Tristan; A Legend Transformed

Tristan and Isolde is a tragic Arthurian legend about magic, adultery and love...

Legend goes that centuries ago, there was an alliance to be formed between Cornwall and Ireland, through the marriage of Isolde, an Irish princess, and King Mark, the King of Cornwall. King Mark had a nephew whom he loved like a son, named Tristan. He was the knight sent to bring the princess back to Cornwall in order for the marriage to take place. However, while he was journeying back with Isolde, they drink a love potion, forcing them to fall in love eternally. Therefore, even after King Mark and Isolde are married they constantly commit adultery, even though they both respect and love the King. After a long period of feigning innocence, King Mark discovers their deceit, and orders Tristan to be hanged and Isolde to be burned at the stake. Miraculously, Tristan saves them both and they go hide out in the woods together. However, once again King Mark discovers them, and agrees to keep Isolde as his wife only if Tristan leaves the country. So Tristan travels to King Arthur's court in England where he marries Isuelt of Brittany because her beauty and the close resemblance of her name to his true love. One day, Tristan falls ill and sends for Isolde, but she refuses to come. Tristan dies of illness, and shortly after Isolde, who is torn up with grief, dies of a broken heart.

This familiar tale has been countlessly retold through stories as well as, music. Most famously, Wagner's Opera, Tristan und Isolde, which premiered in Munich, Germany in 1865.  He was inspired to write this Opera based on his own love affair with Mathilde Wesendonck, which caused him and his wife to separate after twenty-two years of marriage.

The legend as well as Richard Wagner's Opera played a large role in Thomas Mann's rendition of the tale.

Thomas Mann is a German author who wrote during the Nazi-era.  Due to his anti-Nazi political opinion, his German citizenship was revoked and he was forced to move to California.  However because he was a Noble Prize Laureate,  his books were not burned as publicly as his brother's and father's works were.

In Thomas Mann's retelling, a wealthy young couple come to a sanatorium in the Swiss Mountains, so the wife, Gabriela, can be cured from TB in the trachea. Her husband is a well known business man, who must leave for work, as well as to care for their young child. Once he has left, she meets an author who gradually falls in love with her, but more importantly, he realizes that she was not made for this world. He sees that she has a deathly quality to her beauty, which starkly contrasts the liveliness of her husband and young child. One night, he persuades Gabriela to play Chopin's Nocturnal and Wagner's Opera. This music creates the mystical, supernatural enchantment, which substitutes for the love potion in the original tale that draws the two characters together.  Once Gabriela dies the author sees her child in the garden and runs from him because he is so hearty, like his father.


It was a very prevalent idea throughout the mid-1900's that the Swiss Alps could provide healing.  For this reason many sanatoriums were set-up around Switzerland and were promoted as healing centers for not only TB but also for WWII victims. However, as the story Tristan reveals, getting away from the city and into the "pure" mountains does not cure physical illness. This was a deception spread by the sanatoriums. Looking closely at Thomas Mann's Tristan, the reader can see that sanatoriums around Switzerland were running a scam. Those who were cured left publicly in celebration, while those who died silently disappeared out the back.  In revealing the deceptive nature of these "healing" centers, Thomas Mann really demonstrated how human nature can corrupt even the most pure places in the environment. 

It is easy to see why people from around the world traveled to the Alps to attain physical, mental, and spiritual healing. Even today, the purity and incorruptibility of the mountains remains evident.  Looking around, there are no signs of power lines, no loud traffic, and no smog.  The mountains are an escape from the city into purity that is no longer easy to find.  The Swiss know this, and they work hard to preserve the beauty around them.  Their diligence has paid off, as hundreds of people around the world now flock to Switzerland to experience this untainted landscape.  With one look, it is easy to see why, waking up to the Swiss Alps for three weeks  has been the most amazing experience of my life. It has been truly amazing.

Mary