Erec/Gereint and Enid/e

Chretien's version (dammit, why can't I put in accent marks?) of Erec and Enide -
One of the most saturated themes in the work is that of wisdom v. foolishness. In part, the story works to give Erec the experience requisite to be a good knight and ruler of his realm. He starts out youthful and relatively lucky - he gains much fame and a beautiful wife through his prowess. He then desires, after marriage, to go home and rule over his kingdom, where he becomes so totally besotted with his wife that he does nothing but lie around in bed with her all day. The primary fault here seems to be lust. He then overhears Enide's lamentations of his loss of status, and drives her out on the mission to regain his fame. Much of the time he is commented upon by others as being foolish, or as making foolish decisions, which is fitting in that his reasons for going out on the journey in the first place are uninformed - he blames Enide for her comment rather than actually finding out what she meant - which is foolish. It is only after he realizes that Enide truly loves him (after she rebuffs the advances of another man (Count Death, entertainingly) that he revives from presumed death and becomes more wise. This seems to show both sides of the courtly love dilemma - when Erec is too overcome by sexual pleasure to do anything, love becomes harmful to him and his reputation; when, however, he tests her love and discovers it to be true and his jealousy to be mistaken, he loves Enide in a way that allows him to gain greater glory for himself and for her - love then functions as ennobling rather than debasing.

Much the same holds true for the Welsh version, except that instead of working on the foolish/wise dichotomy, the text works on a well-/ill-advised dichotomy, so that what is shown to be important is not necessarily the wisdom of the individual, but the individual's willingness to listen to others, place himself in the community, and keep good counselors nearby.

As for the horses - they seem in both tales to provide an initial measure of success for Gereint/Erec. Enid/e drives the horses, which seems to be a way for Erec/Gereint to show his success off as a knight without having to actually boast to her about his prowess - they therefore help to fulfill part of the chivalric code. Furthermore, they provide E/G with a way to be generous above and beyond the repayment of debts. Finally, by allowing (or perhaps forcing) Enid/e to drive the horses, the text illustrates the beloved's role in the knight's success - she has her own work to do to enable his success.

Finally, Enid/e - E/G's treatment of her is hideous. In Chretien's version, Enide is praised for her wisdom above and beyond her beauty; in the Welsh, this is ignored though she is shown to be fairly wise. The Welsh tale is altogether more focused on Gereint than Enid - she suffers quietly and her troubles over whether or not to obey her husband are illustrated, but the focus is altogether more on him. In Chretien's version, Enide's cunning and wisdom is more fully illustrated, and the various different modes of feeling she experiences throughout the text are described in detail. For the most part, however, she is shown to be the ideal, patiently suffering wife, more concerned for her husband's welfare than her own.
Both texts work to rid Enid/e of her speech - she is denied the right to communicate to her husband at all, though she breaks that commandment when he is endangered. In Chretien, Erec goes so far as to deny her the right to even look at him after a while (something not in the Welsh version) - she is thus denied full control even of her major senses. This also works in conjunction with ideas about love at the time, since it is thought that love enters and increases through use of the eyes - that would make it seem as though Erec is trying to get Enide to stop loving him through the denial of sight - yet since she already loves him, this move could be to try and increase her love for him through difficulty of sight or providing obstacles.

Finally, along the sight lines - Enid/e is forced to ride in front of G/E before their reconciliation in a move which gives G/E much more power over her in terms of power of the gaze; interestingly, however, is that by riding in front, Enid/e is more exposed to the threats to G/E, which allows her to warn him, giving her some sort of power (even if born in defiance) over him. Chretien makes a point of telling us that Erec knows of the problems she warns him of when she does, and that her warnings are unnecessary - it is unapparent in the Welsh version whether or not Gereint would have been prepared for battle had Enid not warned him of upcoming attacks.