The first 46 pages of Erec and Enide were a complete whirl
wind of wtf. Erec sets off on this adventure to spite a knight whose dwarf
lashed Erec and the queen’s maid in waiting… Chivalrous? The whole time I was picturing the troll from
Dora the Explorer (whoops). Other than
that, it was a pretty normal tale of revenge in my opinion. Then he stayed in the house of a vavasor in
the company of his wife and beautiful daughter.
But this wasn’t just some guy’s daughter, it was the love of Erec’s
life. Naturally, he would die if he didn’t
have her.
I found it interesting how despite the terrible romantic
build up, there were lessons within this that pertained to anything but romance
and courting. On page 7 the vavasor says
“poverty harms many men”, so at that point I was getting excited that I didn’t
have to read about how the women were setting up the house anymore. He continues to say that he was away at war
for so long and had to sell most of his belongings. Even years
behind us, the world has yet to learn how to treat those who fought for
their governments with any honor-besides ice cream of course.
Another quote I find exceedingly interesting is on page one:
“…always aspire and endeavor to speak eloquently and to teach well.” I find it interesting that this showed up in
our prior reading as well. Sharing
knowledge is fundamental in societies.
Another deep moment I found was on page 26, “the eyes, the birthplace of
love’s joy”. This made the actual love as opposed to lust more concrete
between the couple. I, for one,
appreciated it as opposed to these weird teen fiction fantasy moments.
Enide’s ability to understand that there was something wrong
with the way Erec gave up his dignity in a sense to spend every moment with
her. However, the way he praised her for
bringing it to his attention vs. the way he didn’t want her to speak during his
hunt for…whatever pride he may find, was oddly ridiculous. I understand that he wanted to prove he wasn’t
a weak-willed, whipped, wussy (Wonderful alliteration, right?), but he just
took it out on the love of his life??? What happened bro?! Then he switched his mind AGAIN when she was
trying to get him to leave the place they lodged at.
Everyone is too driven by sex in these stories. Yeah, I can be too, but it needs to calm
down. But Enide is kind of a
badass. Look at her intoxicatin’ fools
with those words (p. 43). I love how she
has a voice and a mind in this story instead of looking for ways to cheat on
her husband. Just some unpopular
opinion.
The Complete romances of Chrétien de Troyes. Updated Edition Translated with an Introduction. David Staines.
