Day 14 – Sir Gawain and
Literary Interpretation
Anthropological/ Archetypal
Psychological
Tolkien and Sir Gawain
 What influences do you see?
Clock of the Day, the Year,
and the Life
Another version
Alain Renoir’s cinematographic theory of the writing of the beheading. “close
reading”

The green knight got ready, feet firm on the ground;
leaned his head a little to let the cheek show,
and raised the rich riot of his hair
so the nape of his neck was naked and exposed.
Gawain held the ax high overhead,
his left foot set before him on the floor,
swung swiftly at the soft flesh
so the bit of the blade broke through the bones,
crashed through the clear fat and cut it in two,
and the brightly burnished edge bit into the earth.
The handsome head fell, hit the ground,
and rolled forward; they fended it off with their feet.
The red blood burst bright from the green body,
yet the fellow neither faltered nor fell
but stepped strongly out on sturdy thighs,
reached roughly right through their legs,
grabbed his graceful head and lifted it from the ground,
ran to his horse, caught hold of the reins,
stepped in the stirrup, strode into the saddle,
the head dangling by the hair from his hand,
and seated himself as firmly in the saddle
as if he were unhurt, though he sat on his horse without
a head.
He swiveled his bulk about;
the ugly stump still bled.
They gaped in fear and doubt
because of the words he said.
Also see Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Green Man

The mysterious Green Knight is the most unique, and perhaps most
memorable, feature of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Scholars have long
debated whether he owes more to Pagan mythology, to poetic invention
or folkloric ceremony. However that may be, he represents a spirit of
vegetation. Trees can live far longer than human beings, and they have
regenerative powers that people have always envied. A person who loses
a limb is permanently handicapped, but a tree that loses a limb will
simply grow in another direction. The Green Knight has this ability. On
being decapitated, he simply picks up his head, which continues to speak
in his hand. The next year, the head is back on his torso where it belongs.
Nevertheless, possible literary predecessors of the Green Knight may go back
almost to the start of civilization. The earliest is the giant Humbaba,
guardian of the cedar forest of Lebanon in the ancient Mesopotamian Epic
of Gilgamesh from around the early second millennium B. C. Like the
Green Man of medieval Europe, Humbaba was often sculpted grimacing
from the facades of buildings. There is also a Muslim Green Man known
as Kadr, whose lore was probably carried by crusaders back from the
Holy Land.
Mythological/
Anthropological
 Anthropological view of the tale so far?
 Sir Gawain as associated with Oaks
 Also Sir Gawain as associated with May Day and
the May Pole
Story as fertility myth,
ritual
 In European spring festivals, maypoles were set up to
represent sacred trees, and a sacred marriage was enacted
between a May Queen—a descendant of countless fertility
goddesses reaching back to the Neolithic and the
SumerianInanna— and a companion known as the Green Man,
himself a descendant of all those ancient fertility heroes such
as Dumuzi, Attis, and Adonis, many of whom were associated
with sacred trees. A later relative of the Green Man was the
Green Knight in the Middle English romance of Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight, in which the theme of decapitation suggests
the ancient ritual of fertile sacrifice for the good of humanity, a
process reenacted in the Christian story of Jesus, who died on
the “tree”-cross and was resurrected in the spring,
symbolizing a new spiritual fertility.
Pentangle
 “The poem describes Gawain's armor in detail. He carries a
red shield that has a pentangle painted on its front. The
pentangle is a token of truth. Each of the five points are linked
and locked with the next, forming what is called the endless
knot. The pentangle is a symbol that Gawain is faultless in his
five senses, never found to fail in his five fingers, faithful to the
five wounds that Christ received on the cross, strengthened by
the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (The
Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and
Assumption), and possesses brotherly love, pure mind and
manners, and compassion most precious. The inside of the
shield is adorned with an image of the Virgin Mary to make
sure that Gawain never loses heart.” (Sir Gawain Room)
Carl Jung on Mandalas

The "squaring of the circle" is one of the many archetypal motifs
which form the basic patterns of our dreams and fantasies. But it
is distinguished by the fact that it is one of the most important
of them from the functional point of view. Indeed, it could even
be called the archetype of wholeness.- from Mandalas. C. G. Jung. trans. from Du (Zurich, 1955)
During a difficult period in his life in which he withdrew from his teaching position and
devoted much of his time investigating the nature of the unconscious, Jung frequently painted
or drew mandalas, but only learned to understand the mandala symbology many years after he
had begun creating the images.
He understood only that he felt compelled to make the figures and that they comforted him,
“Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: “Formation, Transformation, Eternal
Mind’s eternal recreation”. And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all
goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self-deceptions” (MDR 195-196). Mandalas
are defined by Jung as magic circles, containing certain design motifs that he found to have a
universal nature, across cultures and across time, whether they are the transiently created
mandalas from Tibet, sand paintings from the American southwest, or illustrations from ancient,
medieval, and Renaissance alchemical works. (Carbonek – August 9, 2007. Blog.)
Dr. Freud or Dr. Jung?
 Psychological view of the tale so far?
 What if you were doing a Freudian reading?
 A Jungian reading?
 In any case, the poem is very humanistic. Gawain’s
“only fault is that he loves his life too much.” The
poem is about a good man choosing between right
and wrong.
Chivalric ideal
 Loyalty to God, King, Lady (remember loyalty from
Beowulf). But this doesn’t always work – what do
you do if there is a conflict in loyalties? Gawain
fails in all three of these respects, as you will see.
But he also succeeds.
Questions as you keep
reading
 Which court is more real? Arthur’s or Haut desert?
 What should Gawain do with the Lady?
 What is the meaning of green?
 What kind of king is Arthur?
 What do the animals mean?
Anti-French?
 How you would do a New Historical view?
 Some argue that there is an anti-French theme
represented by Arthur’s court. This is due to the
100 Years War. So French poetry and structure
were thrust aside. This is one argument for the
alliterative revival – an endeavor to find literary
independence from France.
Values?
 What values do you see as significant to Sir
Gawain?
 From what you know of the Round Table, what
values were most significant?
Dark Ages?
 Sir Gawain and the Canterbury Tales were written at
a time of transition. The Gawain/ Pearl poet looks
backwards to courtly love but Chaucer looks
forward to the Renaissance and humanism.
 Neither book (unlike Dante’s Divine Comedy) was
focused on heaven. The rewards, punishments,
conflicts, etc. were based in this world. The focus is
on human frailty and human greatness. There is
sympathy for the human condition.