Erec and Enide. Day One.

1. In the prologue, Chretian lets the reader know that there is more to the story than there seems to be. He encourages his audience to pay close attention to the book and to use their intellect to find the deeper meanings. In the first line he begins to tell us that the lesson in the book is more understood and demonstrated by the common people of the time, the peasants. It seems the novel will deal with the pitfalls of the rich and royal peoples, whose ambition and confidence can lead to arrogance and confusion. The novel is titled a romance. But Chretian in the prologue tells us it deals with much more than the typical romantic tale.

2. The first chapter fills us in on a contest and right away shows us how the royals gain and lose their respect and how they treat the women. The knights have little on their minds but themselves, fighting, and "acquiring" maidens through fighting. The court seems to function in a very gossip-centric way, in the sense that if a knight is made a fool of, he must have vengeance in order to re-establish his self-righteousness and the good opinion of the other members of the court. The knights will not stand to lose any of their respect in battle and action, as they are the only things that get them money, power and especially women. Unlike the "peasant-folk" that Chretian mentions in the prologue, the knight's way of winning a heart is to impress it through feats of strength and dominance. This puts the maidens on a pedestal, one that requires them to do as is directed by the outcome of various contests and rules. The peasants are considered lowly, and not worthy to compete, which in turn gives them an environment which allows them to meet their future spouses, as opposed to winning them.