Abstract
The Tristan of Gottfried von Straßburg, composed in about 1210, belongs to the courtly branch of the legend and is an unfinished romance of over 19,000 lines. As in other versions of the romance, the two lovers banished from King Markeʼs court flee into the wilderness where they enjoy a happy life. Gottfried describes their refuge as an ideal space for the lovers, so-called “Minnegrotte” (Love Grotto), and through his original allegorical interpretations he changes the cave into a holy cathedral of love.
After they are discovered by King Marke, the lovers return to court because (according to Gottfried) the ideal life in the Minnegrotte lacks the honor (êre) which is an essential virtue for courtly people.
Gottfried surely states that Tristan and Isolde rejoice to come back to the court where they can recover their courtly honor, but he also represents the honor that exists in the Minnegrotte. The light coming through the three windows of the Minnegrotte is allegorically interpreted as the honor. Thus Gottfried presents here contradictorily two kinds of honor; the one that is absent in the Minnegrotte, and the other that fills the Minnegrotte. The latter can be interpreted as the Christian God Himself because it is also called “the best of all lights.” Moreover, Gottfried points out that King Marke, who cannot enter the Minnegrotte, can recognize only one of the three windows. This means that the three windows through which God, the best of lights, enters in the Minnegrotte symbolize the Holy Trinity.
By introducing this new concept of honor, Gottfried gives important meaning to King Markeʼs visit to the cave that functions only as a warning to the lovers in other versions. King Marke closes one of the three windows in order to protect Isolde from sunburn. This benevolent act results unexpectedly into harming the honor of the lovers and destroys the ideal life in the Minnegrotte, so that the lovers can no longer stay there. By means of allegorical interpretations, Gottfried succeeds in explaining the reason why they have to abandon the Minnegrotte.
