In the end, the narrative remains a tragedy, and nothing speaks more for this than the ill-fated conclusion, wherein the lovers die without a final moment of blissful reunion. Tristan’s wife, Iseult of the White Hands, filled with jealousy, lies to him about the color of the sail with which her brother returned and Tristan dies heartbroken, thinking Iseult has forsaken him. When arriving by his deathbed, Iseult also dies of grief (201-202). This is most obviously the end of a tragedy, due to the fact that the protagonists die. The most crude and basic discernment between a tragedy and a comedy is whether the lead characters die or not, and this most definitely fits the former. Beyond this crude definition, it is also prominent that the lovers did not die happily together as is with comedies and fairy tales. Tristan died of a broken heart, wallowing his impression that Iseult had forgotten him and his love, and Iseult died from the sight of her true love’s corpse. This is by no way the happy ending of a comedy. Finally, the deceit of Iseult of the White Hands also categorizes this ending, and thus the whole tale as a tragedy. Having his own wife lie to him in order to break his heart as he did hers portrays the vengeful nature of Tristan’s mismatched marriage, which is a clear sign of a tragedy. 
After analyzing the individual scenes as well as the overall plot of this narrative, it is clear that The Romance of Tristan and Iseult is a tragedy. It does include comedic scenes to prolong the lovers’ journey, but from a wider scope it is a tragic love story about a forbidden love that damns its holders. Since this anecdote was kept by word of mouth, it is possible that these many incidents of comedy were adapted by the storytellers who relayed this romance. This does not, however, mean that the comedic scenes are inessential, because they clearly help advance the story. Although, the lovers are saved in these scenes, they become increasingly miserable with each incident as they are forced to separate repeatedly. This gives the reader a sense of pity for them, because although they are committing multiple sins and estranging themselves from the ideologies of conventional society, the reader is influenced to pity them because they are blind to see their own faults.
