Erec and Enide: Madness

From the first pages of the novel, Érec is presented to us, despite his young age, as a being of reason, capable of analyzing a situation and developing a strategy: thus, challenged by the sinister trio of Wickedness, Pride and Violence, he is careful not to rush into an unequal fight:

      Madness is not vasalages;
      Of both fist mut Erec and wise (v. 231-232)

Erec's "madness" only manifests itself after his marriage to Enide; it will be analyzed a little further down, regarding the Text 2.

This madness, temporary blindness, is only an accident for the hero, a temporary error, and a test to overcome in his personal realization; he will have to overcome it to become what he truly is, a perfect knight and King.

The other characters

Throughout his adventures, Erec will meet characters whose madness often takes the form of excess.

The "hybris"

She is embodied by Ydier and his lady; proud to the point of letting his dwarf offend Queen Guinevere without intervening, convinced of always winning in the game of the hawk – and forced by Erec to humiliate himself and admit defeat. But at least in single combat, Ydier respects the rules of chivalry. And, once defeated, he submits in the most frank manner.

Unbridled violence

Whether it is the three plundering knights, the five robber knights, the giants attacking the virgin, the hero's adversaries are characterized by extreme violence, which is not counterbalanced by any moral barrier; dwarves or giants, by their size or their deformity, carry this barbarity within them. They are inevitably defeated by the Knight.

More subtle, the violence of a Galoain or a Count of Limors is accompanied by a cunning unworthy of a knight, a contempt for the laws of hospitality – both take advantage of the trust of their host to try to seize his Lady – and with excessive pride. And if Galoain's "madness" may seem temporary and susceptible to recovery (and in fact, overcome with remorse, he will end up renouncing his criminal enterprise), that of Limors seems intrinsic to his person, and can only be resolved through the death.

A world on the verge of a nervous breakdown?

But most of the characters, good or bad, seem to live on the razor's edge, ready to tip into a murderous madness at the slightest opportunity; All it takes is an unrecognized silhouette, a misunderstood word for a violence that is very difficult to channel to explode.

Two examples bear witness to this:

• The meeting between Érec and Seneschal Keu: when Érec refuses to follow Keu to court, the latter wants to bring him there by force, and does not hesitate to attack him (v. 4023-4046)
• The second meeting between the warlike Guivret and Érec: not having recognized his friend, Guivret is ready to massacre him! (v. 4992-5014).

Whatever the case, when it comes to a temporary error, a word is enough to calm the warlike ardor, and the hero then becomes pitiful, welcoming and generous again; he easily recognizes his fault; and if madness persists, then he is condemned and dies miserably.

But there is also another kind of madness, which comes less from excessive violence than from a lack of adaptation to social, that is to say chivalrous, rules.

Mabonagrain and his virgin

In the curse called "Joy of the Court", the madness is twofold:

• Madness of Mabonagrain, who surrendered himself hand and foot to the wishes of his friend, without even knowing what she would ask of him; but the oath taken binds him absolutely, and he must accomplish, willingly or unwillingly, what he has promised. And it's a series of incessant fights, which totally isolates him from the Court, and prevents him from doing what he was born to do!
• This madness is matched by that of her friend, who indulges without control in a destructive and deeply selfish love, which also completely isolates her from society.

Both misunderstand the true nature of courtly love, which Erec also almost forgot in his period of “recreationism”, and which he is in the process of reconquering.

Érec's victory will mean the healing of Mabonagrain and her friend, and their return to society: it will be the famous "Joy of the Court", greater than any individual joy.

Conclusion

Madness therefore consists of a misunderstanding of oneself, one's limits, and one's mission within society. A knight does not live for himself, not even for his “Lady”; at least this, if it is wise, encourages him to accomplish what he was born to do: serve the “Court”, that is to say society, contribute to its harmony, while respecting and upholding its values.

Fighting against barbarism, taking up the defense of the weak, the Chevalier therefore has an eminently civilizing role in this violent and brutal society.