LA IV – Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
10/26/2012
The had the knight’s tales to distract people from reality; the plague was very prevalent
so the romantic stories were written
The guy that walks in is gigantic and all green except for his eyes and hands
Holly indicative of Christmas time
The green knight is very condescending and second guesses King Arthur’s relevance
The giant is asking for a Christmas game
The game is that they get to take the first swing of the axe against the green knight and he
won’t move, but then it is the giants turn
There is magic involved in this period of time, which makes the challenge more
disheartening
He has 1 year and 1 day to prepare (common time period given during this time)
The green knight is mocking the men of the round table because they are afraid. This is
an embarrassment to King Arthur the most
This is a parallel to Beowulf; no loyalty of his men, so the leader has to step up
Guinevere is King Arthur’s wife
Sir Gawain steps up to take the challenge even though he is the smallest. He shows
courage, modesty, humbleness
Sir Gawain cut of the giants head, but the giant grabbed his head, hopped on his horse
and rode off
The Lady attempts to seduce Sir Gawain
On the first 2 days he has acquired kisses from the Lady
She tries to give him a ring but he doesn’t accept it because it is worth too much; then she
gives him a green sash (belongs to green knight)
The sash is to keep you invincible; he decides to keep the sash and not tell the Lord that
he has it (deceitful)
The first time the green knight goes to chop of Sir Gawain’s head he stops because he
flinches. He calls Gawain a coward
Gawain promises not to move next time
Green knight didn’t hit him the second time because Gawain didn’t move; he is taunting
him
When he actually hits him it just cuts his neck but nothing really happens to Gawain
The Lord of the castle didn’t hit him the first two times because he was honest about the
first two kisses; but hit him on the third time because he was deceitful.
The Lord did this to test him to see if he was honorable
Sir Gawain feels completely destroyed over his behavior
The Lord says that he is welcome back at the castle but he is to stay away from his wife
The Green Knight wanted to test Sir Gawain and teach him a lesson about being
honorable
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