 1985, 199). An ironic aspect of this observation is that while Palamede bemoans the mutabity of love, in this romance love is quite immutable. Love never looses its hold; once the lover is stricken, death alone ends the misery. What Palamede perceives s love's fickleness is really his own cycle of hope and despair. As Kahedin so aptly observes, he, Palamede, and Marc all emonte en orgueiF s they hope to win Iseut, but they ultimately fall into despair because no one can have Iseut except Tristan. One can thus Interpret the lover's 'fall' s a reference either to the story of Adam and Eve or to the metaphor of the wheel of Fortune, but either Interpretation is linked to the sin of pride. One further observation in the romance solidifies this analysis of passion s a form of pride whose consequences are the lover's fall and exile. Dynadan first meets Iseut at the Joyeuse Gard without knowing who she is. As part of a practical joke Iseut and Tristan play on the unsuspecting Dynadan, Iseut asks Dynadan whether he would fight to defend a woman who loved him. In his response, Dynadan states that a knight should first know his limits and not attempt more than he is able to accomplish14. He then compares the overambitious lover to Icarus, who caused his own disaster by flying too high (Vienna 284b). As the Ovide Moralise testifies, medieval culture inter16:3. In addition, Revelation 12:7-12 recounts the apocalyptic vision of Lucifer's [Satan's] fall. 14 Several scholars have discussed Dynadan's intriguing character, but all have ignored the potential of this observation. See especially Busby (1983, 161-174) and Baumgartner (1975, esp. 33-35). Both these writers also provide bibliography for the earlier studies by such people s Vinaver and Payen.

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preted the story of Icarus s an Illustration of the dangers of pride: the medieval commentator explains Icarus' mishap by noting:
Et eil qui trop hautement vole, C'est eil qui par orgueil s'afole Et cuide comme malsenez Des biens que Diex li a donnez (11. 1841-1844)15.

When Palamede finally sees that in his love folly he tried to Voler au ciel' to become 'paraus a Dieu', he points out (along with Dynadan) that in the Prose Tristan, to love is to climb high in pride only to fall low in disappointment, and to approach Iseut, the sun of love (Tristan's term), is to risk melting the wax of one's wings. If one keeps in mind the thematic linking of love and pride which the discussions of love reveal, the prehistory becomes more important for the romance16, s it sets forth several major themes, including the theme of pride17. The prehistory opens with genealogical Information which links Tristan's family to that of Joseph of Arimathia. This connection reflects the influence of the Vulgate cycle and other contemporary works on the Prose Tristan, but even more importantly it ties the beginning of the Prose Tristan to the Grail quest, which concludes the romance. King Bron of Britain asks his brother-in-law Joseph of Arimathia to learn the desire of each of his twelve sons concerning marriage. The youngest, Helains li Gros, wishes to remain chaste and dedicate himself to Christ and the Grail: dist qu'il seroit virges tot son aage, et serviroit a la table del Saint grall, et garderoit a Nostre Seignor s virginete (Curtis 1963, 40). The ten eldest sons agree to let Joseph find them wives, but Sador, the eleventh, shocks Joseph by retaining the right to choose his own wife. He swears obedience to Joseph in all things save this one. Joseph answers by predicting that Sador will ultimately regret his decision (p. 41). Sador's willful act results from pride just s Adam and Eve's disobedience does. And the Prose Tristan author's use of these parallels suggests furthermore that the sons pay for the sins of the fathers: just
15 See Boer/Coer/Van'Tsant (1966). After recounting the story of Icarus s it is in Ovid, the medieval commentator interprets the story s the quoted lines show. This passage is also discussed by Rudd (1988, 35). 16 The prehistory is sometimes considered to be a bothersome and unnecessary preliminary to the more important story of Tristan. For example, Gaston Paris calls Tristan's genealogy aussi ennuyeuse que longue et inutile (1886, 601). Lseth calls the prehistory a fastidieuse introduction (1891, xviii). More recently, even Van Coolput has missed the significance of the prehistory when she states du point de vue de s fonction dans l'intrigue, toute cette partie du texte apparait comme une excroissance difficile a justifier (1986, 25). 17 Several recent articles elaborate on this aspect of the prehistory. See Mickel (1989 and 1988) and Calkins (1987a and 1987b). FinaUy see my own article, Traxler (1987).

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as the original sin tainted all of the first couple's progeny, so also Sador's sin survives in his descendants, including Tristan. The fact that Galaad's genealogy goes back to Joseph of Arimathia18 and Tristan's goes back to Joseph's brother-in-law (Sador's father) permits the author to contrast the deeds and natures of the two great knights. Galaad's line springs from dedication to God, while Tristan's springs from willfulness; from the opening lines, therefore, pride and humility constitute the moral poles between which the romance unfolds19. The romance thus ends appropriately with the Grail quest, and Galaad's and Tristan's deaths occur at nearly the same time. Given the role of Saint Augustine's writings in shaping medieval attitudes toward pride, it is surely no coincidence that Saint Augustine figures in the prehistory and that he punishes Tristan's ancestor, Chelinde, for the lust and religious vacillation which make her an appropriate wife for Sador. Chelinde makes the fatal mistake of refusing to believe Saint Augustine's announcement that she has married her own son. When Chelinde tries to have Augustine destroyed by fire, God preserves Augustine and instead strikes Chelinde with fire. Though Chelinde does not desire men the way Iseut's suitors desire and pursue her, Chelinde's death by fire symbolizes her lust, and the stench which accompanies it underscores her sinfulness (Curtis 1963, 104)20. Again, pride is the source of destruction: if Chelinde had obeyed Apollo, her husband and king, and accepted the holy man's message, she would have been reconverted to Christianity with her husband. Another glance at Palamede's early moments reveals further evidence of pride as a link between the prehistory and the story of Tristan. At Palamede's first appearance, the text notes that Palamede is a Saracen who remained so despite the conversion of his father and eleven brothers. The parallelism between Palamede and Sador seems too clear to be accidental: each family has twelve sons; Sador and Palamede are the only renegades in each case. Because Sador acts in pride by maintaining his independence concerning marriage and then
18 Le Chevalier Desirre, celui qui est estraiz dou haut lignage le Roi David et del parente Joseph d'Arimacie, Pauphilet (1975, 7). 19 Among the Prose Tristan's audience certain people would have been familir also with the 12th C. pseudo-Hugo of Saint Victor's De fructibus carnis et Spiritus, which presents the tree of vices and the tree of virtues to symbolize the links among the different vices on the one hand and the virtues on the other. Significantly, the root of the tree of vices is pride and that of the tree of virtues is humility (Bloomfield 1952, 84). Quite apart from this work, however, pride and humility are regularly paired as opposites, a tradition which was popularized by Prudentius and many others. 20 e ele puoit si durement que a peine pooit home demorer au palais (Curtis 1963, 106). Mickel (1989, 54-56) gives a detaed discussion of this issue.

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rejects Christianity by lapsing into paganness in the land of Teriadan l'Enchanteor, his life is one long punishment for his sins, a fate which recalls that of Adam and Eve. It is equally significant that Palamede rejects Christianity. Palamede's persistence in not converting constitutes an act of pride equivalent to Sador's desire to find his own wife. Though at several points different characters comment on his paganness or suggest that he convert, Palamede steadfastly refuses their counsel. Yet this persistance is qualified in an odd way which links it to his passion for Iseut. When he first sees Iseut, Palamede is immediately overwhelmed with love for her: Ele estoit tant bele et tant avenanz de totes chose que Palamedes, qui la regardoit, en estoit tot esbahiz, et bien dit en son euer, et tant li plest et atalente qu'il n'est riens ou monde qu'il ne fe'ist por li avoir, nes s loi guerpi. Et ce estoit la riens ou monde que il fe'ist plus a enviz, mes totesvoies la gerpiroit il por avoir Yselt, s'il po'ist estre (Curtis 1963, 164). Curiously, his faith, which he has retained despite the conversion of the rest of his family and which he values above all eise, becomes an item he would exchange if so doing would gain him Iseut. The preceding discussions examined two aspects of the theme of pride in the Prose Tristan. The first argued that the prose romance shifts the focus from love to pride and lust, drawing on the wellknown inte retation of pride s the first sin, the cause of lust and the cause of Adam and Eve's fall from grace and expulsion from Paradise. The second discussion examined the theme of pride in the prehistory and called attention to the fact that the genealogies of Tristan and Galaad both spring from the family of Joseph of Arimathia but are founded respectively in acts of humility (for Galaad's ancestor) and pride (for Tristan's ancestor). Having studied the role of pride in the beginnings - the Fall (for Biblical characters s well s for the lovers) and the prehistory - we will now examine its role in the conclusion of the story. The Prose Tristan author takes the Queste del Saint Graal, which originally has no connection to the Tristan story, and interpolates it, at times verbatim, at the end of the romance. This change fits the author's general practice of making the Tristan legend part of the Arthurian cycle. But it also sets the Grail quest, whose achievement depends especially on the virtues of humility and chastity, against the chivalric adventures of Tristan and the struggles of many people to win or keep or impress Iseut. Furthermore, since the lovers die at the same time s Galaad and Palamede, the conclusion allows us to compare the final moments of the virtuous Grail knight to those of the adulterous couple and the converted pagan. In the prehistory and exposition of Palamede's and Tristan's love for Iseut, the characters must repeatedly choose between obedience

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to a divinely ordained hierarchy or ideal on the one hand and obedience to individual will and emotion on the other hand - between humility and pride, between self-control and laxity. Sador rejects Submission to Joseph of Aramathia's judgment and follows his own mind; Chelinde first accepts without discrimination whatever man or religion she meets, then later rejects Saint Augustine's revelation and her husband's desire not to hrm Augustine; Palamede refuses Christianity but is willing to renounce his paganness to win the woman he loves; Tristan obeys lust rather than his sovereign and actually carries of the Queen of Cornwall. Finally during the Quest, Tristan must choose twice between Iseut and a higher ideal. Shortly after describing the departure for the Quest, the text returns to Tristan's adventures. After a year, Tristan decides to give up the Quest and return to Iseut, whom he misses greatly. Tristan's spiritual shallowness is blatant here: in addition to renouncing the Quest in order to rejoin his mistress, Tristan treats the Quest like an extended chivalric adventure, s he reveals in a letter to Iseut. Tristan regrets his promise to join the Quest for one year: moi poise que je onques le jurai, se Diex m'aist. Maintes fois m'en sui repentis puis celui jor (Vienna 388c). But the year has been good for him; he has worked hard, winning much praise and fame. He now considers that he can return to Iseut without incurring any criticism: tant j'ai fait, Dieu merchi, que je ai conquis et pris et los plus que je n'avoie devant. Or m'en reporai je sans blasme a vous retourner (Vienna 388c). He promises to return s soon s he has aided the woman of Soreloys, and he justifies this delay by recalling that knights are duty-bound above other things to aid women in need: s veuves dames malmenees contre raison et contre droit, s puceles desiretees a tort et a pecie doivent cevaliers aidier a tous besoins et laissier tous autres fais pour celui (Vienna 388va). The two choices implied here - first betwen his mistress and the Grau, and second between his mistress and chivalric duty - support what we have already observed about Tristan and others in this romance. In the first case, Tristan chooses his mistress. Sador's opening act thus reverberates through the romance. And with this decision, the author exploits the comparison with Lancelot which is never far from the surface of the story. In this case, however, the comparison works to Tristan's disadvantage. Lancelot, whose Situation resembles Tristan's, at least tries to give up Guenievre to qualify for the mystery of the Grail; Tristan, however, chooses Iseut. The author further suggests comparison between Tristan and Galaad, whose unbending dedication to the search for the Grail shapes the passages interpolated from the Queste del Saint Graal. Galaad, the spiritually and sexually pure knight, distinguishes himself by resisting that which Tristan pre-

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fers. In the quest material that the Tristan author invented, Galaad appears often in circumstances whose esthetic nature differs markedly from that of the passages from the Vulgate Queste. Yet even when Galaad Starts to resemble Tristan, the change is apparent quite simply because Galaad is not supposed to resemble Tristan; the reader is shocked to see Galaad change, especially since these passages alternate with sections taken directly from the Vulgate Queste, in which Galaad is so saintly. In addition to contrasting Tristan with Lancelot and with Galaad, the author also contrasts Tristan with Palamede during the death scenes, a point to which we will return shortly. In the second choice - between his mistress and chivalric duty Tristan chooses the latter. This is perhaps not suprising, since to stay too much at Iseut's side would threaten Tristan's reputation. But if we recall that this choice follows the decision to leave the Grail quest, it takes on a different character: Tristan's desire to see Iseut is so strong that he renounces further participation in the quest, yet it is not so strong that he will deny a women help. The larger context for this decision is that Tristan frequently leaves Iseut to pursue adventure. Once Iseut is safe at Joyeuse Garde, Tristan increasingly focuses on pleasure and the trappings of chivalry, to the exclusion even of the admirable, albeit worldly ethic upon which chivalry is based. When he must choose between avenging the murder of the Roi de la Cite Vermeille and going to the tourney at Louveserp, Tristan lets Palamede accept the challenge because he is worried that if he, Tristan, accepts the Job, he will miss the tourney. Ironically, Palamede accomplishes the task admirably and still returns in time for the tourney. Similarly, when Tristan decides to go to the Grail Pentecost, he little appreciates the religious nature of the occasion but thinks instead of the impression he will make by deliberately arriving at the last minute: Je voeul venir entr'aus si soudainnement qu'il en soient merveillant et esbahi. Je voeul venir a cele feste conme cevaliers aventureus (Vienna 352c). Tristan's plan contrasts with the highly solemn religious nature of the event but matches his attitude upon finding the Roi de la Cite Vermeille: he values the form of chivalry over its ethical essence. So at the occasion of the GraiTs appearance, Tristan is primarily concerned with his image s Chevalier aventureux21.
21 Similar to Chretien's Erec, Tristan risks loss of reputation if he stays too long with his beloved. Unlike Erec, however, Tristan never learns the lesson of mesure: he loses Iseut because of the Grail Quest (Et meismes mesire Tristans s'y mist adont et par cele queste perdi il ma dame Yseut et le rois March le recouvra, Vienna 335b) and he falls in the Quest because he cannot stay away from Iseut. On his way to Camelot he meets Palamede. Tristan has ridden his horse almost to death when the two knights meet. They cannot resume their battle for mutual destruction because Tristan has left most of his armor at Joyeuse Garde so he can ride lighter and faster (Vienna 352va). In a strnge show

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Even after Tristan returns to Iseut, he soon leaves on another adventure, which leads to bis death. During this absence, Marc invades Logres and retrieves bis wife. When Tristan learns this, he follows Iseut to Cornwall, where Marc soon wounds bim fatally. Tristan's death scene permits us one final Chance to evaluate bis character. Most of Tristan's long farewell speech emphasizes bis identity s knight-errant. He gives Sagremor detailed instructions for the delivery of bis sword and shield to Arthur's court. He bids a long, mournful goodbye to chivalry, emphasizing what a loss bis death means. Then he asks Sagremor to express bis farewell to Palamede, Dynadan, and Lancelot. Through all of this, Tristan is almost obsessed by the shame of having to admit defeat. Eventually he can no longer avoid saying those dreadful words: Saygremor, ne puis plus celer - je sui vaincus (Vienna 489a). Tristan then forgives Marc and asks God to do likewise. Finally he speaks to Iseut, asking her to die with him: si iront nos ames tout ensamble (Vienna 489c). Iseut agrees. Relieved at her pledge of loyalty, Tristan asks Iseut to embrace him and soon speaks bis dying words: Des ore ne me caut quant je muire puis que je ai ma dame Yseut ore avoic moi (Vienna 489vb). Tristan and Iseut then die simultaneously, Tbouce a bouce'. Comparison of this death scene with that of Palamede reveals that it concludes logically the presentation of pride and passion which began in the prehistory. Shortly before the end of the romance, Palamede finally decides to convert. He is baptized and knighted at Arthur's court. then leaves to seek the Grau, but is soon killed by the dastardly Gauvain and Agravain. Though Palamede is the romance's most eloquent analyst of love, bis death speech is short, direct, and devoid of references to bis love for Iseut. First, he recalls Galaad, for whom he has the greatest love, and asks Lancelot and Hector to remember him. Then, he forgives Gauvain, absolves Agravain, and asks Lancelot to greet Arthur and teil him that Gauvain was the murderer. Finally, he speaks to God, regretting bis early death and bis abbreviated chance to be a cpreudom a dieu et ao monde'. He dies quoting Chist's final words: Ha, Jhucrist, peres de pitie, en tes mains conmant je mon esperit (Vienna 489b)22.
of generosity, Palamede gives Tristan bis horse so Tristan can continue to Camelot. Not being Christian or a member of the Round Table (Vienna 353a), Palamede of course has no reason to go to this event. But there is an odd sort of irony in the fact that Palamede's generosity allows Tristan to accomplish bis scheme. There is perhaps another reference here to Tristan's pride. In Prudentius' Psychomachia, Pride rides a spirited steed; furthermore, during the Grau Quest, s the hermit explains Hector's dream in the Queste, he interprets Lancelot's horse s a symbol of pride (Pauphilet 1975, 158, a passage which is also cited in the Tristan). 22 See Luke 23:46: Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum. Though

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Tristan and Iseut consistently choose their passion for each other over their social and legal obligations to their lord, Marc, and their spiritual obligations to God. Unlike Chretien's Erec and the Vulgate Lancelot, who also must decide between their beloved and a higher calling, whether it be knighthood or spiritual perfection, Tristan continues to choose his mistress without remorse. And unlike Galaad, who remains virtuous and accomplishes the Grail quest, Tristan drops out to return to Iseut and to pursue pure adventure. His death thus logically concludes his life and contrasts sharply with that of his chief rival, Palamede. Whereas Palamede commits his spirit to God, Tristan commits his sword and shield to Arthur (Vienna 489a). Palamede dies with Christ's final words on his lips; Tristan dies with Iseut on his lips. Palamede embraces Christianity; Tristan embraces Iseut. With Tristan's story set between a prehistory which underscores the consequences of pride and Grail material which urges renunciation of the mundane in favor of the celestial, we can see that Tristan is not merely the victim of a tragic love. Instead, like Adam and Eve, he falls prey to the oldest sin, pride. Early in the Quest section the naxrative voice comments that Tristan loses Iseut because of the Grail Quest (Vienna 335b). Now we also know that Tristan loses the Grail Quest because of his desire for Iseut and his unwillingness to submit to any discipline higher than his search for worldly renown and seif gratification. North Manchester
Bibliography Augustine, bishop of Hippo, The City of God, trans. Dods, Marcus, New York (Random House) 1950. Baumgartner, Emmanuele, Le Tristan en prose, essai d'interpretation d'un roman medieval, Geneve (Droz) 1975. Bloomfield, Morton W., The Seven Deadly Sins: An Introduction to the History of a Religious Concept, with Special Reference to Medieval English Literature, East Lansing, MI (Michigan State College Press) 1952. Boer, C. de/Coer, Martina G. de/Van'Tsant, Jeannette Th. M. (edd.), Ovide moralise: Poeme du commencement du quatorzieme siecle publie d'apres tous les manuscrits connus, vol. 3 (Nieuwe Reeks, Deel XXX, No. 3), Wiesbaden (Sndig) 1966. Busby, Keith, The Likes of Dynadan: The Rote of the Misfit in Arthurian Literature, Neophologus 67, 1983, 161-174. Gallons, Janet H., Chelinde et la naissance du Tristan en prose, MA 93, 1987, 41-50(= 1987a). Galaad's portrayal frequently underscores the link between Galaad and Christ, even Galaad does not quote Christ s he dies.

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Calkins, Janet H., Recompense et chdtiment dans la structure narrative de La genealogie du Tristan en prose in: Davies, P. V./Kennedy, A. J. (edd.) Rewards and Punishments in the Arthurian Romances and Lyric Poetry of Medieval France, Arthurian Studies 17, 1987, 9-19 (= 1987b). Charlesworth, James H. (ed.), The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vol., Garden City, NY (Doubleday) 1983. Chenerie, M.-L./Delcourt, Th. (edd.), Le Roman de Tristan en prose, vol. 2, Geneve (Droz) 1990 (= Vienna II). Cirlot, J. E., A Dictionary of Symbols, trans. Sage, Jack, New York (Philosophical Library) 1962. Curtis, Renee L., Le Roman de Tristan en prose, vol. l, Munich (Hueber) 1963. Curtis, Renee L., Le Roman de Tristan en prose, vol. 2, Leiden (Brill) 1976. Curtis, Renee L., Le Roman de Tristan en prose, vol. 3, Cambridge (Brewer) 1985. Gurevich, Aron, Medieval Populr Culture: Problems of Belief and Perception, trans. Bak, Jnos M./Hollingworth, Paul A., Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 1988. Julleville, L. Petit de, Histoire de la langue et de la litterature francaise des origines a 1900, tome , 2e partie, Paris (Armand Colin) 1896. Jung, Marc-Rene, Etudes sur le poeme allegorique en France au moyen ge, (Romanica Helvetica, 82), Berne (Francke) 1971. Lacy, Norris J. (ed.), The New Arthurian Encyclopedia, New York (Garland) 1991. Lseth, Eilert, Le Roman en prose de Tristan, le roman de Palamede et la compilation de Rusticien de Pise, analyse critique d'apres les manuscrits de Paris, Paris (Bouillon) 1891 (reprint New York, Burt Franklin, 1970). Male, Emile, L'Arl religieux du XHIe siede en France, Paris (Armand Colin) 1958. Menard, Philippe (ed.), Le Roman de Tristan en prose, vol. l, Geneve (Droz) 1987 (= Vienna I). Mickel, Emanuel J., Jr., Tristan's Ancestry in the Tristan en Prose, R 109, 1988, 68-89. Mickel, Emanuel J., Jr., The Ordeal of Chelynde in the Tristan en Prose, ZrP 105, 1989, 50-59. Paris, Gaston, Note sur les romans relatifs a Tristan, R 15, 1886, 597-602. Pauphilet, Albert (ed.), La Queste del Saint Graal, Paris (Champion) 1975. Rowland, Beryl, Animals With Human Faces: A Guide to Animal Symbolism, Knoxvle, TN (University of Tennessee Press) 1973. Rudd, Niall, Daedalus and Icarus: From Rome to the end of the Middle Ages, in: Martindale, Charles (ed.), Ovid Renewed: Ovidian Inuences on Literature and Art from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 1988, 21-35. Russell, Jeffrey Burton, Lucifer: The Devil in the Middle Ages, Ithaca, NY (Cornell University Press) 1984. Thiebaux, Marcelle, The Stag ofLove: The Chase in Medieval Literature, Ithaca, NY (Cornell University Press) 1974. Traxler, Janina P, Observations on the Importance ofthe Prehistojy in the Tristan en prose, R 108, 1987, 539-548. Van Coolput, Colette-Anne, Aventures querant et le sens du monde: aspects de la reception productive des premiers romans du Graal cycliques dans le Tristan en prose, Leuven (Leuven University Press) 1986.

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