Christopher Booker is a scholar who wrote that every story falls into one of seven basic plot structures: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, the Quest, Voyage and Return, Comedy, Tragedy, and Rebirth. Shmoop explores which of these structures fits this story like Cinderella’s slipper.
Plot Type : Tragedy
Anticipation Stage
After getting a nobleman's education, Tristan reveals his identity as Mark's nephew, is knighted, and serves as Mark's champion against Morholt of Ireland. Tristan is the perfect knight, skilled in both martial and peaceable arts. He's so great that he's the only guy who will stand up for Mark to Morholt of Ireland. But something is missing from Tristan's life: he doesn't yet have a lover.
Dream Stage
Tristan drinks the love potion and gets it on with Yseut. From now on, Tristan's got it bad for Yseut. He's got it so bad that his love will determine the course of the rest of his life.
Frustration Stage
Mark's barons get suspicious of Tristan and Yseut's relationship and make plans to catch him with the help of the dwarf Frocin. Tristan desperately leaps from his bed to Yseut's despite the flour on the floor and the blood from his open wound. Guess what? This provides the evidence the barons need to convict him of treason.
Nightmare Stage
Mark condemns Tristan and Yseut to death by burning. As Tristan is led to the pyre, he makes an epic leap from the window of a cliffside chapel to the seashore below, then rescues Yseut and escapes to the forest with her. Tristan's a new man now. Loyal nephew Tristan would have consented to be burned for treason; the new Tristan is Tristan the Lover, who will live in exile, on the outskirts of Cornish society and its laws, for the rest of his life.
Destruction or Death Wish Stage
Many years after Tristan leaps from the chapel, he receives a poisoned wound helping his friend Kaherdin get it on with a married woman. This is pretty much what kills him. Now Tristan has chosen the identity of lover rather than law-abiding citizen. He serves love no matter what. So this is probably why he helps out with Kaherdin's illicit affair. In a sense, Tristan's death is the result of a decision he made the moment he chose to abandon his position in the Cornish court in favor of his love for Yseut.