Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Yvain 3


The third part of Yvain has some very interesting things. Yvain saves a lion form a serpent and then he befriends a lion and the lion helps him win all his fights. The lion becomes a symbol to his lady that he is a virtuous knight and helps win his lady back. In the end Yvain saves Lunete and wins back Laudine’s love and they live happily ever after. If you analyze the growth of Yvain throughout the story you can see that he truly changes from a immature boy into a virtuous man. IN the beginning of the book Yvain sneaks off in the middle of the knight to help regain his cousins honor, like a teenager would sneak out of his house. HE makes a promise to his lady and instead of keeping his word to her he fights in tournaments and does not make it back to her in the time that she asked. After realizing that he cannot get his lady back Yvain goes mad, running around the forest without clothes because he doesn’t know how to cope with this because he is so immature. He finally gets straightened out and during this is when he makes his transition into a man. He then saves a lion, which is a symbol of his virtue and that he is now a true knight who understands responsibility. He then wins back his lady’s love by saving her trusted servant, he finds his way back into her heart and promises to stay with her like a real husband would. The story while being an Arthurian romance also seems to be a story about how a carless teenage knight transforms into a trustworthy, responsible man.

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