The story The Romance of Tristan and Iseult can be considered one of the first fictional works. Prior to its creation, all stories were presumed to be historical in some way. Being the first work of fiction, this story was one of the first able to incorporate deliberate symbolism in its character names. It uses this to great effect with the names of the three female characters: Blanchefleur, Iseult the Fair, and Iseult of the White Hands. Blanchefleur’s role is brief, but she sets an example for the two Iseults to follow, both in behavior and in name. Iseult the Fair follows her examples much more faithfully than Iseult of the White Hands, even though the former does not explicitly have the color white in her name. The Romance of Tristan and Iseult employs a similar naming scheme for its three female characters to compare the three of them and the purity of their love, with more whiteness symbolizing a more pure, true love, in order to endear the recipient of the story towards Tristan and Iseult the Fair.
The first woman we meet in the story is Tristan’s mother, Blanchefleur. She is only in the story for five paragraphs, and those paragraphs are among the first six in the story. However, she serves an important purpose; she both sets the story’s precedent for love and devotion, and gives the background for Tristan himself. Blanchefleur’s husband, King Rivalen, loved her “most marvellously”, and she returns his love in kind, continuing to wait for him when he goes off to war (Bédier 1). Additionally, when she receives news that Rivalen has been killed, she falls into despair and dies, only living long enough to give birth to Tristan. Blanchefleur’s fate foreshadows the unhappy end of Tristan and Iseult themselves, and provides what the story deems as the ultimate show of love: dying in response to your loved one’s own death. Tristan is born from love, so it then makes sense that he lives and dies by love. His mother’s name means “white flower,” and her association with a mostly-white object solidifies the story’s connection between the color white and true love. Seeing that Tristan’s mother was pure and true in her love gives the recipient the impression that Tristan will be equally faithful in his love. He goes on to prove his love throughout the story, such as saving Iseult the Fair from lepers without actually killing any of them (19). He only marries Iseult of the White Hands because he believes that Iseult the Fair has forgotten him, and regrets it within 24 hours of marrying (31). These noble acts of love are not surprising to the recipient of the story, because of the standard that Blanchefleur set for him.
The Iseult that most closely matches the whiteness of Blanchefleur’s name is Iseult the Fair. Although she is an adulteress, betraying her husband King Mark by pursuing a relationship with Tristan, her love proves to be the purest in the entire story. This comes as no surprise, since her entire name compares her to the purity of the color white. Though her name does not contain a word for white, a woman with a fair complexion has pale, unblemished skin. In essence, Iseult’s full name proclaims that she is white all over. However, the recipient of the story does not need to rely on her name to trust that her love is pure. Since Iseult the Fair appears in the story much more than Blanchefleur, she is able to prove her unselfish love through her actions. She respects Tristan and his wishes, and even though she does not love her husband, she never goes out of her way to directly harm King Mark. Even after she and Tristan have fled the kingdom, they lay a sword between them when they sleep in the same bed (21). King Mark finds them like this, and spares their lives because Iseult has not broken her vow to him by sleeping with Tristan. Additionally, Iseult the Fair’s love for Tristan puts consideration for his feelings ahead of her own comfort. After they have been separated, Tristan sends her a dog with a fairy bell, and all her worries melt away thanks to the bell. When she realizes this, she throws the bell into the sea, not wanting to forget Tristan’s suffering (29). Additionally, she too performs the greatest act of love the story has to offer. At the end of the story, upon seeing Tristan’s corpse, she lies beside him, and dies after giving him her affection one final time. Iseult the Fair never strays from Tristan, and demonstrates throughout the story that she loves him. The story’s recipient sympathizes with her, even though she is having an affair with Tristan, because of the purity of her love, which her name implies.
Narrative-wise, Iseult of the White Hands exists purely to test Tristan’s faith to Iseult the Fair. As a result, she appears to be very similar to Iseult the Fair when the story introduces her. That surface similarity to Iseult the Fair is even alluded to by her name, which specifically calls attention to her white hands. However, by saying that her hands are so white, it implies that her skin is not white all over. Unlike Iseult the Fair, Iseult of the White Hands has only a part of her that is fair and white. Fittingly, her love is much less pure and true than the love given by both Tristan and Iseult the Fair. Where Iseult the Fair’s actions show that she cares about Tristan as much as she does herself, Iseult of the White Hands’s actions indicate that she cares more for herself than she does for Tristan. At the end of the story, because Tristan is dying, he asks that he be able to see Iseult the Fair one final time. Iseult of the White Hands overhears this, and even though he has tried to treat her with respect despite his blunder, she plans to sabotage their reunion. Iseult the Fair arrives in a ship with a white sail, to signal that she is onboard. By this point, Tristan has no strength to watch for her, so he relies on Iseult of the White Hands to tell him about her arrival (37). However, she lies and claims the ship has a black sail, meaning that Iseult the Fair is not onboard. She knows that Tristan’s heart lies with another, yet she selfishly denies Tristan one last chance to see her again. Tristan dies thereafter, speaking Iseult’s name. Iseult of the White Hands mourns, but is incapable of performing the truest act of love. Though she lays herself beside Tristan after his death, Iseult of the White Hands does not die. Instead, she is scolded by Iseult the Fair, who tells her “I have more right to mourn him than have you – believe me. I loved him more” (38). Iseult of the White Hands’s complexion only matches Iseult the Fair’s on a part of her, just as she only resembles her on the surface. The love given by Iseult of the White Hands is self-serving, and ultimately only harms Tristan.
In conclusion, Blanchefleur, Iseult the Fair, and Iseult of the White Hands all have names related to white in order to show the purity of their love. In addition to the symbolism imbued in the color white, plants and flowers also serve as symbols of devotion. Blanchefleur’s name contains the word for flower, and she is so devoted to her husband that she dies of grief after he is slain. Tristan and Iseult the Fair are faithful and kind to each other, and so after their deaths, a briar with green leaves and pleasant flowers grows from their graves. Peasants try to cut down the briar three times, but it regrows each time (38). The persistence of this briar directly represents the persistence of the love between Tristan and Iseult, and Blanchefleur once again provides the root of the symbolism. Iseult of the White Hands has no such imagery attached to her, which matches her eventual selfishness in her relationship with Tristan. All of the symbols throughout The Romance of Tristan and Iseult serve to enshrine Tristan and Iseult the Fair as the pinnacle of courtly love and true devotion.