Plot Summary
Erotokritos tells the story of two young people, Erotokritos and the princess Aretousa, whose love blossoms after overcoming numerous difficulties and trials. The plot is divided into five parts: love, the joust, the secret bond and Erotokritos’ exile, Arethusa’s imprisonment and Erotokritos’ heroism, the test of faith and the victory of love.
Part I: Love
The story is set in a mythical Athens where King Heracles and Queen Artemis live with their only daughter, Aretousa, a girl of incomparable grace and beauty. The young Erotokritos, son of the king’s advisor, Pezostratos, falls in love with the princess and confides his love to his friend Polydoros.
His friend tries to change Erotokritos’s mind and feelings, but accompanies him in his nightly song beneath Aretousa’s window and stands by him when the king sends ten men to capture the unknown singer. Aretousa begins to fall in love with the unknown young man, but Erotokritos is persuaded to travel to Egripo (Euboea) in order to forget his feelings.
During his absence, his father falls ill and the young princess, when she visits him with her mother, discovers her songs and drawings in Erotokritos’ room. After his return, Erotokritos realizes that Aretousa has entered his room and discovered his identity. Finally, his concern is allayed by the realization that Aretousa seems to reciprocate his love.
Part II: The joust
King Hercules organizes a jousting tournament (“giostra”) with the aim of entertaining his daughter and finding her a suitable husband.
Fourteen rulers arrive from many places: Philaretos from Methone, Heracles from Egripo, Drakokardos from Patras, Demophane from Mytilene, Andromachos from Anapli, Glykaretos from Axia, Pistophoros from Byzantium, Drakomachos from Koroni, Nikostratis from Macedonia, Tripolemos from Sklavounia, Kypriotis Kypridimos, Erotokritos from Athens, Charidimos the Cretan, lord of Gortyna, and Karamanitis Spitholiontas.
The last two duel, as Spitholiontas accuses Charidimos that his father had stolen a sword from his own father. The duel begins the next day. The king picks the opponents, the duels happen, and a draw decides which two of the three strongest guys will fight in the end. The Cretan is eliminated and leaves in anger. Erotokritos fights Kypridimos, prevails, and receives the victor’s wreath from the hands of Aretousa.
Part III: The secret bond and the exile of Erotokritos
The two young people meet secretly at night and talk through an iron-barred window. At Aretousa’s urging, Erotokritos persuades his father to ask for Aretousa’s hand in marriage. Pezostratos reluctantly agrees and goes to Heracles. The king reacts violently to the request, considering that the marriage of a princess to a common mortal is impossible, and punishes Erotokritos with exile.
Unaware, he announces to Aretousa that she will marry Pistoforos, the prince of Byzantium, and Aretousa does not respond. Later, however, she decides to become engaged to Erotokritos that same evening. The two young people are forced to say goodbye during their nighttime meeting, but they swear eternal fidelity, and Arethusa gives Erotokritos her ring as a token of their betrothal.
Part IV: The imprisonment of Aretousa and the heroism of Erotokritos
Aretousa’s parents pressure her to marry the Byzantine prince, but she refuses. The king becomes enraged and orders her to be imprisoned along with Frosyne, whom he considers jointly responsible for his daughter’s behavior. Erotokritos, who is in Egripo, learns of Aretousa’s suffering through Polydoros. Three years later, Vladistratos, the king of Wallachia, invades the kingdom of Athens.
Erotokritos, after blackening his face with a magic potion so as not to be recognized, decides to return and defend his homeland. He inflicts heavy losses on the enemy, while in a raid he saves Heracles’ life. Meanwhile, Vladistratos’ nephew, Aristos, arrives and proposes to end the war with a duel between himself and the most valiant warrior of Athens. Erotokritos volunteers to fight him and, after a fierce battle, is wounded but also mortally wounds Aristos.
Part V: The test of faith and the victory of love
The seriously injured and unrecognizable Erotokritos is taken to Heracles’ palace. The king offers him his entire kingdom, but he asks only for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Aretousa continues to refuse, and the stranger visits her in prison. The young woman refuses again, and as he leaves, he gives Frosini the engagement ring that Aretusa had given him.
When she sees it, the young woman is distraught and bursts into tears, waiting for dawn to break so that the stranger will return and explain how the ring came to be in his possession. The next day, Erotokritos tests her faith by telling her of the supposed death of her beloved. Aretousa bursts into tears and threatens to kill herself. Then Erotokritos washes himself with the antidote and returns to his former self.
However, he transforms himself again, announces to the king that the wedding will take place, and when it does, he changes his appearance once more and reveals his identity to everyone. The king gives his blessing, the two young people marry, later ascend the throne, and live happily ever after.