How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Page)
Quote #7
'If he were mine, I should let him off the leash. It would be a shame if he were to go mad. There was never a dog like Husdant, always so quick and now so sad for his master. There was never such a loving animal.' (8.80)
Husdant's refusal to eat and impending madness without his master, Tristan, foreshadows Tristan's condition when he is far from Yseut in Brittany. The proof of the depth of both of their loves is their inability to thrive when separated from their beloved.
Quote #8
Yseut's mother, who brewed [the love potion], made it for three years of love. She made it for Mark and her daughter; another tasted it and suffered because of this. For as long as the three years lasted the potion had such power over Tristan and the queen that each of them could say: 'I am not weary.' (11.96)
The love potion's effect is to create a love so strong that the drinkers will suffer any indignity for love. As soon as it wears off, Tristan and Yseut become unwilling to sacrifice worldly comforts and position for their love. What is ambiguous is whether or not they really stop loving one another at this point, or whether they simply stop being willing to live in exile for the sake of love.
Quote #9
'Never for the rest of my life shall I have any thoughts of wickedness. You understand that I am not saying that I repent on Tristan's account nor that I do not love him honourably and without shame as a friend. But our physical intercourse is at an end.' (12.99)
Yseut's decision to stop having sex with Tristan does not last long. What's interesting here is that Yseut speaks these lines rather than Tristan, suggesting that she is the one who does what she wants with her body when it comes to sex. This may seem like no big deal to us modern readers, but for a medieval woman this is something unusual.