Tristan and Isolde
Give background information
Characters
Symbols
Themes
Plot
Love potion
The love potion symbolizes something that threatens to overwhelm the senses and even the will of the best-intentioned people, and ‘infects’ every part of them. We talk of being ‘consumed’ by love so that we cannot think about anything else, and the love potion is a magical device that symbolizes this quality. Love overpowers us all, and often overrides rational thought.
Tristan
One of the most well-known Celtic legends, along with the tales of King Arthur, is the tale of Tristan and Isolde, which is likely the most renowned narrative to involve a love potion. In some versions of the myth, Isolde is referred to as Iseult. In fact, despite both myths' origins in medieval Britain and/or Ireland, Tristan and Isolde are occasionally linked to the Arthurian legend.
Britain
Ireland
Medieval lovers Tristan and Isolde, based on the Celtic myth. Tristan, a hero, travels to Ireland to ask his uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, for the princess Isolde's hand in marriage. The two unintentionally consume a love potion meant for the king upon their return and thereafter fall madly in love.
He is one of the central characters in the story. His parents are Blanchefleur and Rivalen, however right after his birth his mother dies and he is cared by Rohalt, Rivalen’s servant.
Isolde
She is also the main character in the story. Iseult the Fair or Iseult with the Hair of Gold is the princes of Ireland.
The story is a tragedy about the illicit love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Iseult, and it is based on a Celtic legend and perhaps other sources as well. It tells the story of Tristan's expedition to transport Iseult from Ireland to Cornwall so that she may wed King Mark of Cornwall, his uncle.
King Mark
He is the third of the central characters in the story. Mark is king of Cornwall and uncle of Tristan.
Brangien
Meiden who supose to give the love potion to Isolde on her weding night with king Mark
Iseult of the White Hands
She is a daughter of Duke Hod, the King of Breton lands. When Tristan came to his lands he started help him, being his knight. After one of the fights Duke make a decision to Marry Tristan with Iseult.
The Romance of Tristan and Iseult is rife with symbolism, including the sword, the dragon, and the philter. Each of them has numerous oxymoronic, paradoxical, similar, ironic, and contradictory symbols. Particularly the Philter represents a number of contradicting concepts.