The Problematic Aspects Of The Knightly Code

Of Honor In Erec And Enide Essay, Research Paper

The Problematic Aspects of the Knightly Code of Honor in Erec and Enide

The medieval institution of knighthood lived and died by a code of chivalry that included courage, honor, loyalty, and consideration for others. The influences of Christianity and courtly love expanded the code of chivalry to include religious piety as well as refined social grace and manners. But despite the respectable nature of all it stood for, this knightly code of honor was depicted as having many problematic aspects in Chretien de Troyes’ Erec and Enide. These problems stemmed from a knight’s sense of pride, a feeling of obligation to avenge the wronged, and the eternal search for adventure and honor.

The story begins with King Arthur’s wish to revive the custom of the hunt for the white stag. The custom is such that, whoever kills the white stag, has the right to kiss the most beautiful maiden at court. This is complicated by the fact that there are at least five hundred beautiful young ladies in attendance whose knights would be greatly angered and insulted if the one that they served was not chosen as the loveliest of all. This could obviously cause many fights between the knights since their maiden’s beauty helped to distinguish them amongst themselves. Pride goes hand in hand with knighthood, and in this situation much pride would be hurt, and possibly cause rifts between friends as well as lovers.

It was during this hunt, that Erec son of Lac accompanies Queen Guinevere and her maid in waiting into the forest. A horrible dwarf in service of a knight lashes the lady in waiting for no reason at all. The queen asks Erec to approach the knight as a favor to her. Erec tries, but he too is lashed by the dwarf, and because “folly is not valor” and he feared the knight would kill him, he returns to the queen (Chretien 4). He then tells her “I will avenge my disgrace or else increase it” (Chretien 4). With that, he takes leave in search of the rude knight. This scene shows a knight’s need for vengeance. He feels as if he has been humiliated and will die for the principle of it all.

Erec follows the knight into a town where he meets a vavasor and his family, who invite him to lodge with them. Erec questions the vavasor as to why there are so many knights in town. The vavasor tells Erec all about the custom of the sparrowhawk. “If there is a knight bold enough to claim the honor and title of the most beautiful on behalf of his beloved, then he will bid her take the sparrowhawk from the perch in front of everyone as long as no one else dares interfere” (Chretien 8). The custom of the sparrowhawk is actually quite degrading to women. They are treated as mere objects in this contest, intended only to further the knight’s renown. It just so happens that the knight Erec is after gets the sparrowhawk every year, and this sets up their fight perfectly. He finds the vavasor’s daughter to be quite beautiful. “In creating her, Nature had expended all her effort” (Chretien 6). The next day, Erec fights the knight and wins the sparrowhawk for Enide. He is avenged and has regained his dignity.

Erec takes Enide to King Arthur’s court where he marries her in splendid fashion. They are very happy together and “Erec loved Enide with such love that he cared no more for feats of arms, nor did he attend tournaments. He had no desire to joust” (Chretien 31). It is this intense love for his wife and loss of interest in fighting that causes all of Erec’s companions to despise his marriage to Enide. People begin to talk about Erec and this hurts Enide greatly. One night he hears her lamenting and when she finally tells him why, Erec gets insulted. His pride is hurt, and he therefore decides that he must prove his manhood to Enide as well as himself. They embark on a journey in search of adventure and Enide is forbidden to speak, in order for Erec to test her love for him.

This becomes a problem when Enide spots three thieves in the distance, who are planning to overtake them. “If we are not winners here, we are shameless and lost to honor and incredibly unlucky” (Chretien 36). It is hard to see how it is possibly honorable to rob others, especially when it is three to one. Enide tells him of their impending danger and gets reproached. Erec tells her that he will deal with her later and beats the men in a joust. He is now one step closer to regaining his renown.

Erec and Enide encounter another band of thieves and once again Enide cannot control herself from warning Erec. He is angered with Enide, but fights the thieves one by one and beats them all. Erec exhibits great courage in fighting all those knights singlehandedly, but it is this need to exhibit courage that gets him into trouble constantly. He is proving himself while putting his life in danger. Knighthood called for this, and it was better to die with valor than to live life as a coward.

In the next scene Erec and Enide meet a count that falls in lust with Enide and plans to take her against her will. When Enide refuses the count threatens her by saying “Right or wrong, I shall have your lord slain before your eyes” (Chretien 43). She replies by telling him that he “would be guilty of despicable treachery” (Chretien 43). It is clear here that this count has no sense of honor and he serves to contrast Erec. Part of the knightly code of honor is to av