Erec and Enide (Part 3)

1)

Immediately after fleeing the count, Erec reveals to Enide the motive he had behind taking her on this adventure. He states, “My sweet love, I have tested you in every way. Don’t be dismayed any more, for I now love you more than I ever did, and I am once more certain and convinced that you love me completely. Now I want to be henceforth just as I was before, entirely at your command; and if your words offend me, I fully pardon and forgive you for both the deed and the word” (97). The question I asked myself after reading this passage was, “Was this always Erec’s intention, or did he only realize it after hearing Enide profess her loyalty to him in front of the count?” Up until this point there was an inclination that Erec didn’t have a clear idea as to what he meant by going on this journey, and it was hinted that Enide was only taken along as a kind of ‘prop’ as Erec only wanted to prove his worth to himself. While I don’t think it can be entirely clear whether or not Erec always knew what he wanted all along, I think it can be argued that Enide’s speech to the count is part of what made Erec realize what he had wanted out of this whole journey. He basically says that he could not have loved Enide as fully as he does now if he thought that she did not love him completely. What surprised me was when he stated that he wanted to go back to the way things were before and place himself “entirely at (her) command).” This suggests that he no longer cares, perhaps never cared, about what everyone else (besides Enide) thought o him. This, more than anything else, is what makes me think that Enide’s words in the scene with the count gave Erec some kind of revelation about himself and his wife.

2)

Erec appears to come back as a demon of devil. “They did not believe that they were being pursued by a man, but by a devil or a demon that had entered into his body” (97). Though Erec was constantly shouting at Enide for speaking when she was not permitted, it is due to her speech that Erec awakens and kills the count. Also, it was Enide’s defiance of orders she did not like that kept her strong against the count. On page 100 the narrator states that Erec “had come to understand (Enide) well.” One could interpret Erec’s revelation about his wife as being a result of his ‘reincarnation’: he appears to be a new man.

3)

I would seem that Maboagrain and his lady are the anti-Erec and Enide. In this sense, the author’s previous allusions to Tristan and Yseut make sense, though they are somewhat ironic. Maboagrain and his lady have something in common with Tristan and Yseut: their love, though it brings them more Joy than any other love they have ever experienced, has drastic ramifications on their people. On the other hand, Erec and Enide, by the end of the story, demonstrate a kind of balance between their duties to the court and their duties to each other.