Moving forward in the story, Erec and Enide take lodging in a nearby town and befriend the Count. The Count requests to speak to Enide alone and Erec consents. Overtaken by her substantial beauty, the count offers his hand in marriage, insisting that she cannot say no. She rejects him, saying “You have made a very great error by requesting such a thing of me; I would not do it anyway.” (Page 78) Enide’s rejection of the count, out of loyalty to her husband, is filled with a biting attitude that was uncharacteristic of a woman of her time. The Count tells her that she is “too proud” and threatens to kill her lord if she does not marry him. She then promises to marry him and begins to use her intellect to manipulate him. He plans to kill Erec in his sleep, but Enide objects to this saying that killing him in his sleep would be an act of treason. The count agrees to fight and kill Erec on fair grounds. Enide rises early in the morning and tells Erec of the night before, of which he is grateful for her honesty and loyalty. Chretien De Troyes, I feel, in this scene provides a great depth to Enide. We already have evidence that she has a tendency to be disobedient and now we are given an illustrative example of her intelligence. In the previous two examples when Enide warned Erec of silent robbers, Erec was…show more content… Enide has a mind of her own that she will use in order to protect both herself and Erec, although he may refuse to admit it. In a world that demands her constant submissiveness, Enide hesitantly fights against it out of fierce love for her lord. Unique in medieval literature, Erec and Enide, in their own way, seek a quiet equality in their relationship. However, despite this search for equality in their love, Enide ultimately is submissive. When I visualize Enide, I envision a woman on a sleek horse with a set jaw, lips slightly pursed and her eyes narrowed and
