4. The second contest (the sparrow-hawk) is a chance for the men to redeem themselves and their names, but it really wasn’t a competition because no one wanted to really step up and battle the knight that Erec had ran into earlier in the woods. It seemed as though the festival was a matter of anticipation. Everyone would go not to battle, but it with this hope or eagerness that someone would step up to this knight and challenge him.
To me the sparrow-hawk contest is similar to the white stag tradition that King Arthur wanted to revive. Both seem to emphasize the importance of beauty, chivalry, knighthood, and honor. For the knights there name and reputation is at stake. They can either earn honor or they can lose it and bring shame upon themselves and their name. For the women it is a matter of beauty, fairness, esteem, and being worthy of such praise within the land. It is also a chance for the men to kind of prove their manhood and prowess.
5. The scene when Queen Guinevere dresses Enide seems to imply the making of her into a woman. When she dresses her it’s like she is transforming her, Enide tells them to give her old clothes away, as she drapes on these luxuries clothes, gems, and gold. Enide goes from poor to royalty. The more Queen Guinevere dresses her the more her beauty increases and she becomes nobler.
The dress seemed to represent the life and the things that she had to look forward to. It represents her change, she already had the looks of royalty, but the clothes enhanced her beauty and made her seem more pleasing and honorable. Enide didn’t deny any of the clothes but instead took them. Erec seems to embrace her beauty for him it is something that is dreamlike, and unnatural. Erec found her beautiful even with the worn out clothes. The clothes that Queen Guinevere gave her only enhanced her beauty and made her regal. Erec saw something that it took silk fabrics, gems, and gold for others to see; to him she was already a fit to be a queen.
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