Women In Erec And Enide

Women have been degraded over the millennials of human existence. They have been thought of as only beauty and childbearing, not for knowledge or leadership. In the time that the Arthurian Romances were written this mentality of women, by men, was at its peak. In the book of Erec and Enide, this degrading of women is especially noticeable because the beginning of the story is based on Erec finding his wife. Women were judged on their appearance, objectified, prizes and expected to obey a man’s every order. Women were first presented as a prize when King Arthur was holding court. There he declared he wished to revive the tradition of hunting the white stag (Troyes, 37). With this hunting of the stag, the winner is granted to kiss the most beautiful damsel in the court. Such a prize glorifies objectifying the women of the court. Showing the men that women are merely prizes to be one, and the most beautiful women are the only ones worth winning. There is another example of women being

This is seen when Erec first arrives at the vavasour’s house requesting lodging. The vavasour orders his daughter to attend to Erec’s horse: taking off its saddle, putting down a fresh layer of hay in the stable and giving it oats to eat. Meanwhile, the wife to the vavasour is already inside, spreading our embroidered quilts and laying rugs on top of the beds. The next day, Erec asked for the vavasour’s daughter to dress him in his armor. Troyes details the hard work it was to put on a man’s armor by writingThis culture of obeying continues into marriage as well. When Erec and the maiden, now names Enide, get dressed to leave in the morning. Erec tell a squire to run to the chambers and tell his wife she is taking too long to get dressed and she must come quickly (Troyes, 70). For when Enide was told this he hurried down to the courtyard next to Erec, forcing herself to appear as happy as she