How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Page)
Quote #7
Hear now of the three—may God curse them! They had acted very badly to the king in making him angry with Tristan. Not a full month had passed before King Mark went hunting one day; with him went the traitors. (14.115)
The narrator leaves us in no doubt about where his sympathies lie, calling the three barons who revealed Tristan and Yseut's affair "traitors" and saying that they acted badly toward the king. On the one hand, we know the narrator is biased: Tristan is the hero, after all. But on the other hand, we also know that the barons acted out of jealousy for Tristan, and not because they had Mark's best interests at heart. In this way, they are traitors to their lord.
Quote #8
'A hundred curses on the mouth that told me to send him away! By St Stephen the Martyr, you are pestering me and I am very annoyed. I marvel how you can be so quarrelsome! If he did do wrong, he is now suffering for it. You have no care for what pleases me; while you are here I shall never have peace.' (14.116)
Mark accuses his barons of being troublemakers and of having "no care for what pleases" him; he basically tells them that they are disloyal barons. Mark finally seems to be on to his barons' game: that they are not loyal to him, but simply enemies to Tristan. "While you are here I shall never have peace" is perhaps the most perceptive line Mark speaks in the whole story.
Quote #9
'Tristan offered to clear himself and to defend the queen against the accusation of disloyalty, but no one was bold enough to take up arms.' (14.124)
Calling Yseut's alleged adultery "disloyalty" highlights the unique position of a queen when it comes to medieval feudal law. Because she is married to the king, the queen's adultery is also treason, disloyalty comparable to that with which a vassal might betray his lord.