My opinion of Chevrefoil (Doc 3)

In Chevrefoil, a poem written by a medieval poetess known as Marie de France, the narrator summarizes the story of Tristan and Isolde's adulterous love affair.  Isolde's husband, King Mark, has discovered the affair and has banished Tristan to exile.  Tristan learns that Queen Isolde will be traveling to Tintagel to hold court with her husband and decides to carve his name in a hazel branch in hopes that Queen Isolde will see the branch, stop the procession and come into the woods to meet with him.

Chevrefoil, is also known as The Honeysuckle, because of the use of symbolism regarding the relationship between a hazel tree and a honeysuckle bush.  These plants are meant to represent the love of Tristan and Isolde.  In verse five, Marie de France says,

For he could not live without her.
It was exactly the same with the two of them
As it was with the honeysuckle
That has attached itself to the hazel tree:
When it has so entwined itself and taken hold
And completely surrounded the trunk,
Together they can survive quite well;
But if someone tries to sever them,
The hazel tree quickly dies,
And the honeysuckle as well.

Many believe that the metaphor of hazel and honeysuckle implies that Tristan and Isolde need each other's love desperately, the honeysuckle needs the hazel to survive. If they are severed, both will die.  But their judgment is clouded; in fact, honeysuckle was used medicinally during medieval times to cure cloudy vision.  

There is danger in both staying together and being apart.  Many Celts believed that the nuts of hazel trees provide wisdom and knowledge.  Honeysuckle, in literature, has been used to represent intense love or sex.  In reality, hazel trees are rather small trees, while honeysuckle are an invasive plant that grows at an alarming rate. The intrusive growth of the honeysuckle would very quickly suffocate the hazel and kill it. 

In my opinion, the hazel and the honeysuckle do not represent the love Tristan and Isolde had for each other, but instead represent the idea that their relationship was parasitic and deadly.  Although the poem does not address this, the tale of Tristan and Isolde does end with both of their deaths;  Tristan by betrayal and Isolde by overwhelming grief.  In the end, their toxic love kills them both.