1. Gawain gives a speech on pp. 326-327. What is the outcome of this speech (in other words, what does this speech accomplish, for better or worse)? How do you interpret the agreement Yvain then makes with Laudine? What kind of agreement is this? Would you want to accept such an agreement? Why or why not?

Sir Gawain's speech is very similar to the what the townspeople told Enide in Erec and Enide. While Gawain applauds a love as genuine as Yvain and Laudine, he basically tells Yvain he cannot simply "luxuriate in a life of constant ease." In other words, he must prove that he is a knight, and similarly, his love will only grow stronger when apart from his beloved. He asks if he my leave, and she replies that he must be back within a year's time. I would not accept such an agreement. Although it is clear that Yvain cares greatly about his reputation, I would hope that my love alone would be enough. Even more so, a year is a great deal of time, especially considering how long they have been together.

3. Why does Yvain react the way he does to Laudine’s messenger? Why do you think we have this specific reaction? What might this imply? What happens in the wilderness? Do you notice any changes within Yvain during this part of the romance? What are they? How do you interpret these changes? (And what do you make of his “cure”?)

Yvain goes crazy, again similar to Erec. He lives in naked in the woods, he hunts for his food and receives the help of a stranger. Without Laudine's love, he has no purpose or reaction with his life. She was his believed reason for being and all that he cared about. He changes in this part of the text because the reputation he left his wife for, and the wife he was thus gaining it for, become nothingness to him. Neither matter at all. Until he is magically cured by the lady, he is blinded by all that was once important to him. I think that these two elements overall make the story the fairytale that it is, irresistible, yet completely far fetched.