Review the online readings on courtly love, Translatio and the Tristan tradition (paying particular attention to comments on Chrétien de Troyes and his anti-Tristan romance, Cligés).   If you like, read through the comments on Cligés found in the Introduction to Chrétien de Troyes, Arthurian Romances (pp. 1-22); recall that Chrétien was active ca. 1170-1190 and that Cligés is his second extant work (i.e. the second of those works which have been preserved).  Recall that we discussed the Prologue to Cligés week 1; review comments on this prologues in the online reading on Medieval Attitudes towards Vernacular Literature. 

Recall that Chrétien states in the Prologue to Cligés that he had previously written a poem about "King Mark and Isolde the Blonde" (p. 123) -- an interesting emphasis on the married couple rather than the adulterous lovers.  As previously noted, Chrétien wrote two romances (Erec and Enide and Yvain, the Knight with the Lion) which explore the conflict between public duty and private desire and celebrate the love of married couples rather than adulterous lovers.  These two romances, like the The Knight of the Cart, can be seen as implicit responses to the popularity of the Tristan romances.  But it is Cligés that most clearly functions as an "anti-Tristan" romance.

As you read, pay attention to -- and take careful note of -- all explicit references to Tristan, Isolde or to other characters and situations found in the Tristan tradition.  Then, look for more subtle translatio transformations of elements or situtations found in the Tristan stories, both as preserved in Béroul's text, and as summarized in the italicized passages in your textbook (which recount the beginning and end of the story and other elements not found in the extant fragments of Béroul's text).

Some points to consider:

• Structure:  The original Tristan stories began with the story of Tristan's parents, an unhappy couple who had to elope due to her family's opposition to the match, before telling the story of Tristan himself.  How is that structure duplicated in Cligés?  What significant changes are made?
• Parallel characters:  what characters in Cligés correspond to what characters in the Tristan stories?  How are they similar and how do they differ?  If you think about it, you should be able to identify characters in the Tristan stories who correspond to at least the following:  Alexander, Alis, Cligés, Fenice, Soredamors, and Thessala.  See if you can identify any others!  (and: KNOW WHO THESE CHARACTERS ARE and WHAT ROLES THEY PLAY in Chétien's romance!)
• Plot elements:  Look for plot elements common to Cligés and to the Tristan stories.  How many can you find?  How are they changed?  Do those changes add up to anything of significance?  (Do they contribute to a coherent message or meaning that Chrétien would seem to be trying to communicate in this poem?)  To get you started, here are a few elements to look for:  magic potions, blonde hair that leads to a marriage, unwilling brides, disinherited heros with legitimate claims to thrones . . . See how many others you can find!

Chrétien's Cligés is perhaps the clearest illustration of the other side of the translatio equation in Chrétien's work.  If the Knight of the Cart perfectly illustrates how future poets could (and did!) radically change the character and meaning of his original poetic invention -- the one-time-only love affair of Lancelot and Guenevere -- Cligés shows Chrétien performing a similar literary transformation on the works of the Tristan  tradition.  Together these two romances provide a vivid illustration of one of the most important ways in which medieval concepts of literature differ from moden ones.  Because there was no such thing as intellectual property in the Middle Ages, Chrétien was free to borrow and elaborate upon whatever elements of the Tristan romances he chose -- and to radically transform their meaning.  In reworking elements drawn from the Tristan  tradition, he chooses to focus not on gleeful adultery but on the joys of married love; on extra-marital devotion that is more spiritual commitment  than erotic passion; and on legitimate relationships in which a couple achieves a balance between public duty and private desire.

Contents of this and linked pages Copyright Debora B. Schwartz, 1999-2005

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