Tristan in the Underworld A Study of Gottfried Von Strassburg's Tristan Together with the Tristan of Thomas

The findings of recent archaeological and folkloric studies are subsumed into this study where they possess literary relevance. The author finds that the Thomas/Gottfried branch of the legend has little to do with an uncritical glorification of courtly love as that term has been commonly understood. Rather, the tension arising from within the amorous triangle of Tristan, Isolde, and Marke is finally resolved on terms favourable to the collective and the adultery is not finally permitted to injure the fabric of courtly civilization which Tintagel symbolizes. Gottfried von Strassburg emerges less as a critic of the chivalric order than as a staunch defender of the feudal status quo.