Although so much of Me Morte D'Arthur revolves around ideals of knighthood and romantic love, I have been really struck by several instances of unexpected sympathy and compassion between knights, especially Trystram and Palomides, who seem to alternately be kind to each other and try to kill each other. I had a hard time understanding their relationship: the feud between them seems genuine and times and like a joke at others. But I'm wondering how the instances of sympathy, despite the hatred, fit into the ideal of knighthood, or don't fit. Are Trystram and Palomydes upholding the ideal, contradicting it, or are these instances simply outside the realm of its power?
The first such instance that I noticed occurs in the first part of the Book of Sir Trystram: "And every day Sir Palomydes wolde repreve Sir Trystram of olde hate betwyxt them; and ever Sir Trystram spake fayre and seyde lytyll. But whan Sir Palomydes se that Sir Trystram was falle in syknes, than was he hevy for hym and comforted hym in all the best wyse he coude" (327, ll. 20-25). Whatever anger Palomydes feels towards Trystram evaporated when he sees that Trystram is unwell.
Later, after the Tournament at Lonezep, Trystram finds out that Palomydes is going to be executed, Trystram wants to save him: "Whan Sir Trystram knew how Sir Palomydes wente to his deathward, he was hevy to hyre thereof, and sayde, 'Howbehit that I am wrothe wyth him, yet I woll nat suffir hym to dye so shamefull a dethe, for he ys a full noble knyght.' And anone Sir Trystram asked his armys; and whan he was armed he toke his horse and two squyars wyth hym, and rode a grete pace thorow a foreyste aftir Sir Palomydes, the nexte way unto the castell Pelownes where Sir Palomydes was jowged to his dethe" (456, ll. 29-36). Soon after saving him, Trystram comes upon Palomydes singing about La Beal Isode in the woods and again tries to kill him!
Are they bound to be kind to each other because they are both good knights? Or are they bound to hate each other because of the wrongs they each believe the other to have done? Is Trystram supposed to avenge Isolde's, um, purity, when Palomydes declares his love for her, or is this a moot point since she is having an affair with Trsytram?
Confused though I am, I really enjoyed this storyline.
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I think there might be more than one way of viewing this. Maybe it is a way Malory has of presenting the contradictions and complications of knightly behavior as he may be doing as well in other sections of the book. But then, these alternating attitudes of compassion and hatred may come from the knights' need to have someone to challenge them. There is a sort of love-hate relation that lives on a muttual dependence on the tension underlying the power each other possesses. If my opposer dies, I will have no one to continue to compete against; therefor, I love and respect him as such, as my opponent whom I hate when we're in conflict. Maybe...
ReplyDeleteI agree that these up-and-down dynamics reflect both the difficulties of squaring knightly ideals with knightly realities and the paradox of knightly achievement that demands hostility even against friends in order to maintain honor and preeminence. Tristram and Palomydes are true rivals, in both love and arms, and their rivalry spurs them both to greater heights (mostly Palomydes is spurred, as Tristram is more naturally gifted as knight and lover, apparently). In this regard, I find the Tristram-Palomydes relationship much more compelling and interesting than the Tristram-Lancelot friendship. Yes, a climax of Tristram's career comes when he faces off against Lancelot, just prior to joining the Round Table at last--but then, he thought he was fighting Palomydes, didn't he?
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