ing else. Thus the focus changes from pride in a land, or in a group of people, to pride in the beloved. Tristan and Iseult are individuals. The love between Tristan and Iseult is like a bridge from the Feudalism of the Middle Ages to the Humanism of the Renaissance. In Feudal times a man was part of a greater hierarchy, and no matter what his place, he ultimately served God. Tristan starts his life following this principle. However, Tristan’s love for Iseult makes him into the prototype Renaissance man. He defiantly proclaims: “I live and do no penance” (91). The greatest gift man has is life, and he does not feel the need to beg forgiveness for it. As Pico della Mirandola states, with the true humanist spirit, in his Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486): “O highest and most marvelous felicity of man! To him it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills.”...
