Tristan and Iseult Questions 11-19
Chapter 11 The Ford
1. Tristan maintains Iseult’s innocence to King Mark, yet we know as the audience, that Tristan and Iseult
have not had an innocent relationship. How is it that these two people can honestly maintain that they have
had an innocent relationship? If they are lying, what do Tristan and Iseult hope to get from this lie?
2. Before Tristan and Iseult return to civilization they give each other a gift. Tristan gives Iseult his dog,
Hodain. And she gives him her green jasper ring. What do each of these gifts symbolize. (Hint: Search the
internet for the meaning of the stone, green jasper.
(The talisman, so called because healers have traditionally used it for enhanced diagnosis. A powerful
healer in itself, being efficacious to the liver, the gall bladder, and the bladder, but is also a multi-purpose
salve for the whole body. Gives a sense of balance to the spirit and grounds your spiritually and
emotionally.)
Chapter 12 Trial by Iron
1. What is a trial by iron?
2. Why do Denoalen, Andret, and Gondoine continue to push the issue of Tristan and Iseult’s guilt by
asking for the trial by iron?
3. How does Mark react to their continued harassment? What does he do?
4. Iseult agrees to a trial by iron. How does she show her craftiness in handling this situation?
Chapter 13 The Voice of the Nightingale
1. Read the handout on the symbolic meaning of the nightingale. Why is it appropriate for Tristan to be
singing the song of this bird in this chapter?
2. Why hasn’t Tristan left the kingdom yet? Why does he keep risking capture and death?
Chapter 14 The Little Fairy Bell
1. What purpose does this little story serve?
Chapter 15 Iseult of the White Hands
1. What is Tristan’s mental state after wandering for two years serving kings from Spain to Germany?
2. Why does he join Kaherdin in his losing battle against Duke Riol?
3. Why does the narrator include this tale of battle in this courtly romance?
4. How does Iseult of the White Hands react to Tristan’s story that he can not touch his wife for one year
after the marriage?
Chapter 16 Kahherdin
1. What feelings does Iseult of the White Hands have for Tristan?
2. The beginnings of several plot complications begin in this chapter. What are they? How might they turn
out?
3. Review the Rules of Courtly Love. From the complications that begin in this chapter, which rules appear
about to be broken?
Chapter 17 Dinas of Lindan
1. Describe the misunderstanding that causes Iseult to ignore Tristan and his pleas to see her. Why does
Iseult seem so ready to believe the worst of Tristan?
Chapter 18 Tristan Mad
1. Why does Tristan go to Tintagel disguised as a fool? What does he hope to accomplish?
2. Read the Jester article. Does Tristan fit the definition of a fool?
3. Iseult cannot recognize the Fool as Tristan. What rule or rules of courtly love would she be breaking if
she were to admit that this is Tristan?
4. What is irony of Hodain finally recognizing Tristan?
5. Look at Tristan’s and Iseult’s last exchange at the end of this chapter. What are they really telling each
other underneath the banter?
Chapter 19 Death
1. How does Tristan’s impending death from a poisoned lance seem to bring the entire story full circle?
2. What favor does Tristan ask of Kahedrin?
3. Iseult of the White Hands decides to take revenge on Tristan as he lays dying. Why now? What pushes
her, after all this time, to seek revenge? How does she exact it?
4. When Iseult the Fair finds Tristan dead, what does she do?
5. What is the significance of Iseult being buried in a coffin of chalcedony and Tristan in one of beryl? (You
will need to research on the web.)
6. What is the symbolism of the briar that springs from Tristan’s tomb?
7. What does narrator state is the purpose of telling this tale? Does that purpose affect how your view the
ending of the novel?