Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
II. The Quest a) When did Gawain depart on his quest? b) Describe the ritual of dressing Gawain in his armor. In what order do things happen? c) What color is Gawain’s armor? d) What was his horse’s name? e) What appears on the outside of his shield? On the inside? f) What is a Pentangle? g) What does the Pentangle represent? h) Why is the Pentangle proper for Gawain? i) What route does Gawain follow? What sorts of adventures does he encounter? j) What were some of the troubles Gawain had while searching for the Green Knight? k) The “Christmas Eve” of line 734 is actually the evening of December 23. What does
Gawain fear he will miss on December 24 (lines 750-762)? l) What happens after Gawain’s prayer?

m) How is Gawain received at the castle? n) How does the lord of the castle respond? o) How would you describe the lord of the castle? p) How well does Gawain maintain his Christmas Eve fast? q) What do the castle residents expect one they know it is Gawain (lines 908-927)? In other words, what is Gawain well-known for? r) What two women does Gawain meet after evensong? How are they described? How does Gawain behave with the women? s) Why does Gawain tell the lord he has to leave? What surprising news does the lord have for him? What does Gawain then decide to do? t) Describe Gawain’s room. u) How far is the Green Chapel from the castle in the woods? v) What arrangements does the lord propose for Gawain and himself for the next day?
How does Gawain respond?

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
III. The Test a) What animal does the lord hunt the first day? b) What happens to Gawain while he is still in bed? c) What does he pretend to do? d) What happens when he finally “wakes up”? e) What metaphor do the lady and Gawain use in lines 1210-forward? f) What does the lady seem to have in mind? g) How does Gawain respond? h) Why, as the lady is leaving, does she say “But our guest is not Gawain” (line 1293)? i) What does she give Gawain? j) What happens in the last part of the first day’s hunt? k) What does the lord give Gawain when he returns home? l) What does Gawain give the lord? m) What do they agree on for the second day?

n) What happens to Gawain the second day? o) How does he respond differently this time? p) Why does the lady complain? q) What does she ask him to do (lines 1533-1534)? r) What is suggested by the narrator’s comments in lines 1549-1551? s) What does the lady give him? t) What happens in the last part of the second day’s hunt? u) What does the lord give Gawain when he returns home? v) What does Gawain give the lord? w) What do they agree on for the third day? x) What is bothering Gawain? (lines 1657-1663) y) What animal does the lord hunt the third day? z) What happens to Gawain the third day? aa) What is the meaning of the narrator’s warning in lines 1768-1769?

bb) What choices does Gawain have (lines 1770-1775)? (Notice that line 1775 brings in the element of Gawain’s oath. What is in question here is his “troth,” or truth.) cc) What does the lady give Gawain during her visit? dd) What does the lady ask for as she leaves? ee) What can Gawain give her? ff) Why doesn’t he accept the ring from her? gg) What object does he accept from her? Why? What does it look like? hh) What does Gawain do differently after the lady leaves? ii) What is ironic about lines 1883-1884? jj) What should Gawain have included in his confession that he probably didn’t because it was only planned at that point but hadn’t actually occurred? kk) What happens in the last part of the third day’s hunt? ll) What color is “Sir Reynard” the fox, and how is he treated? mm) Does his color remind you of anything? nn) What happens differently when the lord returns home on the third day? Why?

oo) Does Gawain meet the terms of his oath? pp) How well does Gawain sleep that night? Why?