"Tristan and Isolde" Film

In the beginning of the film, the relationship between Tristan and Isolde honors the chivalric code, but at the conclusion of the film, their relationship does not honor the chivalric code. Below is evidence of how Tristan and Isolde conformed to and broke the chivalric code:

• Evidence of conforming to the chivalric code:
• At the beginning of the film, Tristan respects the marriage commitment of Isolde to the king by leaving their sexual relationship in the past
• Tristan completes a quest to win Isolde's love for Tristan's king
• Evidence of breaking the chivalric code:
• Once Isolde joins Tristan and Tristan's King at their home, Tristan and Isolde eventually cannot contain their desire for one another and return to maintaining a physical relationship, which breaks the chivalric code

I believe the film depicts Tristan and Isolde's relationship in a sympathetic light because King Mark and Tristan have a father an son relationship that makes their secret love triangle very complex and sad. The scene where Tristan and Isolde are caught in the garden is very similar to the scene in Marie de France's "Equitan"where the two lovers are caught bathing. 

Also, I believe the film depicts King Mark's predicament with Tristan and Isolde's love because Mark loves both Tristan and Isolde. His relatively calm response to the discovery of the affair is very "Hollywood" and much less dramatic than would have actually occurred in Medieval times. Had the events in this movie actually taken place in Medieval times, both Tristan and Isolde would potentially face death or extradition from their homeland. 

Chevrefoil by Marie de France

The love between Sir Tristram and the Queen in Chevrefoil is likened to the relationship between a honeysuckle vine and a hazel tree. If you try to remove the honeysuckle vine from the hazel tree, they both die. So when the King banished Sir Tristram from his kingdom, both Sir Tristram and the Queen felt like they had died inside without their mutual love. 

Sir Tristram could not stay away from the Queen and decided to return to Cornwall and see the Queen secretly. Sir Tristram hears about the King's sport day the King is hosting at his castle with the Queen. 

Tristram decides he must see the Queen so he hides along a frequently traveled grove path and carves a staff to attract the Queen's attention as she passes. Sir Tristram's plan works and the Queen dismounts her horse to observe the carved staff. The Queen steps off the path and finds Tristram and is overcome with excitement. The Queen advises Tristram on how to make peace with the King and leaves Tristram weeping. Tristram wrote a lai about his events with the Queen so he would not forget them and called the lai "Goatleaf". 

Chaitivel by Marie de France

(With so many men fawning over one woman, I couldn't help but draw similarities between this lai and ABC's "The Bachelorette".)

This lai is about a fine, beautiful lady who was loved by every knight who looked upon her. Four young, nameless, handsome barons fell in love with the lady and all fought for her love. In the time period this lai was set in, women were supposed to be gracious and thankful for the love comments given by any man, regardless of how they really felt about the circumstances. With that being said, the lady truly loved these four men and could not turn away the love of three knights for the love of one knight. 

A tournament was held in the lady's town to get to know these four nameless knights and attracted the attention of knights far and wide who came to participate in the festivities. In the heat of the tournament, the four knights were under attack and were knocked off their horses. Following the tournament, the four knights instigated an isolated fight, killing three of the lady's lovers and castrating the fourth lover. The lady is devastated by the deaths of her three lovers and has their bodies richly dressed and buried in an elaborate monastery. The lady has the fourth wounded knight brought to her castle for rehabilitation and she visits him often. To commemorate her love and "death" of her love of the four knights, the lady writes a lai which she calls "The Four Mournings", but the fourth knight asks the lady to call the lai "Chaitivel--The Wraith".

The fourth knight feels he is at the losing end of a horrible joke because after surviving his fight for the lady's love, he is unable to enjoy his victory due to his castration. The fourth knight claims he would rather be dead than be tortured by the love of his lover. The knight is caught in a horrible catch 22 situation, so he asks his lover to change the lai's name to Chaitivel, which she does in the fourth knight's honor. 

Laustic by Marie de France

Laustic is a tale about a love triangle involving two knights, one married and one a bachelor, living in neighboring castles. The bachelor knight, who was known for his partying ways, shared a secret affair with the wife of the married knight. Due to the danger associated with the affair, the bachelor knight and the wife were never physically intimate, but spoke to each other frequently from their castle windows. The married knight was very protective of his wife and their marriage, so when he left town, he ensured that his wife was guarded. A critical component of the affair between the bachelor knight and the wife was their nightly summertime ritual of watching each other from their castles and taking in the song of the nightingale as the married night slumbered. 

The married knight asked his wife why she did not sleep at night and his wife tells the knight she stays awake to listen to the song of the laustic (nightingale). The married knight is angered that the laustic does not allow his wife to sleep at night, so he decides to trap the laustic out of bitterness and jealousy. The married knight has his castle booby trapped and eventually captures the laustic. The married knight kills the laustic despite his wife's cries for the bird's freedom. 

The married knight throw's the laustic's body at his wife and gets blood on her chemise. With the wife's scapegoat for staying awake late at night, dead, the wife knows she cannot lie awake at night and secretly stare at her lover. The wife worries her lover will doubt her faith, so she has her servant send the laustic's body to the bachelor knight. The bachelor knight has a smith craft a vessel (reliquary) to hold the body of the laustic, which he carries with him at all times to commemorate his love for the wife.