Erec and Enide, pages 90 to 122

In the last passage, Enide passes Erec’s test, resolving all conflicts in their love. Though this appears to means that Erec has finally come to trust the loyalty of Enide, it seems to me that it is actually Erec coming to trust himself. Erec now understands that he can be a respected knight and a loving husband simultaneously (his confusion over which caused him to begin his journey in the first place). Unfortunately, both he and Enide suffered a great deal in order to reach this place: “They had endured so much trouble, he for her and she for him, that now they had done their penance” (101). I believe Erec may have let this happen because (perhaps subconsciously) he wanted Enide to suffer for him the way he had earlier felt suffering for her: he could have blamed all of his distress on Enide, since he had sacrificed his knightly honor to dote on her, and had felt great pain due to her revealing speech. Furthermore, he may still blame his loss of peer respect on her, since he doesn’t even grant her an apology for his actions and instead (somewhat absurdly, and despite his cruelty towards her) forgives her misdoings: “’…and if your words offended me, I fully pardon and forgive you for both the deed and the word’” (97). Maybe now, in Erec’s eyes, Enide has atoned for what she has said, and they can be equals in their sacrifice for love.