Genre
A short story
Setting and Context
The 12th century
Narrator and Point of View
Third person narration
Tone and Mood
This story is undoubtedly about love, but it also shows the royal life and its difficulties. It is very dramatic with a considerable amount of tragedy and has features of dramatic play.
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonists are Tristan and Iseult, and antagonist is their love.
Major Conflict
A major conflict starts from the moment when Tristan and Iseult fall in love and goes through the whole story. It takes place between them and all people which surround them and all circumstances because of which they can’t be together.
Climax
The climax happens when Tristan doesn’t consummate the marriage with his new wife and wants to go back to the Iseult. This decision took him to death.
Foreshadowing
This whole narrative is built on foreshadowing about love and death. The story shows us that these words are very close and always go together.
Understatement
King Mark understated the love between Iseult and Tristan, because his love and respect for Tristan were so big that he couldn’t believe in it.
Allusions
The garden is allusion to Eden; killing the dragon is allusion to myth about David and Goliath.
Imagery
View the imagery section
Paradox
One paradox is the fact that Tristan could die by the hands of Iseult and was hated by her, but soon they fell in love.
Parallelism
The relationship between Tristan and Iseult develops in parallel to other events in the story.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
N/A
