Saturday, September 6, 2014

The Dual Prospective- Erec and Enide + "The Joy of the Court" Knight and Enide's Cousin

In class we talk a little about the other couple in the "Joy of the Court" sequence. These two characters, while having a few moments within the story have an interesting role. Their presence within the story I believe is set to drive home Chretain's moral within the story, being both; the importance of balancing ones courtly life and the power of knowledge. I shall refer to the woman in this couple as Nega- Enide during this post.

We can all agreeed that Mabonagrain can be seen as a direct correlation to Eric, for their similarities in manners (his inability to listen, hot headed-ness, sense of loyalty to his lady, etc) and common origin of being part of the nobility.
Enide and Nega-Enide are also very similar in their beauty and passionate love for their men, primarily being showing in risking themselves and others in order to ensure their lovers affection.

So why did Cartien even have them come into the picture?

When looking at these couples we finds their differences speak more than their similarities. Up until there are multiple what if's going through the characters (primarily Enide's) and the readers minds. "What if Enide hadn't said anything that night?" "Would they have continued to stay in bed?" "How will others react to this?" "What if Enide had handled the situation different?"
But then we have "the Joy the Court" and all these questions are answered.

Chretien shows us what would have become of the lovers if they can continued on the path they where on. This path is shown as negative and one of the worst options. The position of the couple, being almost entombed inside the round building suggests a detachment from the world and the isolation that their love has created. Their own lack of distance from each other, Nega-Enide sitting on the couch while Mabonagrain is close by creates the feeling of bondaged that we see lacking in the beginning of Erec and Enides own journey. Thus begins the dual prospective of the two couples and how their paths have lead them to positive and negative outcomes.

One of my questions is how can we see the differences in the couples relate to the proverb in the beginning? How does this dual couple add to the story as a whole? How are we to view Nega- Enide’s action? What are other comparisons that can be drawn between the two couples that show one as negative and the other positive? And finally how does knowledge (or lack there of) come into play with the other couples story?

8 comments:

  1. Among many questions that Monica wants to discuss, I will focus on why Chretien adds Mabonagrain and “Nega” Enide couple in this specific scene.
    Joy of the Court is the place to help that Erec can be a “true” Hero. Earlier Erec was not only a sarcastic character who does not prepare armor and sword to protect ladies, but also obsess with this stupid chivalry. Even though Erec refers himself as a “great” knight, he is hypocritical character who is yelled at his poor wife, Enide. This two-faced Erec go to the adventure with Enide to become a “true” hero of this story. BUT, Enide becomes his mentor and helps him excessively. Even though Erec requests her that “if she sees anything she should not be so bold as to speak to him about it,” but Enide still helps him secretly (48). Once, he almost dies, Enide throws herself to save her husband.
    Erec and Enide are both protagonists of this story. Two people will be prepared to become a good king and queen through this journey. As all public’s misunderstanding, Erec became a dead man. While he is “dead,” Enide passes her ordeals alone. Even if she thinks her husband is dead, she still shows her true love and wisdom to the Count. Because of this process, she becomes a new Enide and proves her love to Erec (and Erec FINALLY realizes her love……). But, what about Erec? He is not ready to be a king YET! Therefore, Chretien introduces another sequence to prove readers that Erec would be able to have enough qualifications.
    Erec grabs a triumph the fight with Mabonagrain by himself, and it brings “joy” to most people (except one lady). I want to interpret this part as Chretien’s romantic side. The lady “cannot help smiling” because of Enide. When I first read this part, I was so confused that why this lady suddenly showed up to become a cousin of Enide. And why does Chretein intentionally add this part in the middle of the story? Actually, this scene is very important to Enide, and it is the last gateway to become a true queen. Enide redeems Erec’s defect. She becomes a wise and beautiful woman who complements what Erec does not have. They can be perfect when they are together.
    As Monica mentioned earlier, this new Mabonagrain and “Nega” Enide couple shows Erec and Enide’s drastic and negative future. However, also this couple trains Erec and Enide to become a perfect king and queen as their mentors.

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    1. I was not sure "where" I should post mine, so I did it here and I wrote the new posting, too! It's the same thing, so don't be confused!

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    2. Melisa, I really enjoyed how you brought multiple examples of Erec and Enides growth and how the other couple show case this growth.

      Your observation of the two ordeals is interesting. Looking at the ordeals the two go through we can see that there are two deaths, Erec's being a physical death and Enide's an emotional death. These two deaths result in the rebirth that as you suggest make both of them become a worthy king and queen.

      I would like to point out that after this rebirth, the defeat or Mabonagrain and Enides acceptance of Nega-Enide can be looked at as a defeat of their negative tendency's, which is a cleansing of themselves. This cleansing would make sense with Erec being a physical battle that he almost cannot overcome and Enide's being an emotional re-evaluation of her morals and duties. Enide up until this point is skeptical if she has done the right thing but after this encounter she can see that the choice she made has saved them both.

      I am glad that you found my questions interesting!

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  2. I agree that the second couple serves as a warning, showing the audience what could have happened if Erec and Enide had continued to “waste” their days in bed. It certainly is fun to stay in bed all day with a beautiful woman, but in the end, there is more to life than sex. The second couple shows the laziness and apathy that sets in when a couple becomes too comfortable in their relationship. Erec and Enide’s relationship is far from perfect, but at least they have the mobility to keep things interesting.

    Erec and Enide are presented as superior to the other couple in that they are not drawn into the trap of monotony. I’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men lately, so I’ll use Don Draper’s relationships as a point of comparison. Don and Betty (The first wife) lived a boring suburban life outside of New York. The comfortable tedium they shared (for a time) was like that of the second couple from Erec and Enide. This proves to be a poisonous situation for both of them and it dissolves in flames. Don and Megan (the second wife) live a crazy life that is far from stable (like Erec and Enide). There are many twists and turns, but in the end, they are stronger together and learn from it. Erec and Enide, as with Don and Megan, show that it is better to be dysfunctional and crazy than boring and lazy.

    I’ve been thinking a great deal about the proverb in the beginning and how it relates to the story. The proverb deals with knowledge that a person already possesses. This would seem to be an odd choice of words, as Erec does not show much in the way of intelligence in the beginning of the story. He runs on bravado not brains. This is shown right in the beginning where he ventures off into the woods without the proper knightly equipment.

    Instead of uncovering uninitiated internal knowledge Erec learns along his journey. It all culminates at the coronation where he receives the cloak symbolizing the wisdom of the universe and the seven liberal arts. He is able to cheat death and sticky relationship situations and comes out on top. I could be wrong that Erec learns from the world around him rather than uncovering something inside himself, but it is certainly something to think about.

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    2. Alex, I do like how you compare Erec & Enide and Don & Betty. I had never watched the show, but I should def check it. I also want to introduce one old story in Korea. It is called “Stupid Ondal and Pyung Gang Princess.” (Some people translated it as “The Fool & the Princess”)

      The young princess cries a lot and when she cries, the queen and king warn her that they will force her to marry stupid Ondal. For some reason, she really thinks she should marry him. Even though her parents threat her that they will kick her out of the palace, princess actually marry him. In addition, she teaches him how to read & write also how to fight. So, Ondal becomes a good knight and a wise man. Despite her efforts, her parents never accept her and Ondal as their family members. However, one day Ondal won against a rebellion. After that, the king decides to turn over his throne to Ondal.

      Actually, this story has a historical background. Around that time, the king was hard to keep his throne because he has only daughters, not son. Make it worse, he was severely sick. A lot of rebellions rose to take possession of the crown, but Ondal saved the country from them. The king had no choice but let his throne down to Ondal, and spread out this story to the public. So, the story made Ondal as a hero and made the public believe his legitimacy. We might approach Erec and Enide as a similar way. Because anyway Erec brings joy to the people in the Joy of the Court and he becomes a king at the end of the story.

      I have one question to you. It was really interesting that you mentioned Erec “learns from the world around him rather than uncovering something inside himself.” I wonder why you think like that. I agree he does not show any remarkable talent at the beginning of the story. However, after the battle with Mabonagrain, I really thought Erec changed.

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    3. Alex, I enjoyed your connection of modern to the Arthurian. It is always interesting to see the connections we can make. I have heard of Mad Men but never watched it. I am glad that you explained it to give others context for I would not have gotten the connections.

      We see connections to the proverb in the beginning also talks about the knowledge that people can gain from speech or the lack of it in some cases. This is shown in Nega-Enide's choice to not tell her lover her wish until after he promises to keep this. The lack of knowledge gives power to Nega- Enide and allows her to entrap her lover. This power is then considered negative for it creates an imbalance of power that later comes to bite Madonagrain in the butt. This in comparison to Enide's speech to Erec about her anxieties creates gain of knowledge on the part of Erec. This is then a positive encounter.

      We see connections to the proverb in the beginning also talks about the knowledge that people can gain from speech or the lack of it in some cases. This is shown in Nega-Enide's choice to not tell her lover her wish until after he promises to keep this. The lack of knowledge gives power to Nega- Enide and allows her to entrap her lover. This power is then considered negative for it creates an imbalance of power that later comes to bite Madonagrain in the butt. This in comparison to Enide's speech to Erec about her anxieties creates gain of knowledge on the part of Erec. This is then a positive encounter.

      I do agree with your observation that Erec does not have innate knowledge in the beginning but gains it over time. I think that this a point that Chertain was making the use of the double negative. The growth we see as well in Enide I think is evidence of this idea.

      Thanks for sharing and looking at my questions.

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  3. This is a really nice analysis for a lot of reasons. I really like Monica's initial focus on structure and parallelism, Melisa's implicit argument that Enide is as important a character as Erec, and Alex's introduction of motion and stasis as another level of duality I hadn't really thought about. Erec's behavior throughout most of the story might be awful, and he's horrible to Enide, but at least he keeps them both moving, putting them both into experiences that force them both to evolve--thus avoiding the stasis of the ironically-named "Joy of the Court." Nicely done, everyone.

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