Gower, "Le
Mirour de l'omme, 22, 813 ff.:
"Rois est des femmes trop decu,
Qant plus les ayme que son dieu,
Dont laist honour pour foldelit:
Cil Rois ne serra pas cremu,
Q'ensi voet laisser sou escu
Et querre le bataille ou lit."
(27) This brusque command, implying so sudden a change in Erec's
attitude toward his wife, initiates a long series of tests
of Enide's devotion, which fill the rest of the romance.
Why did Erec treat his wife with such severity? In the
Mabinogi of "Geraint the Son of Erbin", it is plain that
jealousy was the hero's motive. The reader of "Erec" may
judge whether, as we believe, the hero's sudden resolve is
not rather that of a man piqued at being justly reproved by
his wife for a delinquency he had not himself remarked;
irate at his wife's imputation, and fearful of having
forfeited her respect, he starts out to redeem his
reputation in her eyes, and to maker her retract any
insinuation she had made. Erec is simply angry with
himself, but he expends his wrath upon his defenceless wife
until he is reassured of her love and respect for him.
(28) The situation here is a common one.
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