1. Gawain's speech serves to gently reprimand Yvain, and convinces him to leave his wife and fight at tournaments. Basically, he decides that his reputation as a courageous and honorable knight is worth more than staying at his wife's side. Laudine agrees, adding one condition- Yvain must return within a year, or her love for him will turn to hatred. I personally would never agree to this. It's true that the ugliest hate is born from the deepest love, but one can't set a time limit on such matters.
This parallels Erec and Enide's story; by staying with Laidine, Yvain would become a victim of rumors and lose his reputation. Therefore, he would also lose his wife, according to Gawain, "Indeed, you would suffer afterwards for her love if it caused you to lose your reputation, because a woman will quickly withdraw her love if she finds herself hating a man who has lost face in any way..."
This is in contrast to Erec's story where the man rejects the woman. Here, Laudine rejects Yvain for failing to be a good enough man to keep his promise.
It seems to me, however, that Sir Gaawain is at fault for causing the strife in the later part of the story. It was Gawain's fault that Yvain left and, because he didn't return on time, for a time he lost both his love and his sanity.
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