e Iseult the Fair to King Mark: “for the life of King Mark, did Tristan by guile and by force conquer the Queen of the hair of gold” (37). Tristan is everything a lord could want in a vassal.Yet it is not Tristan‘s love for King Mark that is what he is remembered for, but his love for Iseult, which is portrayed as higher than the feudal system. The love between Tristan and Iseult clearly violates the social conventions of the Middle Ages. When he falls in love with Iseult, Tristan’s initial reaction concerns his duty to King Mark, “Iseult is yours and I am but your vassal; Iseult is yours and I am your son; Iseult is yours and may not love me” (43). Thankfully, the Love potion that Tristan drinks excuses him from his duty to the king. It is necessary in the Middle Ages to assure that Tristan is not being disloyal. The purity of the love is strengthened by the fact that God sanctifies it, “love dropped upon them from high heaven” (57). This Love is God given and therefore excused from the restrictions of feudal society. This mirrors the Humanist belief that man was created in God’s image, thus it is a form of worship to revere man.After Tristan and Iseult have fallen in love, they exhibit all of the virtues that the Humanists of the Renaissance admired. They focus on the joys of this life instead of focusing on death and the afterlife. When Tristan is warned that his love with kill him, he says “well then, come Death” (45). The lovers do not worry about what will happen when they reach Cornwall, they enjoy the time they have together. Even when warned by the hermit Ogrin of everlasting punishment, Tristan says: “of what should I repent, Ogrin...? Of what crime?” (90). The hermit represents the Church and organized religion. The Humanists were secular; thus they turned the focus away from organized religion. Tristan and Iseult glorify each other more than anyth...
