Although this scene is familiar to us, although we have experienced it in our own lives, yet there is something strange in it. Tristan and Iseult are “in love,” yet we wonder if it is with each other. They are entranced, mesmerized, in love with a mystical vision—but of something separate and distinct from their human selves, something they see through the magic of the wine. Their “love” is not ordinary human love that comes by knowing each other as individuals. The symbol tells us that this is a love that is “magical,” “supernatural”—it is neither personal nor voluntary; it comes from outside
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