The Superiority of Sexual Love in Gottfried's Tristan and Isolde Eve Mandel College

In its depictions of Tristan and Isolde, Gottfried’s Tristan explores the idea that idealized sexual love produces greater virtue than either social conformity or religious obedience can, and consequently Isolde’s and Tristan’s violations of social propriety and religious laws do not corrupt them or their relationship. Gottfried, and Thomas in Tristran, argue that sexual love is far superior to other connections because it combines humans’ animal, instinctual side with their unique emotional intelligence to form a unified experience that is incorruptible, constant, and divine, and therefore more powerful than the social pressure to conform or obey.

Gottfried uses Tristan’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, as an example of the inferiority of both social conformity and simple bodily pleasure to sexual love. King Mark is a man who clearly thrives in society, having reached the the top of Cornwall’s hierarchy while exemplifying the values of chivalry; however, he initially lacks interest in marriage, and when he does finally submit to it, Gottfried emphasizes the institution’s artificiality: I do not know how Brangane took to this business at first. She endured it so quietly that it all passed off in silence… I am convinced that it...