The Romance of Tristan Quotes

Find the perfect quote to float your boat. Shmoop breaks down key quotations from The Romance of Tristan.

Love Quotes

Before they left Ireland, Yseut's mother prepared a love potion which she entrusted to Brangain, Yseut's maid, and instructed her to give it to Yseut and her husband to drink on the wedding night....

Lies and Deceit Quotes

As [Tristan] lay there, the Irish king's seneschal passed by and saw only the dead dragon. He hastily cut off its head and bore it triumphantly back to the palace, where he announced that he had sl...

Loyalty Quotes

Yseut decided to have Brangain killed by two of her servants. One day they accompanied Brangain into the forest and suddenly drew their swords and seized her. Before killing her, they asked what wr...

Betrayal Quotes

Yseut realized that Brangain constituted a potential danger, since she alone could betray the lovers to Mark. For her own safety, Yseut decided to have Brangain killed by two of her servants. (1.45)

Justice and Judgment Quotes

The three barons came into the room, angrily they took Tristan in his bed. Because of his prowess they had begun to hate him, and also the queen. They abused her and threatened her. They would not...

Suffering Quotes

Soon after Rivalen had defeated his enemies, Blanchefleur gave birth to a son, but amid great lamentation died in childbirth. The child born in sorrow was named Tristan. (1.39)

Identity Quotes

Rivalen served Mark so well that as a reward he was given the hand of Mark's sister, Blanchefleur, with whom he had fallen in love. They were married in Tintagel, but news of an attack on his own l...

Fate and Free Will Quotes

By mistake, Brangain brought the love potion and handed it to Tristan, who drank and passed it to Yseut. Both thought it was good wine: neither knew that it held for them a lifetime of suffering an...