isolde, an irish princess, and her maid, brangaene are on tristan’s ship, being taken to king marke’s lands in cornwall where isolde is to be married to the king. the opera opens with a young sailor singing about a “wild irish maid”. isolde thinks he is singing about her. she is furious and wishes the sea would rise up and sink the ship, killing all on board. she is particularly furious with tristan, the knight who is taking her to the king. she asks her maid to get tristan, but he will not come because his is steering the ship. his henchman, kurwenal, speaks crossly to brangaene, reminding her that isolde’s previous fiancé, morold, had been killed by tristan and his head sent back to ireland.