I preface this entire post with this...I did not, repeat did not finish the movie Tristan and Isolde. So my observations and thoughts provoked since watching the first parts of the movie are not based on the ending...which I know nothing about.
So on to my post.
I watched Tristan and Isolde for the first time last night. And by watched, I mean I got angry and turned it off. It's supposed to be a love story right? Supposed to be romantic right?
It's full of lust and selfishness. Full of desire and wants and pleasures, thoughts of what one deserves. The main thought I had about it was "I deserve to be happy, so I have the right to pursue it."
Not love. Not love at all. Love is patient. Tristan and Isolde were impatient for the next time they would see each other, for the next stolen moment, for the next passionate encounter. Love is kind. Tristan was not kind in his words to Isolde, claiming that she enjoyed her marriage to the king rather than pining for him. Isolde was not kind in that she continued to pull on him and his heart, to try and make him forsake everything to "love" her. Love does not envy. Tristan was extremely envious of Isolde and the king. Love is not proud. Tristan and Isolde were consumed with pride, thinking themselves far above the social implications of their affair. Considering their love pure and right and good while the king's love for Isolde meant nothing. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. Tristan and Isolde kept their "love" in hiding, meeting each other in secret. Sin grows in darkness and pales in light.
My idea of a correct way to handle the horrible dilemma that Tristan and Isolde found themselves in is this. Tristan is tormented by the fact that he has to give his love in marriage to his king and adopted father. He should have been completely honest with the king from the beginning, when he arrived. He should have taken the king aside and brought him into his confidence. He should have respected his king that much, instead of hiding his feelings and pain inside. His king was a good king. He would have received his son in love, listened to what he said, and come up with a wise way to handle the situation.
There's a whole list of things that happened in that movie that I think were handled completely the wrong way. But we won't get into all of that. I will say, however, that this is the crap that girls and women buy into all over the world, that Tristan and Isolde "love" each other and that they are entitled to the same "love" and should pursue it no matter what anyone tells them or what their obligations are.
On to my point.
I started thinking about how I would handle things if I was in Isolde's place. What if I found myself being married to someone I didn't know, while being in love with another man? The temptation to hold on to the man I love would be intense, and my stranger husband would seem that much more strange. In fact, I would ignore my husband as much as possible and just wait for the time when I could be with my lover.
Isn't that just like my relationship with my King? Isn't He my Husband? And before I knew Him, didn't I have many many lovers? And don't I find that I still long for the passionate embraces of those lovers, rather than for the loving arms of my Husband and my King?
Isolde didn't know what she had in her husband. She couldn't see that this man loved her for who she is. That he would do anything to make her happy, that he longed to be involved in her life, to be let into her thoughts and her world. And don't forget that he was the KING.
And aren't I exactly the same? Don't I forget who my King and Husband is all the time? I long for romance and He pursued me for 20 years. I long for companionship and He never leaves me. I long for someone to take care of me and He has never let me go hungry. I long for peace and He brings rest to my soul.
How evil is my heart and how desperate are its ways.
I ignore my Husband and King and focus on the time when I can meet with one of my lovers. I stop being a wife, I don't talk to Him, I don't love Him, I don't do things for Him. I sit in our house, surrounded by dirty dished and laundry, everything covered in dust while He lavishes me with gifts of the most expensive and rare kind and all I do is keep my eyes peeled to the window, for my lover to give me the signal to come out and meet him.
God is Love. Love stays with me no matter what I do. Love not only puts up with me, Love wants me to love back. Love wants me to turn away from my lovers and find real Love. Love never fails.
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