Judgement and Emotion in Gottfried’s von Straßburg Tristan

The love between Tristan and Isolde is not only unusual, nor simply unhappy, but it is forbidden and disputed. It is criticized and judged. It is unacceptable to many individuals, but also to entire communities and social classes, and it is morally judged by members of the two higher estates—nobles and clergy, rulers. Even the lovers themselves, and even the narrator, join in this widespread judgment with their own criticism and self-judgement, judging others and God, thus making judgement a new and important theme in Gottfried’s courtly epic. Tristan is an epic about love and judgement. It is a novel about love, lies, and deceit. Judgement, of course, is closely connected to sin and righteousness in it. Judgement is one of the most important, essential phenomena in Tristan, as it is an indicator of movement, variability, the struggle of opposites, dialectics, and contrasts.

Previous research highlights the representations of emotions in Gottfried’s work as diverse and heterogeneous, with their interpretation posing significant challenges. This heterogeneity becomes significant on many different levels and through the example of a broad spectrum of figures and constellations. However, through the exploration of judgement through emotions, the heterogeneity of emotions and protagonists in the work, as well as of the work itself—disappears. Judgement becomes an indispensable and essential foundation for a new level of interpretation of Gottfried’s Tristan.

In the search for judgement in Tristan, whose abundant presence in the novel is both surprising and delightful, one could explore a whole range of human emotions richly presented by Gottfried’s magnificent writing talent, but not only that. Through the path of judgement, one encounters fundamental, yet unexplored or sporadically researched, themes considered in this magnificent work, and briefly addresses most of them.