The lovers’ sinful bliss is however cut short when Mark discovers Tristan has gone to Iseult’s quarters at night, but they escape again with a comedic turn of events that revolves around multiple instances of irony that juxtaposes the overall tragedy the story. Mark surrenders Iseult to the lepers of the town to be raped (84). Such an atrocious act may be taken as a tragedy at face value, but its irony makes it quite amusing. Mark is so madly driven by anger at his wife’s unfaithfulness that he decides to give her to lepers to fornicate even more, which is an ironic punishment for her crime. Besides this, the Lepers also provide a humorous, albeit offensive, comedic scene that juxtaposes the serious climate of the execution. This along with their exaggerated description earlier would be received as a preposterous display of lepers. Finally, there is the dramatic irony of the audience knowing that Tristan would be awaiting the lepers with Iseult in the woods as he was comforted into doing so earlier in this chapter. Thus, the reader would be relieved that Iseult escapes the immediate danger of burning at the stake and is on her way to reunite with her lover. It is around here where the story begins to show more of the obstacles hinder the Tristan and Iseult’s love, and thus shows more of its tragic elements.
Despite this, the lovers persist in their disregard for conventional principles, so much so that they become tragically estranged from society. 

 Although Ogrin is rather outrageous in his persecution of the lovers, the overall scene demonstrates the increasing tragedy of the story. By speaking out against a hermit, Tristan is directly opposing the will of the church. The Church is an immense power in medieval Europe, and its disapproval is a grim condemnation and has often ended tragically in history. Furthermore, Tristan’s defiance of the church borders on blasphemy and is a great display of a tragic character’s willingness to sacrifice all in order to prevail. Their defiance also accentuates the lovers’ complete confidence in their own righteousness, which leads them to deny the fact that they are in fact committing any sin. Thus, their love blinds Tristan and Iseult from seeing the fallacy in their actions, thus further leading them down a path that strays from society and conventional Christianity.   
While there is an overbearing sense of doom for the lovers in this point, the narrative still manages to salvage some comedy, by saving the lives of the protagonists and emphasizing the naivety of Mark, while still dooming them to be apart from each other. In the ordeal by iron, Iseult uses a trick to escape death, by lying in an oath on a technicality (126-127). This employs numerous features of a comedy, the most predominant of which is again dramatic irony. Iseult is proven innocent by her oath in front of the attendants of the trial, but the reader knows that she only employed a careful plan with Tristan to be acquitted on the technicality that Tristan is the serf who touched her. Once again the audience witnesses a celebration of the wit of a protagonist, and this time it is Iseult’s. It is impressive that she was able to conceive such an elusive and well-coordinated plan to clear her name. Through this ruse, the audience is inclined to view Mark as a fool. Thus Mark becomes the stock character of the non-suspicious husband, who is easily betrayed. This very much amusing and falls in line with a typical comedy, but in the end the lovers are not reunited and Tristan still has to leave his lover behind with his uncle.
