When Erec leaves with Enide, it seems as though his journey is one of redemption and renewal. His renown had fallen and he was made fun of for neglecting his chivalry to be with his wife. When Enide tells him of this, he gets angry and we get the impression that he’s headed off to regain his old title and renown – gained before through tournaments and mindless acts of violence, mind you. In the concluding section of the text, we see that he’s not regaining his chivalry as we’d come to know it before but instead a different kind of chivalry. This new kind is gained not through mindlessly macho fighting but through actual tasks of heroism. Let’s compare the ‘chivalry’ earlier in the tale to the kind now: before he had challenged all in order to show off and for the sake of challenge; this time he rescues a knight from dishonorable giants to spare a maiden’s broken heart, saves Enide from a morally vile Count, and restores joy to a kingdom by freeing a strong knight from a curse. Chrétien is making a commentary on that testosterone-driven society. From the get-go, he seemed to be saying that it was just ridiculous – ‘what’s the point in just fighting for the sake of fighting and bloodshed?’ The way chivalry had been described as a sort of virtue was no virtue at all – machismo does not in itself constitute a virtue. The true spirit of chivalry is in fighting for things that matter, for honor from good deeds and heroism.
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