Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
Medieval Romance
• Romance:
– Termed as any story written in one of the
Romantic Languages:
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Latin
French
Italian
Spanish (N/A)
Portuguese (N/A)
Medieval Romance
• Medieval Romances describe in a general
way what the word means when applied to
medieval stories. The basic material of
medieval romance is knightly activity and
adventure; we might best define medieval
romance as a story of adventure--fictitious,
frequently marvelous or supernatural--in
verse or prose. Early romances in English
are in verse, such as Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight.
Sir Gawain and
the Green
Knight
King
Arthur
Morgan le Fay
Merlin
The Pentangle
• A symbol of truth, the star has five points
that link and lock with each other, forming
what is called the endless knot.
• Each line of the pentangle passes over
one line and under one line, and joins the
other two lines at its ends.
Pentagram/Pentangle
• Generally interchangeable.
• In Early Christian Times (as in Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight) it represented many things
including Christ’s 5 wounds (2 wrist, 2 ankle and
1 side)
• The English warrior Sir Gawain, a nephew of
King Arthur, adopted the pentagram as his
personal symbol and placed it on his shield.
– It appeared in gold on a red background. The five
points symbolized "the five knightly virtues generosity, courtesy, chastity, chivalry and piety."
The Pentangle
• The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to
which Gawain aspires:
– to be faultless in his five senses;
– never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to
the five wounds that Christ received on the
cross;
– to be strengthened by the five joys that the
Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation,
Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and
Assumption)
– to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and
chastity.
– The side of the shield facing Gawain contains
an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that
Gawain never loses heart.