English 83

It is obvious that Erec and Enide is a tale in the heroic tradition.  Erec, who has been described as “the most handsome, most loved, most revered, most muscular, bravest, wisest, fastest, strongest man in the history of the human race” is very obviously intended to be heroic and larger than life.  Indeed, Erec and this story probably serve to help define the knight in shining armor trope for future authors.   Further, as a Romance Erec and Enide includes elements of the fantastic.

Chretien asks us to suspend our disbelief, appropriating physical laws and ignoring basic human biology to create a story.  As the “Hero” of the story, Erec is endowed with many superhuman powers, which utterly surpass those of his contemporaries.  Erec is in effect granted exemptions from the limits placed on normal humans.  This is obvious in his physical attributes, and perhaps even in his psychological ones, but it is more subtle in its effects on the way his actions are perceived and their morality within the story.

As Dan insightfully observes, whenever Erec encounters another knight, they joust.  This is an outgrowth of the extreme xenophobia which pervades Europe due to the extreme fragmentation in social structure since the fall of
Rome.  For a peasant, or even a manorial lord, in Chretien’s time, danger was literally right over the next hill in the unknown beyond the village.  Erec sees others through his pervasive fear of the unknown and is occasionally seen this way, for example one of the knights who attacks Erec does so because “he had seen an armed knight pass by in front of his walls” (82).  This is a statement of pure xenophobia, one is attacked only because of one’s status as an outsider and a potential enemy.

When Erec is attacked the book takes a moralistic tone.  In particular when Erec is wounded after escaping from the Count of Oringle, Enide stops Guivert from fighting Erec saying, “Cursed be you, knight, for you have attacked a man who is alone and powerless” (98).  Note particularly that Erec is described as alone, a condition defined by distance from others and separation.  While Chretien explicitly condemns those who attack the outsider Erec, he paints the outsiders Erec encounters in negative terms.  An example of this latter type is the Knight at the beginning of the tale with the dwarf who refuses to recognize the authority of Guinevere.  In this case, Erec swears revenge against the outsider and is rewarded for it with his bride and increased fame.

Thus, morality is subject to a type of heroic exceptionalism, just like physical strength.  The chosen hero plays by a different set of rules than everybody else.  This seems related to the discussion on “Arthur’s Duplicity” because both stem from an asymmetry between the moral value of an action committed by the known protagonist and the unknown antagonist. 

Thoughts?