search of adventure and Enide is forbidden to speak, in order for Erec to test her love for him. This becomes a problem when Enide spots three thieves in the distance, who are planning to overtake them. “If we are not winners here, we are shameless and lost to honor and incredibly unlucky” (Chretien 36). It is hard to see how it is possibly honorable to rob others, especially when it is three to one. Enide tells him of their impending danger and gets reproached. Erec tells her that he will deal with her later and beats the men in a joust. He is now one step closer to regaining his renown. Erec and Enide encounter another band of thieves and once again Enide cannot control herself from warning Erec. He is angered with Enide, but fights the thieves one by one and beats them all. Erec exhibits great courage in fighting all those knights singlehandedly, but it is this need to exhibit courage that gets him into trouble constantly. He is proving himself while putting his life in danger. Knighthood called for this, and it was better to die with valor than to live life as a coward. In the next scene Erec and Enide meet a count that falls in lust with Enide and plans to take her against her will. When Enide refuses the count threatens her by saying “Right or wrong, I shall have your lord slain before your eyes” (Chretien 43). She replies by telling him that he “would be guilty of despicable treachery” (Chretien 43). It is clear here that this count has no sense of honor and he serves to contrast Erec. Part of the knightly code of honor is to avoid deception and this man obviously has no problem being deceitful. Enide warns Erec and they escape, but not without wounding the count first. Next, Erec approaches a crying maiden and she tells him that her lover was taken prisoner by two giants. He tells her “either I shall be taken prisoner along with him, return him, freed, to you” (Cr...
