Did the legendary lovers Tristan and Isolde really exist? The appearance of the novel and analysis of the characters' images

Tristan – main character tales of Tristan and Isolde, the son of King Rivalen (in some versions Meliaduc, Canelangres) and Princess Blanchefleur (Beliabelle, Blancebil). T.'s father dies in a battle with the enemy, and his mother dies in birth pangs. Dying, she asks to name the newborn baby Tristan from the French triste, i.e. “sad,” for he was both conceived and born in sadness and sadness. One day T. boards a Norwegian ship and begins to play chess with the merchants. Carried away by the game, T. does not notice how the ship is sailing, T. thus finds himself captured. The merchants intend to sell it on occasion, and for the time being they use it either as a translator or as a navigator. The ship encounters a terrible storm. It lasts a whole week. The storm subsides, and the merchants land T. on an unfamiliar island. This island turns out to be the possession of King Mark, brother of T.'s mother.
It gradually becomes clear that he is the king's nephew. The king loves him like his son, and the barons are unhappy about this. One day, Cornwall, where Mark rules, is attacked by the giant Morholt, demanding annual tribute. T. is the only one who decides

fight Morholt. In a fierce battle, T. defeats the giant, but a piece of Morholt’s sword, soaked in a poisonous compound, remains in his wound. No one can cure T. Then Mark orders him to be put in a boat without oars or sails and set free at the mercy of the waves. The boat lands in Ireland. There T. is cured of his wounds by a girl with golden hair (in some versions, her mother).
One day, King Mark sees two swallows flying in the sky with golden hair in their beaks. He says he will marry a girl who has hair like that. Nobody knows where such a girl could be. T. remembers that he saw her in Ireland and volunteers to bring her to King Mark. T. goes to Ireland and wooes Isolde for his uncle. Later versions describe a tournament with the participation of King Arthur's knights, in which T. fought so well that the Irish king - Isolde's father - invited him to ask for everything he wanted.
T.'s image has deep folklore origins. He is associated with the Celtic Drestan (Drustan), thus, the etymology of his name from the word triste is nothing more than the desire to realize unfamiliar name like a friend. In T. one can discern the features of a fairy-tale hero: he alone fights a giant, almost a dragon (it is no coincidence that the tribute that Morholt asks for is more suitable for a tribute to a snake), according to some versions, he fights a dragon in Ireland, for which the king offers him choose your reward. The journey in the boat of the dying T. is associated with the corresponding burial rites, and the stay on the island of Ireland may well be correlated with a stay in the afterlife and, accordingly, with the extraction of a bride from another world, which for earthly man always ends badly. It is also characteristic that T. is the son of Mark’s sister, which again takes us into the element of ancient phratrial relations (the same can be said about Isolde’s attempt to avenge her uncle, about the relationship between T. and Kaerdin, his wife’s brother).
At the same time, T. in all versions of the plot is a courtly knight. His semi-magical abilities are explained not by a miraculous origin, but by an unusually good upbringing and education. He is a warrior, musician, poet, hunter, navigator, and is fluent in the “seven arts” and many languages. In addition, he is knowledgeable in the properties of herbs and can prepare rubs and infusions that change not only the color of his skin, but also his facial features. He plays chess very well. T. of all versions is a man who subtly feels and experiences the duality of his position: love for Isolde fights in his soul with love (and vassal duty) for his uncle. As for the hero of a chivalric novel, love for T. represents a certain core of life. She is tragic, but she defines his life. The love potion drunk by T. and becoming the source further developments, associated with folklore and mythological representation about love as witchcraft. Different versions The plot defines the role of the love potion in different ways. So, in Tom’s novel the validity of the drink is not limited, but in Béroul’s novel it is limited to three years, but even after this period T. continues to love Isolde. Later versions, as already mentioned, tend to somewhat reduce the role of the drink: their authors emphasize that love for Isolde appears in T.’s heart even before swimming. The love potion becomes a symbol of the irresistible love of the heroes and serves as some justification for their illicit relationship.

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"Tristan and Isolde": summary

Tristan, the son of King Loonua, was left an orphan as an infant. His father died in battle defending the lands of King Mark, his wife's brother, from the Irish Baron Morgan. The mother died upon learning of her husband's death. The young man received an excellent knightly education from the servants of his late father and, having reached adulthood, went to the court of his uncle, King Mark, to become his vassal. Here he accomplished his first feat - he killed the cruel giant Morolt, the brother of the Irish queen, who annually came to Tintagel, the capital of the kingdom of Mark, for tribute (300 boys and girls annually). But Tristan was also seriously wounded in the battle by the poisonous Morolt sword. No one could cure him. Then he asked to be put in the boat: wherever it floats, that’s where he should seek happiness. Fate gave the daredevil a meeting with the Irish princess Isolde the Blonde, who cured him with a magic potion. But she accidentally found out that Tristan was the killer of Morolt, her uncle. Overcoming the desire for revenge, the princess did not tell anyone about her discovery and sent Tristan home.

At Tintagel he was greeted as a hero, and Mark proclaimed him heir to the throne. This decision met with stubborn resistance from the barons, who, jealous of Tristan, hated him. After a long conflict, they convinced Mark of the need to marry and have a legitimate successor. But the king put forward an incredible condition: he agreed to marry only the princess, who had to have golden braids, like the hair that the swallow brought to the castle. And then Tristan announced that he would bring the princess to Mark, because he immediately recognized the hair of Isolde Blonde. Once again, Tristan set out on the road to woo Mark a bride and thereby avert suspicions of wanting to take the throne that belonged to his uncle. To win Isolde's favor, Tristan fought the man-eating dragon and freed the country from a terrible scourge. Wounded in an unequal battle, poisoned by the fiery breath of the monster, he almost died. And again he was saved by Isolde and her nobility: the princess did not take revenge for the death of her uncle.

The Irish king invited the knight to marry Isolde. Tristan, true to his word, asked for her hand in marriage for Mark and received consent. The girl was supposed to marry a man she had never even seen. The love potion was supposed to make this marriage happy. However, she accidentally drank this magical drink with Tristan during a sea voyage to the shores of Mark's domain. During the insane heat, Brangen's maid, in a hurry to quench the thirst of her lady and Tristan, gave them a magical drink intended for their wedding night instead of ordinary wine. That is why an inextinguishable thirst for love flared up in their hearts. They became lovers right there on the ship. When Isolde arrived in Titagel, Brangena, saving her mistress, lay down in her place on the king’s marriage bed, who in the darkness did not notice the substitution.

Tristan and Isolde could not hide their fiery passion. When Mark found out about everything, he sentenced the lovers to be burned at the stake. But Tristan managed to escape from custody. Meanwhile, the king changed the punishment for Isolde: he sacrificed her to a crowd of lepers. The knight saved his beloved and ran away with her into the thicket. They were exposed by the royal forester - and Mark himself went to the lovers' hut to punish them. But seeing that they were sleeping clothed, and a sword lay between them, he was touched and forgave his nephew and wife. Mark demanded only the return of Isolde and the departure of Tristan from his kingdom.

The barons did not calm down even now, they wanted God’s judgment for Isolde. She had to pick up a bar of hot iron without even damaging her skin. Isolde passed the test. And Tristan went to a distant land, where he found himself a faithful brother-in-law, Kaerdin, whose sister Isolde Dark-haired (White-Armed) fell in love with him and became his wife. The knight was captivated by her feeling and the consonance of names, but at the same time he wanted to force out the love for Isolde the Blonde from his heart. Over time, he realized that hopes of replacing one Isolde with a second were in vain. Tristan was unhappy in his marriage: his heart belonged to Isolde the Blonde. Mortally wounded by a poisoned sword in a duel with the invaders, he asked a friend to bring his beloved to him, because only she could heal him.

He was waiting for a ship with white sails (this is a sign that Isolde was supposed to arrive). And then the servants reported that a sailboat had appeared on the horizon. Tristan asked about the color of the sails. “Black,” deceived his wife, overcome with jealousy and anger for her rejected feelings (she knew about the agreement between Tristan and Isolde). And Tristan died. Isolde Blonde saw his lifeless body. The death of her lover killed her too. People were amazed at the depth of love between lovers who could not live without each other. Love won: two trees grew on the graves of lovers overnight, intertwining their branches forever.

"Tristan and Isolde": analysis

There are two layers in the novel. One of them lies on the surface - this is the conflict between the love of Tristan and Isolde with the ethical and social norms of their time, and illegal love, since Tristan is Mark’s nephew and vassal, and Isolde is his wife. Therefore, four harsh laws became between them - feudal, marriage, blood and gratitude. The second layer is the fatality of love alone, which can be realized only under the condition of constant division of the soul, tension of feelings, its forbiddenness, illegality.

The author’s attitude towards the moral and social conflict he touches on is ambivalent: on the one hand, he seems to recognize the correctness of the prevailing morality, making Tristan suffer due to the awareness of his guilt. The love of Tristan and Isolde, according to the author, is a misfortune caused by the elixir. On the other hand, he does not hide his sympathy for the lovers, portraying in positive terms everyone who contributed to her, and expresses his satisfaction over the failures or deaths of enemies. The author glorifies the love that stronger than death who does not want to reckon with either the hierarchy established by feudal society or the law catholic church. The novel contains elements of criticism of the foundations of this society.

Tristan and Isolde are among the “eternal images” of world culture. The modern French writer Michel Tournier believed that every eternal image (Don Quixote, Prometheus, Hamlet, Faust) is the embodiment of rebellion against the established order. He noted: “Don Juan is the embodiment of the rebellion of freedom against fidelity, the rebellion of the freedom of a person seeking pleasure against marital fidelity. The strange paradox of Tristan and Isolde is that they also rebel against marital fidelity, but they do this not for the sake of freedom, but in the name of deep, lasting fidelity - fidelity to fatal passion.”

Source (translated): Davydenko G.Y., Akulenko V.L. Story foreign literature Middle Ages and Renaissance. - K.: Center educational literature, 2007

Isolde and Tristan are the main characters of many works of courtly literature of the Middle Ages. The legend about the beautiful and poetic love of Queen Isolde (who was first the bride and then the wife of Mark, the Cornish king) and the knight Tristan (who was this king’s nephew) appeared in the 8th-9th century in the poetry of the British Celts, and was also included in the epic about the knights of the Round table" and King Arthur.

History of literary adaptations of the plot

The legend of Tristan and Isolde was first processed literary in France, where the legend was probably brought by the descendants of the British Celts, the Breton jugglers. A French romance about these lovers first appeared in the mid-12th century, but has not survived. The later legend of Tristan and Isolde used many French poets 12th century, for example, juggler Bérul, trouvère Thomas (aka Thomas), Chrétien de Troyes, and at the beginning of the 13th century - Godfrey of Strasbourg and many others. Italian, English, Spanish adaptations of this legend dating back to the 13th century, Czech adaptations (14th century), as well as Serbian (15th century) and others are known. Novels about Tristan and Isolde were very popular. Their plot is the story of the relationship between three characters: Isolde, Tristan, and also Mark.

Tristan and Isolde: the content of the story

Let us retell the plot of the most ancient novel of the 12th century, which has not reached us, but to which all other versions go back. The brilliant knight Tristan, raised by King Mark himself, frees Ireland from the need to pay tribute, while he himself is seriously wounded and asks to give his boat to the will of the waves.

Meeting with Isolde

So the young man ends up in Ireland, where the queen, the sister of Morolt, the Irish hero he killed, heals Tristan of his wounds. Returning to Cornwall, he tells Mark how beautiful the princess is, and then goes to woo the beautiful Isolde for his uncle. The Queen of Ireland, Isolde's mother, gives her a love drink before leaving, which she must drink with Mark.

Fatal mistake

However, on the way to Cornwall, Isolde and Tristan drink the potion by mistake and immediately fall in love with each other. Having become Mark's wife, the girl continues secret meetings with Tristan. The lovers are exposed, the trial begins, at which Isolde, to prove that she was only in the arms of the king, must swear and take a piece of red-hot iron in her hands to confirm the truth of her words. Tristan appears disguised as a pilgrim at his trial. Isolde suddenly stumbles and falls straight into his arms, after which she takes the iron in her hands and swears that she was only in the arms of the pilgrim and the king. Isolde and Tristan are triumphant.

Isolda Belorukaya

Tristan soon goes on a journey and marries another girl, whose name is the same - Isolde (White-armed). But he cannot forget his love. The story of Tristan and Isolde ends with the death of first the wounded Tristan (the second Isolde deceived him, saying that the ship was moving under black sails - a sign that the girl did not want to respond to the call of this hero), and then his beloved, who could not survive this death . Isolde and Tristan are buried nearby. The thorn tree that grew on Tristan's grave grows into the girl's grave.

Brief Analysis

The conflict between the free personal feelings of lovers and demands public morality, which permeates the entire work, reflects the deep contradictions that existed at that time in the knightly environment and the worldview of the era. Portraying this love with ardent sympathy, and everyone who tries to interfere with happiness - sharply negatively, the author at the same time does not dare to openly protest against existing institutions and concepts and “justifies” the heroes with the fatal effect of the love drink. However, objectively, this work is a deep criticism of feudal concepts and norms.

Legend Meaning

The story of Tristan and Isolde is a treasure trove of human culture. The French writer and scientist J. Bedier in 1900 recreated the original version of the novel (dating back to the mid-12th century) from surviving sources. Were created and musical works according to this legend. One of them, the opera "Tristan and Isolde", was created in the 1860s great composer Richard Wagner.

Contemporary art also uses this plot. For example, recently, in 2006, a film adaptation was released of this work, created by American director Kevin Reynolds.

The Celtic tale of Tristan and Isolde has been known in many adaptations. Among the oldest are fragments of poems that have come down to us, the action of which takes place in the lands of Cornwall, Ireland, and Brittany. In the prehistory of Tristan, there is a legend about his father, who died defending his land, about his mother who died of grief at the birth of her son, whose very name, Tristan, means “sad” (triste).

The novel about Tristan and Isolde was the most beloved and for three hundred years the most widespread in medieval Europe. His first poetic adaptations date back to the 12th century and are associated with the traditions of Celtic folklore. From France, the plot “migrates” to German, English, Spanish, Polish, and Norwegian literature. This story was even heard in Greek and Belarusian. Parents called their children Tristan and Isolde, despite the absence of these names in the calendar. Like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde are synonymous lovers. Episodes of them tragic lives pass from manuscripts to ancient tapestries, woven copra, painted goblets, palace frescoes, paintings. More than one generation of boys and girls of different classes learned the culture of feeling from this example.

And yet, despite the truly popular sympathy, none of the parchments conveyed to us the entire plot of the novel. It had to be restored from individual parts, episodes, fragments of text of the 12th-13th centuries. Did it on turn of XIX-XX centuries French philologist Joseph Bedier.

Compared to the epic poem, the novel is striking in its whimsical plot. Exposition of history fatal love Tristan and Isolde is hampered by numerous obstacles that lovers must overcome with fidelity, devotion, and even cunning. Knight Tristan, a vassal of King Mark of Cornwall, wooed the Irish princess Isolde the Blonde for him. Mutual love makes their lives a chain of continuous joys and torments.

Episodes of the novel depict to us the life of the Middle Ages with almost visible concreteness. The author notes with particular pleasure a job well done - strong and beautiful buildings made of hewn and firmly folded stones, the skillful harp playing of a Welsh juggler, the sailor's ability to read the stars. He admires any skill. And although Tristan is brave and valiant in feats of arms, he resorts to them more out of necessity than out of desire. The pictures of war are sad. When Tristan arrives in Brittany, he sees devastated fields, villages without inhabitants, destroyed fields. The hermit, to whom he turns with a question about the causes of the disaster, replies that the country, once rich in arable land and pastures, has been devastated by the knights of the neighboring count, and adds bitterly: “Such is war.”

Love is the main motive of the novel. Numerous definitions of love are scattered on its pages: it is “passion, burning joy and endless melancholy and death”, it is “the heat of a fever”, “a path without return”, it is “a desire that attracts uncontrollably, like a horse that has bitten the bit”, it is a “wonderful a garden about which songs are spoken to the sounds of a harp”, this is “a blissful country of the living”... And perhaps the most powerful thing in the novel is that love appears in it as a great miracle. In the direct in a simple sense- this is a miracle of a magical drink. When Tristan asks Isolde's hand for his uncle King Mark, the princess's mother, escorting her to long way, entrusts the maid Brangien with a jug with a love potion: “Girl,” she tells her, you will follow Isolde to the country of King Mark; do you love her true love. Take this jug and hide it so that no one’s eyes can see it and no one’s mouth will touch it. But when the wedding night comes, pour this herbal wine into a goblet and present it to King Mark and Queen Isolde so that they drink together. Yes, see, my child, that after them no one tastes this drink, for such is its power that those who drink it together will love each other with all their feelings and all their thoughts forever, both in life and in death.”

Having tasted this potion on the ship on a hot afternoon, Tristan and Isolde forget everything in the world. Here we see a naive trick of a medieval author, trying to reconcile the natural right to love with the still strong concept of the feudal duty of a vassal to the master, of the bride and wife to the legal spouse. The heroes of the novel seem to be relieved of responsibility for the lies and treason they commit. The magic drink allows them to remain right and noble in front of the right and noble King Mark, who is fatherly attached to Tristan.

But, reading the novel, we notice the emergence love feeling for young people much earlier than they find themselves on the ship. In Ireland, where Tristan sails to defeat a fire-breathing dragon, Isolde falls in love with Tristan from the first meeting. And it is not at all surprising that on the open sea, where calm overtakes and delays the ship, they can no longer resist love: “Isolde loved him. She wanted to hate him; did he not neglect her in an insulting way? She wanted to hate him, but she couldn’t... Brangien watched them with alarm, saw that they were refusing all food, all drink, all consolation, that they were looking for each other, like blind people who groped for each other. Unhappy! They languished apart, but suffered even more when, having come together, they trembled before the horror of the first confession.”

The lovers realize the illegitimacy and tragic hopelessness of their love. However, this feeling also gives their feeling a shade of self-sacrifice, a willingness to pay for love not only with everyday well-being, but also with life. For all the ambiguity of the situation in which the heroes find themselves, forced to constantly invent tricks in order to meet, their passion is not at all similar to the banal intrigue of clever lovers. This is precisely passion - an all-consuming and destructive feeling. The medieval author was already excellent at depicting its properties; the suffering of love is painful and at the same time attractive.

Deep penetration into the psychology of love feelings is a property real literature and the novel as a genre.

Today it may seem surprising how an artist of the 12th century was able to understand and depict the vicissitudes of passion. Self-sacrifice in it can coexist with selfishness, and after loyalty comes the temptation of betrayal. So, Tristan, wandering across the seas and countries and not receiving any news from Cornwall, comes to gloomy thoughts: “I am tired and tired. My lady is far away, I will never see her. Why didn't she send me everywhere for two years? The magic dog's rattle had its effect. Isolde forgot me. Will I never forget the one who loved me? Will I really not find anyone who would heal my grief?

It was these doubts, and not selfish calculations or a new feeling, that dictated Tristan’s rash decision to accept the proposal of the ruler of the country he liberated and marry his daughter, who bears the same name as his love:

“- Friend, I don’t know how to express my love to you. You saved this country for me, and I want to thank you. My daughter, Blonde Isolde, comes from a line of dukes, kings and queens. Take it, I give it to you.

“I accept it, sir,” replied Tristan.”

Warned in advance, we prepare for the fact that Tristan will never be able to cheat on his only beloved. On the day of a magnificent wedding, he looks longingly at a ring made of green jasper - a gift from Blonde Isolde. Having made his beautiful wife unhappy, he himself is even more unhappy. Dying more from melancholy than from the wounds received in battle, he calls his Isolde to him. A reliable friend goes to find her in distant Cornwalls. By agreement with Tristan, he must raise white sails if Isolde agrees to sail to Tristan, and black sails if she is not on the ship. But Tristan's wife Isolde Blonde hears the agreement and plans revenge. “Women’s anger is dangerous,” the author laments, “everyone should beware of it!” How stronger woman loved, the more terrible she takes revenge. A woman's love is quickly born, her hatred is quickly born, and, once ignited, hostility persists more stubbornly than friendship. Women know how to moderate their love, but not their hatred.”

Isolde Blonde deceives Tristan - she says that the ship is sailing under black sails. And Tristan can no longer “hold on to his life”; he dies. Isolde, who came ashore, also dies of grief for her beloved. King Mark transports the bodies of the lovers to Cornwall and orders them to be buried in two graves. However, at night, a thorn bush fragrant with flowers grows from Tristan’s grave and goes into the bed of Blonde Isolde. They try to destroy him three times, but in vain. This is how the novel affirms in poetic form the idea that love conquers death.

What makes the novel about Tristan and Isolde immortal is its great ideas:

Natural love is stronger than human laws;

Love is stronger than death.

A magic drink and a green branch connected the graves of Tristan and Isolde - fantastic images, carrying deep philosophical meaning.

The novel "Tristan and Isolde" is not the only classic Middle Ages. And other images of knightly literature entered the treasury of world culture. In a chivalric romance, different currents merged, like in a river flow. Antiquity, Christianity, paganism, and feudal mentality are intricately intertwined in the plots. Accurate ethnographic writings coexist with fantasy. Unnamed “collective” authors of ancient legends - with the names of the creators having a biography. It is important for us to emphasize that the chivalric romance developed as a genre during the late Middle Ages. He has his own types of plotting, his own laws and world (this is the plot of passion and the plot of adventure), his own novelistic thinking that accepts MIRACLE as the possibility of a “meeting” of the material and transcendental worlds, eternal time and expanding space, his own set of famous images, stylistics, language.

The courtly novel is divided into three main cycles in accordance with the three types of plots they develop: ancient, Breton (Arthurian cycle, novels about the Holy Grail, Tristan and Isolde) and Byzantine-Oriental.

21. "Tristan and Isolde".

Background: the heroes of the legend are the fruit of passionate love. The story of this love is tragic (although there are no obstacles). This story is to justify the birth of a child: the father dies in battle, and the mother in childbirth. Its origin is hidden. Courtly education.

Tristan– an exemplary knight (masters all types of weapons, martial arts, invincible). Great musician(plays the harp, an ancient Celtic instrument), knows 7 foreign languages, plays chess, studied shipbuilding, he is also an architect, a formal engineer; ideal person. Faithful in friendship, generous, patient, selfless. How is it different from other heroes? He is characterized by dissatisfaction (he travels). He is looking for the dangerous, the strange.

Two topoi - the topos of the sea and the forest.

Sea- looks like the main character. What? In the ebb and flow of mood; leaves/comes. Tristan resembles the stormy North Sea, the sea of the Celts. It poses a threat, but it is also on the side of the protagonist. The sea is the element that it entrusts to itself. He's not a Celt!

His marriage is interesting: It is not Tristan's love that is most offensive.

Interesting image King Mark: the king is a cuckold.

The golden-haired woman in whose love the hero burns.

Love of freedom (the world is huge, the road is free).

The NE world is closed, they are trying to open it.

There are works about the decline of learning. Light mocking parody character.

The famous poem is “The Order of the Rich,” the most charismatic. Hence the myth of “Alma mater”.

The Order of Vagants is opposed to the church order and knightly unions.

The Union of Vagants is the basis of traveling songs.
25. “The Romance of Rose.”

French NE literature.

Crossroads of eras.

Urban literature (vagantes), allegorical novel.

For the first time translated at our department.

Genre: visions.

The young man has a dream: he falls in love with Rose, the beauty is missing, he is in despair. He has lost his Favor and hopes that his friends will help him.

Guelhomme de Loris did not finish the novel.

The first part is a courtly allegorical novel. Sophistication, elegance. In a dream, the poet falls in love with the beautiful Rose. The skill of describing the garden where it grows. He is captivated by the outfit of spring, the stream, and the voices of birds. Admires the sensual splendor of nature. The garden is a symbol, not an allegory; like a rose. Allegories – Beauty, Pretense, abstract concepts, + types of characters: friend, old women. Complete revelry mythological images: Amor, Venus, Fortune, Narcissus. The vision does not depend on the real image. The genre presupposes a certain plot. It was believed that a dream or vision is a revelation (because it reports about the world). Vision - the truth is revealed. In a dream we live life, in a dream anything can happen. Sleep is a special world. a dream is an insight, a hint, something that we discover for ourselves, an absolute that exists with us. Rose– a majestic symbol of Roma (love, mystical revelation). White rose = Virgin Mary. The entire action of the novel is garden of love and fun. This garden is an earthly version of heaven. Restricted from the outside world. From earthly paradise there is a path to heavenly paradise. The garden of love, where the hero finds himself. Garden - in the style of Amur, ancient greek mythology. Kingdom of Flora. Eden returned. This is the garden of wisdom. Garden – generalized philosophical idea. Love: a young man wants to pick a rose. From sophisticated courtliness to sensuality.

The second (40 years after Guelom’s death) is a freethinker (author). Jean = Rabelais. He has enormous erudition and is associated with university science. Belongs to that direction of classical philosophers. It is said about Plato (whom he prefers), about Aristotle. Deep knowledge of nature (alchemy). It departs far from the courtly traditions of its predecessor. He is a didacticist and satirist. Attacks the feudal-church order, promotes new philosophical and social ideas. The love plot fades into the background. A number of new characters appear (Reason, Nature, Hypocrisy), which permeate the spaces. tirades reflect the views of the author. He takes up arms against the clergy and does not spare the pope himself. Laughs at those who believe that royal power is from God, justifying autocratic despotism with this. The young man plucks a rose from Jean. -> the feeling of love is realized. Love is part of nature. Venus conquers philosophy. Here, in this part, there is no plot movement. Discussion of Wisdom and Nature. This is almost the first time Jean says that the main thing is a free opinion (a modern idea!).

The main function is that of Amor (mentor of young men) and Venus. Each arrow of Mora personifies a certain virtue that defines each hero. Beloved heroes combine absolutely everything.

The novel is written in French. 13th century as a Gothic Cathedral. Trends:

courtly (aristocratic literature, Gelom);
urban freethinking, university scholarship;
directly from the university.

The novel combines everything that is most interesting and relevant.

The novel is called the Gothic Cathedral. “The poetic soul is a rational abyss” (O. Mandelstam).

The art of allegory begins at the dawn of Christian culture. The use of allegory is a tradition when we're talking about about philosophy. Example: Macean Copello: “On the War of Philology and Mercury,” treatise (educational encyclopedia). Allegorical figures embody various arts.

A system of allegorical images is created.

26. Icelandic epic .

Iceland is an island, a block of ice. A small piece is only suitable for life. People from Norway and Denmark live there - Vikings. There is no government, no state institutions. They lived in clans and hamlets. Meetings - 2 times a year (Ting), where contracts, alliances, marriages were concluded. Godi– a respected person, a judge, an authority (most often – a peaceful person). Icelanders are aggressive, while Godis are peaceful. When he is chosen, he is always right.

Someone is dissatisfied with something - a fight. Sometimes there was no fight. -> to godi. -> murderers pay vira.

Arranged marriages. A woman is a friend, comrade, brother. Replaces a man everywhere.

A stingy description, but an interesting psychological type.

Age of sagas -XIIcentury. About the life of famous births. A saga is not a chronicle. The authors are not interested in everyday life (the saga is about a bright destiny).

Detailed biography is a technique. Testifies to the author's focus on truthfulness (as in myth). The biographical and geographical details are accurate (the description of the farm is minute, “through a magnifying glass”).

Is there a landscape? Under modern understanding- No. But there is a classic description that belongs to a separate plot (for example, if there is a stone, it means that the hero will definitely stumble). It contains the image of Iceland.

Detailed description = image of Iceland.

There (in Iceland) there are still the same villages and the same surnames.

2 starts:

Love of poetry;
Militancy.

Until now: “Beware of trolls.” Past and present coexist.

Heroes: the hero is strong, but (!) there is no divine motivation, he is responsible for everything that happens in the world. Unfair accusation - plot(=to a modern action film: a man outlaw), hunting a man (“The Saga of Gisla”, “The Saga and Kretir”).

Fantastic Elements: Kretir looks into the eyes of a dead man on a full moon.

The biography of the hero is an atypical biography. Kretir: does not want to work, is not popular with women. Hero in the style of Hercules (i.e. a little dumb).

Motive: children -> to be raised by friends or relatives. Gonglang has an evil, “snake” tongue. He wants everything + to marry Helga (herself beautiful girl). After 3 years he does not return. This is a traditional epic story. They don't like him, they envy him. Birth of Helga = birth of Dehdere (who kills the sons of Usneh). They are trying to get rid of Helga.

Nowhere is it said about the feelings of the characters. The author gives remarks instead of describing feelings. They are burning by the river (Gunluag and Helga), but we don’t know about what. Stinginess in the depiction of experiences. During a conversation by the river, Gunluag gives her a blue cloak, and she accepts it (but she is married!). -> duel (climax and resolution in one scene): everyone has their own shortcomings. Gunluag has the talent of a skald, the talent of a lover, and the charm of a man who wants to atone for his guilt. Gunluag wins. The dying man asks to bring him water in his helmet. Gunluag gives him water, and Helga's husband kills Gunluag. Gunluag won in a fair fight, and the first - by deception.

Helga gets married, lives happily, and has a wonderful husband. Dies on her husband's lap on Gunluag's cloak.

Before us is a beauty (1), but she is a resident of the northern world (2). This is exactly the Icelandic saga.

Revealing characters: through action, sometimes through author’s characteristics. For a portrait – 2 – 3 sentences. The image is in strokes. Helga is blonde, calm, silent, well-mannered.

The heroes are put through the ordeal of a catastrophe (the heroes were subjected to astragism).

Bersek- a bad Icelandic man who challenges whoever he wants to a duel. Adds additional color.

Heroine (hero's chosen one) corresponds to the hero.

“Saga and Gisli”: Gisli lives outside the law. Loyal to his family, but betrayed by brother. He is supported by his wife, who is ready to do anything for him.

Nisley was tracked down. One of the hunters goes to his wife and says: “Why do you need him? I’ll give you money.” The maid hears. He thinks that the mistress is betraying her husband. The hostess, meanwhile, remains silent. -> says he is stupid.

In this calm silence, self-esteem is revealed.

The image of a silent woman: she is a thief, she has the eyes of a thief. This trait of hers (a person who can deceive and betray) will destroy her husband.

All sagas with tragic endings. In the end everyone died. But the hero’s last battle (where the hero dies) justifies the hero. In his image (of the battle) there is a hymn to the hero. The beginning is either a hero or someone else... but at the end we are shown that it is a real hero. this = tragic genre(Sophocles: the end is something that justifies the hero).

These are heroic sagas.

The concept of a hero in a saga = the concept of a hero in epic, myth.

The type of hero is the same, but different incarnations.

“Saga of the Greenlanders" We saw grapes and dark-skinned people. They decided that this is what they needed.

An interesting acquaintance in the Icelandic saga innovation: the introduction of poetic text into prose (as in Irish). At some point, the author wants poetry.

As in the Irish sagas, poetic inclusions = emotional outbursts, important point life, the moment of culmination. Visa is a poem. Iceland has more poets than any other country.

The sagas were written in a world where Scandic poetry was developing.
27. Scandic poetry.

Its basis is paraphrase or metaphor.

For example: a sword is a fighting stick.

There is a polynomial paraphrase (Koning -> Scandic poetry is based on it).

Skori Sturuson - “Younger Edda” (textbook of Scandic poetry).

This is complex, sophisticated poetry, poetry for professionals.

Hangs to demonstrate your uniqueness.