The Knight with the Lion

1. Gawain's speech in a nutshell is very masculine. Gawain basically tells Yvain to man up, stop being depressed and sad, and go out and fight and reclaim your honor. He doesn't like how he lets a woman run his life when he is supposed to be such a great knight. So as a result of this Yvain asks Laudine if he can leave or not. She promises to let him leave on the condition that he can't be gone no longer than one year. She said if he didn't return by then that he would be banished from her love. To me a year seems lke a long time to just go out and joust and fight in tournaments and such. That is a lot of time to fight battles and get worn out and tired. I don't see why she feels she needs to put a leash on him but i feel the deal is pretty safe for Yvain to do what he needs and comes back.

4. The lion usually represents good things such as strength, courage, and leadership. The snake is more cunning, and trickery. I think what Yvain is facing in the challenge to choose what side he picks is to either pick the lion and reclaim some of his strength in getting over his sad feelings and return to power as a knight. If he had chosen the snake I think his journey would have been tougher. A lion is a companion that will be loyal while the snake i think would be more of a burden. The snake is more or less going to keep him down in the dumps and would result in him turning back and cutting his adventure short or maybe even harming himself in a way. I feel his choice to save the lion shows that he's willing to deal with his problems and realize who he is and that he hasn't been much of a night lately.