SOURCE: Brockington, Mary. “Tristran and Amelius: False and True Repentance.” Modern Language Review 93, no. 2 (April 1998): 305-20.

In the following essay, Brockington explicates a scene from the Tristan legend in which King Mark discovers the sleeping lovers in the forest, exploring the different approaches to the episode taken by Eilhart, Béroul, and Thomas.

The scene in the Morrois forest, where the wronged husband, King Marc, sees Tristran and Yseut, the fugitive lovers, asleep, decides not to kill them, and retires silently, leaving tokens of his presence, is one of the most important in the whole Tristran tradition.¹ The verse redactors, particularly Beroul, present it in highly dramatic form, and it appears in manuscript and textile illustrations of the story. In terms of plot, it is pivotal; it closes one series of episodes (blood on the sheets, capture, escape) allowing Yseut's eventual return to Marc, and prepares the way...