LIT 2001
Major English
Writers 1
Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Gawain Poet
• Identity of the poet is unknown, but the manuscript
was found in a collection including three other poems
(Pearl, Patience, and Purity), all religious poems: the
only manuscript of the poem.
• The poem was probably composed some time
between 1375-1400: the time that Chaucer was
writing—many hundred years after Beowulf.
• We have the poem in translation, but Chaucer in the
original Middle English. (Chaucer uses a dialect of
English that would become Modern English).
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Legend of King Arthur
• A vast complex of stories center around King Arthur and
his court. Even if we are not familiar with the different
stories, the names associated with Arthur and his court are
familiar: Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Queen Guenevere,
Merlin the Magician, the Round Table, Camelot.
• A historical "Arthur" may have existed as a Celtic cavalry
leader who fought against invading Saxon forces in the
early 6th century.
• The Celts had a history of defeats, and Arthur was
probably a "heroic creation of a defeated people." The
Arthurian legend provided England with an aristocratic
myth of its past glories.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Legend of King Arthur and
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• When the Gawain-poet was writing, in the 14th century,
the Arthurian legends had been told and retold over and
over, and the legends themselves and the idealism of the
court were increasingly being treated in a debased fashion.
• The poem suggests the decadence of the Arthurian
tradition.
• This reflects the social changes of 14th century England -the aristocratic ideals were kept alive through tournaments
and the founding of chivalric orders, but social changes
cause the Gawain-poet both to praise and to call into
question the past and its aristocratic ideals.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Arthur's Court (Lines 37 to 106) -- Identify and explain any
words, phrases, or comments the poet makes about Arthur's
court that may be criticisms of it.
• Too much emphasis on pleasure.
• Too much emphasis on worldly goods.
• Seems to be almost a self-contained fantasy world.
• The knights are untested; they seem almost to be children.
• Very controlled world, removed from nature -- established
times for "wonders.“
• Portrayed as a very civilized world.
• What we might call a decadent portrayal of King Arthur's
court = "Being in a state of decline or decay."
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Gawain’s request to stand before Arthur (Lines 343-347)
• seems almost a parody of courtly manners
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The entrance / depiction of the Green Knight (Lines 222 to
283, Lines 301-322) -- Identify in what ways the Green Knight
stands in contrast to Arthur's court and in what ways the
Knight seems to criticize or belittle the court. Who is this
strange green man?
• Seems to show how fragile this world is as he comes riding
in and makes his challenge.
• He see the knights as unworthy to battle against him =
young and untested.
• Pretends not to know which one of the men is King Arthur
(and he probably is pretending).
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The entrance / depiction of the Green Knight (Lines 222 to
283, Lines 301-322) -- Identify in what ways the Green Knight
stands in contrast to Arthur's court and in what ways the
Knight seems to criticize or belittle the court. Who is this
strange green man?
• He knows of the history of Arthur's court, but he suspects
they are not all that they have been made out to be.
• Closely associated with the natural world (images to
describe the green knight are drawn from nature).
• May represent an earlier time, when people were less
corrupted by civilization.
• May even be a remnant of some earlier god associated with
fertility and nature.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Gawain’s Pentangle
(Lines 619-669)
The “Five Fives”
1. Five senses = should be faultless
2. Five fingers = probably refers to strength
3. Five wounds of Christ = to remember Christ’s
suffering on the Cross
4. Five Joys: Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection,
Ascension, Assumption
5. Five moral qualities: beneficence boundless, brotherly
love, pure mind, pure manners, compassion
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Courtly Love Tradition
• Courtly Love: “a highly conventionalized code of
conduct for lovers during the Middle Ages”
• Adoration for the Virgin Mary, was, in part,
responsible for a philosophy of love and a code of
lovemaking that was a popular and important aspect
of chivalry.
• Bertilak's wife is entering Gawain's room with
expectations of a courtly romance.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Courtly Love Tradition
• Andreas Capellanus (late 12th century) wrote an indepth treatise on courtly love, which included its 31
"rules.“
• True love was held to be impossible in a married state
• By its very nature, courtly love is illicit and sensual,
naturally leading to adultery.
• A knight’s object of devotion would often be his lord's
wife.
• Queen Guenivere and Lancelot
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Gawain as a Hero
• How has Gawain been tested? How well does Gawain
succeed as a hero?
• The third morning (lines 1826-1892)
• Gawain and Lord Bertilak (lines 1932-1951)
• Gawain and the Green Knight (lines 2345-2388)