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Gottfried’s von Straßburg Tristan (ca. 1210-1220) explores the error as a narrative device: the mistake represented by Tristan and Isolde’s adultery unfolds in several episodes in which Marke, the betrayed king, insistently tries to inspect and ascertain his wife’s and his nephew’s guilt. These attempts arise in the form of many tricks, supported by Marjodo and Melot, which are promptly retaliated by the lovers and by Isolde’s maid Brangäne. The present article aims to trace an itinerary through the different textual moments in which the King of Cornwall is misled, approaching the subject of ambiguity by linking it to the perception of reality. This ambivalence is mainly generated from language as a disguise, in particular from the symbolic language through which intentions can be deduced and masked. This text’s aspect is diegetically depicted by the motif of the tongue, namely by the three cut tongues referred to in the text, thus permitting a reflection upon epistemological topics such as truth and deception, reality and illusion, conformity and subversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]