Erec Et Enide: A Knight Offends Queen Guinevere

In "Erec et Enide", “during a hunt for a white stag, a knight offends Queen Guinevere. Erec pursues him, defeats him, and returns to court with Enide.” (Easy Literature Notes). After the couple is married, the couple returns to Erec's home in Carnant where Erec retires from battle. Talk about Erec's lifestyle change bothers Enide, and she offends her husband when she confides in him with this information. They leave Carnant, and Erec commands Enide not to speak to him without his addressing her. When knights plot against Erec, Enide warns him, only to make him angry. After he defeats the knights, the couple continues on their journey until more knights plot against Erec. Enide warns him once and it only makes him madder. Again, Erec defeats

the knights. They meet a count who falls in love with Enide and plots against Erec. Enide warns her husband and they flee; Erec is finally convinced of Enide's love. Next, Erec battles and defeats King Guivret who pledges his friendship and aid to Erec. Erec and Enide incidentally run into King Arthur's camp before Erec rescues Cadoc of Cabruel from several giants. After this battle, Erec faints and Enide, thinking Erec is dead, attempts to commit suicide, but is prevented by Count Oringle who marries Enide against her will. Count Oringle beats Enide for refusing to eat because of her grief, causing Erec to waken and kill Count Oringle. Meanwhile, Guivret searches for Erec and meets him on the road from Count Oringle's home, but not knowing it is his friend, Guivret fights Erec. They are reconciled and approach Brandigan Castle, where Guivret cannot dissuade Erec from attempting the Joy of the Court. After Erec completes that adventure, they go to King Arthur's court where they stay until Erec's father dies and King Arthur crowns Erec. In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmeralda captured the hearts of many men, including Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, Esmeralda’s phony husband, but especially Quasimodo, the ugliest man in all of Paris, and his father, Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his love for Esmeralda, an accused witch, and the rules of the church. He commands Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda. Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged. He calls for water, then Esmeralda approaches the public stocks and offers him a drink of water. It saves him, and he falls in love with her. Esmeralda is later charged with the attempted murder of Phoebus- who Frollo actually tried to kill in jealousy after seeing him flirt with Esmeralda- and is tortured and sentenced to death. As she is being led to the gallows, Quasimodo swings down from the bell rope of Notre Dame and carries her off to the cathedral under the law of sanctuary, protecting her from arrest. Frollo later tells Gringoire that the court has voted to remove Esmeralda's right to sanctuary so she can be taken and killed. The king of the criminals hears the news from Gringoire and rallies the criminals to charge the cathedral and rescue Esmeralda. When Quasimodo sees the criminals, he assumes they are there to hurt Esmeralda, so he drives them off. He also thinks the King's men want to rescue her, and tries to help them find her. She is rescued by Frollo and Gringoire. But after yet another failed attempt to win her over, Frollo hands Esmeralda to the troops and watches while she is being hanged. When Frollo laughs at Esmeralda's hanging, Quasimodo pushes him from the top of Notre Dame. “Quasimodo later goes to Montfaucon, a huge graveyard in Paris, where the bodies of the condemned are dumped, where he stays with Esmeralda's dead body and dies of starvation.” (Wikipedia). While both stories may tell tales of heroism, The Hunchback of Notre Dame tells of a male saving the typical damsel in distress. On the other hand, in “Erec et Enide”, Enide is the one who saves her husband’s life by warning him of attackers no matter how angry she made him. Both stories reflect values that happen to be very well respected in France. Enide’s persistence in showing her husband how she loves him reflects France’s idea of showing love toward others. Everyone’s criticism of Quasimodo and his outward appearance reflects the harsh criticism of France, which, in a way, is also considered a compliment. Both legends show that the thought is what counts, despite the initial reaction. The Disney rendition of the Hunchback of Notre Dame is based off the novel by Victor Hugo, showing that there really is no trace that any of the events really occurred. Likewise, “Eric et Enide” is based of the poem by written by Chretien de Troyes during the twelfth century in a series concerning the events surrounding King Arthur and several of his knights and has no trace of historical evidence. The only trace of any historical accuracy is by each of the authors. Even then, they told and embellished their own characters and that in itself categorized this as a legend.
Like beautiful trolls, La Dame Blanches wait on bridges for handsome young men who need to cross.

What interests these beautiful young ladies is dancing, as well a willing partner. When a young man tries to cross the bridge, they ask him to dance with them. If the man agrees, she will let him pass without any problems, and he will be none the wiser to her potential danger. However, those unlucky men who are not suitable dance partners, and who refuse the invitation will be thrown off the bridge. In “Chevrefoil”, The story tells of the love between the knight Tristan and his uncle's wife Iseult, which was so pure that it eventually caused their deaths on the same day. Tristan has been banned from Cornwall by his uncle Mark for his lustful sins, and is forced to return to his homeland in South Wales. After pining away for a year, Tristan hears news that Mark is planning a great feast for Pentecost at Tintagel, and Iseult will be there. On the day the king's court goes out, Tristan goes to the woods, where he cuts a hazel branch into an appropriate signal and carves his name into it. Iseult will be on the lookout for such a sign, since Tristan has contacted her in a similar manner in the past. Immediately recognizing the branch as Tristan's, Iseult asks her party to stop and rest, and goes out in the woods with only her faithful servant Brangaine. The lovers spend their time together, and Iseult tells Tristan how he can win back his uncle's favor. When it comes time to leave,

the lovers weep, and Tristan returns to Wales to wait for his uncle's word. The rest of the poem compares Tristan and Iseult's love to the intertwining of the honeysuckle with the hazel: the two plants grow so entwined that both will die if they are separated. One is the storytelling of a supernatural phenomenon in France, while the other tells of characters who act impulsively as they show their affection toward one another. Both myths reflect the carefree, easygoing lifestyle that France is famous for now, whether it features dancing or incestuous relationships. Both tales are said to be not true, due to lack of evidence that such a thing has ever happened. However, there is still some skepticism about whether these events really did occur. The reason myths are so difficult to verify is because there is normally no trace of archaeological evidence that such stories ever took place. Oral tradition contributed to the belief that gods walked among men due to the fact that there was nothing in the people’s to disprove the encounters that may or may not have happened.
In “Beauty and the Beast”, there is a beautiful but kind girl called Belle whose father becomes imprisoned by The Beast. She ends up taking his place at the Beast's castle. The beast treats her well, and gives her expensive gifts. Belle learns to love the beast, but only as a friend. Belle becomes homesick and the Beast allows her to leave only if she promises to return a week later, he gives her a ring which will allows her to come back imminently and a mirror to see what's happening at the castle. Belle's sisters trick her into staying one day later than a week in hope of the beast becoming angry and killing her, but Belle feels guilty and looks into the mirror to see the Beast dying of heartbreak. She uses the ring to return to him half dead, weeps over him, and tells him she loves him. When she says that he turns into the handsome prince he was before and tells her it's was a curse from a witch because he wouldn't let her in from the rain, and that only when someone could love him whilst being hideous could return to true form. In “Toads and Diamonds”, A widow had two daughters: one resembled her father more and was always sweet, and the other was more like her mother, unloving and cold. The widow only loved the daughter who favored herself. She forced the younger daughter, the one more like her father, to work and live like a slave. One day, an older woman asks for water and blesses the young lady, saying that anytime she speaks, there will be jewels or flowers falling from her lips. The mother notices this and takes notice of the child. She then sends for her eldest, Fanny, telling her to go draw water and civilly give it to a certain elderly woman. When the elderly woman reaches the well, she is overly dressed in a princess’ ball gown. The eldest daughter is by the well and tells the woman to serve herself. The woman tells the child that she is inhospitable and curses her with a spell that every time she speaks, a toad will fall. When the daughter returns home, her mother asks for a report, but when the daughter goes to speak, two vipers and a toad fall from her lips. The widow is furious and beats her youngest, suspecting foul play. The child cries from the pain and runs off to the woods, finding a castle. She meets a prince who takes notice of her and asks why she is crying. The girl explains what happened and as she does, diamonds fall when she speaks. He fell in love with her, knowing that the diamonds would be greater than any other dowry. As for the other sister, she was so hateful her mother kicked her out and ran into the woods where she died. Both fairy tales encompass the idea of looking past a person’s appearance in order to love them. While one deals with the way words can build or destroy, the other shows that anyone can be loved no matter how hideous they are or what they’ve done in the past. The fact that both fairy tales deal with finding love reflects the very romantic French culture. In “Beauty and the Beast”, Belle is beautiful on the inside and out. Inner beauty is said to be composed of many things: love, kindness, unprejudiced, and self-confidence. Belle’s possession of every one of these traits is what truly shows what it means to have inner beauty. In “Toads and Diamonds”, courtesy is a big factor of what played out in the end. The fact that it states both girls are beautiful yet have two different personalities shows the importance of inner beauty. La Belle et la Bête, as the French call “Beauty and the Beast”, is a traditional fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve that was published in 1740. “Diamonds and Toads” was written by Charles Perrault, a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for the fairy tale, with his works derived from pre-existing folk tales. Imaginary creatures were used as a way to get children to behave, promising that evil will come and devour them or good will ultimately bless them. These beliefs in imaginary creatures were accepted by the masses of people due to the positive outcome in children’s behavior.
An archetype is a very typical example of a certain characteristic.

The archetypal hero’s journey is the progress of a protagonist throughout a certain story. The journey shows the advancement of a certain character from where they started to where they end up, glorifying their actions. The archetypal hero’s journey fits into what the people will expect to happen. The people who only heard by word of mouth only got to hear and imagine what would happen. However, today, we can analyze passages and detect a pattern of the literary structure. In “Diamonds and Toads”, there is a pattern shown, and that pattern is the archetypal hero’s journey. In the ordinary world, there is one big happy family: a mother, a father, and two daughters. Then, unknowingly, the youngest daughter’s call to adventure as a hero begins when her father passes away and her mother and sister turn their back on her. Though she may not be able to refuse the call, she deals with it to the best of her ability. The girl happens to have the meeting with the mentor when she meets the elderly woman at the well. After the child is beaten when her sister is cursed, she crosses the threshold and leaves the ordinary world to go and is now an enemy of her family. Even though there is no fear of losing her life, she is disowned by her family. Because of her family disowning her, she happens to meet her prince and this is her reward for running away as she chooses to live her new life. The journey shows that all bad

things happen for a reason. And in the end, the reason is that all the bad occurrences happened for something good to come of it. The journey helps readers connect with the stories by showing that all people are on a journey as they go throughout life, and as the story goes on, the audience can relate to the fact that their life is played out like a book with several chapters and many pages.