The narrator of Yvain portrays Love in the most idealistic terms. It is shown to have extraordinary power over Yvain, as when he first sets eyes upon Laudine. His emotions during that dramatic encounter are described in terminology more fitting for battle: "Love had conducted a raid on his land and had succeeded completely in taking her quarry. His enemy had led away his heart." This choice of imagery shows how Yvain not just impressed by the woman's beauty, but truly unable to control his overwhelming emotions. The war metaphor continues, as the narrator describes how Yvain is "wounded" by the encounter, and his lady shall be his physician. First, it is important to note the manner in which Yvain falls in love with the noble lady

A closer look at the portrayal of Laudine also shows that the love Yvain has for her is illfounded and hastily given. When Yvain falls in love with her, the lady's frame of mind, as she seeks nothing but to have her spring defended. Laudine has no romantic notions of love, but is brought into the marraige though self-servitude. A lady in such a precarious position, who is marrying out of desperate need, can scarcely be considered a powerful, controlling force in the cause of Love. This is also confirmed by the strong element of misogyny in the romance. This becomes clear that while Yvain knows that it would be difficult for her to love the man that slew her husband, women are unstable in their emotions and can easily learn to forget lost love.

His ability to forget her so completely after such an overwhelmingly powerful story of Love is the first crack in the portrayal of Love in our story. . The impossibly huge words he used to describe his feeling for her stand in stark contrast to his complete negligence. No dangers or enemies kept Yvain away from her, and yet he exceeds the time she gave him by weeks and weeks. When he realizes his error, Yvain is "bereft of reason." He has broken the strictest codes of honor, loyalty and honesty, and his immediate is to escape the contemptuous eyes of society. Through this, we see Yvain is most distressed by his violation of the code of honor, not by the Love he supposedly couldn't live without, and this becomes even more evident through later adventures. After Yvain's time of inexplicable nudity is ended, he decides that before he goes back to try to reclaim his Lady's heard, he must win back the honor he has lost (this, ironically, is the very thing he left her to do). His journey brings him to an attacked lion, whom he saves and makes a friend of. The closeness and genuinity of this friendship soon surpasses the love between Yvain and Laudine, for through actions it is shown that the commitment is far stronger.

When Laudine has unwittingly won the love of the valiant knight, he professes it to her in great boasts: "...my heart will not turn from you nor will you find it elsewhere...I can think of nothing else; I give myself wholly to you...I love you more than myself." These words are sweet, and surely would impress any woman, but Yvain soon negates the emotional blessings he has bestowed with words by abandoning her. When the time comes for Yvain to depart his newly adopted domestic home, his words make it seem impossible for him to do so in an emotionally complete sense. He has "left his heart behind...she who remained at home held and joined herself so closely to that heart that he did not hav

Some topics in this essay:
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