Love triangles in Malory's Morte Darthur: Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur and Tristram-Isolde-Mark

¶ … Love Triangle Story Lines of Lancelot, Arthur and Guenivere to Tristram, King Mark and Isolde from Malory's Morte Darthur

When Melanie McGarrahan Gibson says of the "Tale of Sir Gareth" in Sir Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur that "in the happiest ending of all of Morlay's tales, love and marriage triumph" (Gibson 220), she is touching on more than just the wholesome and happy nature of the tale. Though unique in its existence as the "happiest of all of Malory's tales," it is reprehensive of a larger problem within Malory's narrative scheme. The tale itself is one of the steady progresses. After overcoming all obstacles, love and marriage win in the end. This is a romantic sentiment and perhaps it is true to some extent.

The purpose of current research paper is to analysis the two dominant love triangle storylines in Morte Darthur i.e. between Lancelot-Queen Guinevere- Arthur and love triangle tale of Trsitram-La Beale Isode and King Mark. The author discusses both parallel stories as told in Malory's Morte D. Arthur, particularly focussing on the similarities and differences in both parallel stories. The author also stated how two storylines resemble each other in the way that lead the readers to have the same kind of reaction as well as described the major difference about the two storylines that readers can sympathize more with one group than the other?

2. Love Triangles in Le Morte D'arthure

Love triangle dominates the whole plot in the "Le Morte D'arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory. The two major love triangles are of Lancelot-Queen Guinevere and Arthur and the Trsitram-La Beale Isode and King Mark. Both the storylines are similar in many ways points shared between these two love triangles.

4. Love Triangle of Tristram-Isode-King Mark

As compared to the love tale of Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot; the story of Tristram and Beale Isode relationship is more of conventional love triangle in the Morte (Dobblin, 99-101). The similarity between is that just like Guivenere is wife to King Arthur, La beale Isode is wife of King Mark. Similarly like Lancelet, Tristam here is the knight, but he is also nephew and only successor of the King. In the story Tristram and La Beale Isode are lovers. The story of their love is eminent as well as accepted in the realm of Arthur.

The love starts in the Ireland when Tristram visits there for the first time. They promise and exchange rings (Koplowitz-Breier, 18). Despite the fact that the theory of their pre-marriage is agreed, the love story is well-known in the Arthurian realm related to La Beale Isode and Tristram.

As compared to the storyline of King Arthur, King Mark was fully aware of the relationship of Tristram and La Beale Isode. Tristram rescues La Beale Isode at two occasions. The first time it happens when La Beale Isode is taken from the King Mark by Palomydes. When Tristram knows about it, by that time Sir Adtherpe already saves her. The mission of Tristram is to restore the honor of La Beale Isode by fighting against Palomydes. The second time La Beale Isode is saved by Tristram after they are together in bed and are caught and La Beale Isode is sent to the hut of leper. Even though there is no danger associated to her physically, however there is a great danger to her honor since lepers were known to be sinners and treated as living dead (Shahar, 68-74).

In story we find two evidences of their meeting. One when Tristram rescues Isode from the hut of lepers, here they live in a forest situated in Fayre Maner untill La King Mark takes her back to the court. The second time, when King Mark sends Tristram to imprisonment and Isode comes to meet him. At this occasion Tristram convinces La Beale Isode to make escaping together and she agrees. Both move to the castle of Lancelot named Joyous Grade. According to the story they lived as a couple there.

After coming to know about their relationship, King Mark decides to forgive Isode however he forbids Trsitram from the Cornwall. Because of restrictions, Tristram moves to the court of King Arthur and after that goes to Brittany. Compared to the story of Guinever and Lancelot, Tristram marries Iseult of Brittany but as his true love and affection is for Isode which keeps him away from Ieult. He becomes ill and he tries to send a message to Isode asking her to return to him for his survival but his wife Iseult cheats here by telling him there is no hope of that Isode will come. Thus Tristram, dies in woe with a broken heart and her wife, Iseult regrets on her act after realizing how true was the love of Tristram for Isode.

5. Discussion

The love tale of Lancelot and Guinevere depicts a love triangle that is traditional (Duby,.250-266). This love triangle relationship was amply blurred for King Arthur as he did not take it as a stigma to his honor. As regards character of Queen Guinevere, Malory portrays as a loving and caring wife and a strong character woman still there is an impression that she is an adulterer who keeps on depending on her lover Lancelot. Malory's view of queen Guinevere is twofold. On one side she seems to be playing a supporting pillar role in the Kingdom of Arthur while on the other side she becomes its main devastating reason.

In contrast the love triangle of King Arthur Isode and Tristram are clear in their love to each other. Since King Arthur intentionally ignores the affair of Lancelot and the queen Guinevere while King Mark is fully aware of the relationship between Tristram and La Beale Isode. La Beale Isode, though not being tentative as is Guinevere, can't be affirmed as ingenuous women and hence meets all the requirements of famine Character model. The role of La Beale Isode is the symbol of diversity and is not perfect. Therefore both the ladies are not similar.

Through the character of Tristram, Malory shows loyalty and regret as he renounces all hope of future pleasures for the sake of being loyal to a woman whom he can never legitimately love. Trastram's marriage to a woman other than la Belle Isolde is a betrayal of true love itself. And this is the main difference in both love triangle storylines.

The love of Lancelot and Guinvere attracts attention and sympathy of the readers for the reasons that they had a pure love and Malory tries to defend the relationship of Lancelot and Guinevere by convincing the reader that they had not had sexual relationship and this attracts sympathy and respect from the readers for both love birds. However, as far as the relationship of Tristram and Isode is concerned, Malory frankly stresses that the couple were involved in a sexual relationship.

Regardless of the fact that in the Vulgate sequence Lancelot is depicted as a knight alike to the male protagonist of the French prose, yet Tristan emerges as the hero and an exemplary person hits spiritual idyllic of knighthood. (Kennedy, 139-72).

Malory's description of Lancelot/Guinevere relationship is carefully crafted. He has largely rewritten the earlier versions of the Lancelot tale so as to remove much of the descriptive detail of adultery. Malory attempts, one would assume, to make Lancelot look better than he has loode din the past. As Elizabeth Scala notes;

We see the development of a larger tendency across the book of the Morte in which each time Malory's sources take some worship away from Lancelot, Malory finds a way to retrieve it for his hero. (Scala, 395)

In spite of what the reader has seen and read, Malory insists of Guinevere that, "Whyle shy lyved she was a trew, and therefore she had a good ende" (1120). Similarly, Lancelot, by extension, would be equally "innocent" in his love of Guinevere. But this cannot be the King Mark was a coward and a turncoat type person; however Arthur was the most respectful king in Christendom. Readers might perhaps rationalize disloyalty to a king who had proved a traitor; there could be no admirable explanation for being disloyal to King Arthur.

Overall two love-triangle story lines being romantic and chronicle, contribute to the value of artistic work of Malory. Readers and scholars throughout the years underestimated and neglected the work (Archibald, 71-82). However, with the beginning of second half of the twentieth century, Malory's work was thoroughly studied and analyzed by many scholars.