The Knight with the Lion (324-353)

1. The outcome of Gawain's speech influences Yvain to leave Laudine almost immediately after they are wed. He convinces Yvain that if he doesn't uphold his reputation as a powerful, respectable knight then he will lose his worth and and Laudine's love. Because Yvain is lord of Laudines's land, he fears that if he does not practice his skills as a knight he will be looked upon as an easy target to future attackers. The agreement between Laudine and Yvain was surprising to me. I expected his time away to be much shorter, and she offered him a year's absence without him propsing that much time. He even mentioned that it was too long. I think she was very reasonable to make the agreement; I don't think as a newly wed I would tolerate my husband leaving me for an entire year.

2. Lunete delivers a harsh message to Yvaine, and although I thought he deserved it for breaking his promise to return within one year, I appreciated Chretien's talent as a writer because I could feel Yvain's anguish. I felt sorry for him when I read, "He hated nothing so much as himself and did not know who to turn to for comfort now that he was the cause of his own death. But he would rather lose his own mind than fail to take revenge upon himself, who had ruined his own happiness." (330).