"Foolish Heart: Re-Examining Emotions in the Middle High German Tristan Continuations"
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Overview
Overview
Description
“Mîn herze und mîn lîp diu wellent scheiden…” laments the famous German minnesinger Friedrich von Hausen. It is easy to appreciate the feelings of a lover whose ambitions, ideals, and beliefs compel him to seek God and glory, while his heart is longing to return to his lady-love’s side. Long before the 18th-century Enlightenment separated emotions from the pure and unclouded reason once and for all, pre-modern discourses had struggled with the dichotomy “head vs. heart.”
This paper examines the balance between emotions and rationality in two epic sequels to Gottfried von Strassburg’s unfinished tale of Tristan and Isolde. Both Ulrich von Türheim and Heinrich von Freiberg set out to finish Gottfried’s torso, yet do so in their own unique way. The tension between herz and sin is prominent in both of these late-thirteenth-century romances; however, it could not have been used more differently. While Ulrich’s work is practically propelled forward by emotions of its characters, Heinrich, writing for the blossoming Bohemian court, feels more comfortable with the ideal of the controlled and restrained courtly body. While Ulrich’s characters blush, laugh, weep, turn red of anger, and get jealous or humiliated, most of Heinrich’s are described as sinnic, sinneclic or kluoc. Unsurprisingly, in Heinrich’s tale when heart overrules the head, one should be prepared for disastrous consequences.
By taking a close look at the treatment of emotions and rationality and their relation to gender, this paper examines the extent to which Ulrich and Heinrich harness these two sides of human nature to achieve their respective main goals: to create what William McDonald calls “a paean to loyalty” and to restore the glory and ideals of chivalry by returning to a more traditional courtly romance.
