Trey
British Literature
Compare and contrast essay
11-14-13
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
In the story “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, Sir Gawain faces many challenges on
his journey to face the Green Knight. One of the main challenges that Sir Gawain faces is
dealing with a lord of a castle that he chances upon during his travels and the seduction of the
lord’s wife. While staying at the castle the lord of the castle goes on three hunts for Sir Gawain.
In return the lord asks that whatever Sir Gawain receives from the lord’s wife, Sir Gawain must
return the same gift to the lord. During the story the three animals that the lord hunts; deer, a
boar, and a fox; reflects what the wife is trying to do to Sir Gawain at the castle. In all of these
hunts, the lord has a bunch of help whether it is man or beast, while Sir Gawain is left without
any help except himself.
During the hunt for the deer, the lord had the most help during the hunt. This hunt was
the easiest hunt out of the three hunts that the lord does for Sir Gawain, and this reflects the
efforts of the lord’s wife when she tries to seduce him. In the castle while the lord is out hunting
the deer, the lord’s wife decides to start making her move on Gawain. The morning of the deer
hunt, the lords wife sneaks into Gawains room while he is “asleep” and waits patiently while he
wakes. When Gawain wakes, the lady states,”ye are but a careless sleeper, since one can enter
thus. Now are ye taken unawares, and lest ye escape me I shall bind you in your bed; of that be
ye assured!" (Brian Stone). She tries to seduce Gawain by telling him how good looking he is
and how everyone adores him. He gets out of this by replying, “I think me that I am not him of
whom ye speak, for unworthy am I of such service as ye here proffer” (Brian Stone). Before the
wife leaves, Sir Gawain receives a kiss from her.
Meanwhile this is all unraveling; the lord of the castle is out on his first hunt. While he is
hunting for deer, he has a lot of help to make racking up the amount of deer he can kill easy.
When the lord gets back to the castle that night, he already had the deer stripped down and
ready to cook for Sir Gawain. All that the lord receives from Sir Gawain is one lousy kiss. After
all day of hunting this is all that the lord gets, while Gawain gets all of the deer that the lord
killed.
The next day when the lord goes out hunting for the boar, Sir Gawain has a hard time
shaking the lord’s wife away from him. Sir Gawain is tested this time because like the boar that
the lord hunts, the wife refuses to give up until the last minute before the lord arrives home. The
boar that the lord hunts refuses to give up, and hurts many of the men that the lord has with
him. The boar isn't stopped until the lord decides to get down from his horse and stab the beast
himself. At the end of the day, Gawain gets two kisses from the wife, and a boar from the lord.
All that the lord gets from Gawain is the two kisses that the lord’s lady gave Gawain.
The third hunt that the lord goes on is a hunt for a fox. The symbolic relations of the fox
are that it is sly and cunning like the lords wife is toward Gawain. When the lord is out hunting
the fox all the help that the lord has is his dogs that turn the fox back so the lord can kill it. Back
at the castle Sir Gawain has to deal with the lord’s wife trying to seduce him. She walks into his
room with nothing on but a gown and a green sash. When the wife fails at seducing Sir Gawain,
she gives him the green sash and three kisses. All the lord receives from him is that is three
kisses in the end.
The relations between the hunts and what is happening to Sir Gawain at the same time
are a symbol that could easily be overlooked. These challenges that both the king and Sir
Gawain face are comparable because they are what is happening while at the same time. This
is what the symbol of the story is, how these relate.
Work Cited
Stone, Brian, trans. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Literature of England.
United States: Harper Collins Publisher, 1979. 46-74. Print