SOURCE: Wiesmann-Wiedemann, Friederike. “From Victim to Villain: King Mark.” In The Expansion and Transformations of Courtly Literature, edited by Nathaniel B. Smith and Joseph T. Snow, pp. 49-68. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1980.

In the following essay, Wiesmann-Wiedemann compares versions of the Tristan story by Eilhart, Thomas, and Gottfried with the prose French narrative source, arguing that Eilhart's work privileges the feudal order, while the other writers take elements of psychology, love, and action (respectively) as their main components.

In her study of the Tristan story, Joan Ferrante compares corresponding episodes in different versions of the legend, but she treats characters only insofar as they figure within these episodes.¹ This article follows one character, Mark, in order to show how the ethos of different versions and the effect that each work as a whole has on its readers influenced the portrayal of the cuckolded king. Four texts lend...