Gawain's Shield and the Quest for Perfection
Author(s): Richard Hamilton Green
Source: ELH, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Jun., 1962), pp. 121-139
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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VOL.
JUNE,
29,
NO.
1962
GAWAIN'S SHIELD AND
THE QUEST FOR PERFECTION
BY RICHARD HAMILTON
GREEN
I
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an aristocraticromance
which embodies the chivalricideals of the English rulingclass
century. It is a highly stylizedprojecin the mid-fourteenth
tion of the image of that class, a marvelousworldwherethe virtuous hero representsthe noble ideal and his antagoniststhe
forces which threatenits ascendancy. Social historianshave
shown that the chivalrictradition,in its outward formsand
at least, persistedlong afterits institutheoreticalformulations
tional vitalityhad been sapped by economic,politicaland social
change. It remaineda characteristicattitudeof the upper classes toward public and private secular affairs,partlyout of nostalgia for the supposed glory of an earlier age, partly as a
means of protectionagainst the threatsto vested interestsimplicit in change, partly as the familiarembodimentof ethical
ideals rooted in a more stable religioustradition. One of the
most obvious and attractivefeaturesof our poem is the clarity
of costume
withwhicheleganceof courtlymanners,magnificence
the professionalskill of noble pursuitsare
and entertainment,
presented.These are attractivein themselves,and theyprovided
in whichthe noble virtues
the appropriateliteraryenvironment
Richard Hamilton Green
1921
whichpertainedto this conspicuouslynoble life could be examined and tested.
These virtuesof the secular estate: valor and fidelityin the
serviceof one's temporallord,justice in dealingwith the strong
and the weak, sobrietyand courtesyin the conduct of personal
life,piety in the serviceof God, belongedto, and derivedtheir
value and ultimate sanctions from,the medieval doctrine of
Christianperfectionboth institutionaland individual.The chivalric ideal, however modifiedand tarnished by practice and
human imperfection,
was the imitationof Christ,the effortto
realize in the individualand in societythe perfectionto which
humannatureaided by grace could aspire. The dominantimage
whichbound the ideals of chivalricand Christianperfectionwas
the image of the Christianknight,championof the Churchmilitant on earth,committedto the pursuitof personal virtue and
the preservationof the divinelysanctionedsocial order. Add to
this the image of lifein the worldas a passage moralisein which
perfectionis an ideal to be sought,but achievedonly in another
worldbeyond challengeand frustration,
and we have the moral
world of the poem.
In this general way, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a
romancewhichfitsour customaryexpectations:an ideal society
in a marvelous world where the virtuoushero representsthe
temporal and spiritualideal, flatteringand encouragingthose
whose model he is meant to be. That the English upper classes
should feel themselvesinvolved in Gawain's characterand fortunes was a consequenceof the medieval view of history. He
was Arthur'sknight,and Arthurwas England's greatestking.
The writerof romance,like the writerof chronicle,recordedthe
legendaryevents of a past whichwas seen as a continuingprocess of fulfillment;
both poet and historiandealt imaginatively
with traditionbecause both were primarilyconcernedwith instruction,with providentiallygiven models to be emulated or
shunned. But romanceis a complexgenreand the Gawain poem
is no run-of-the-mill
example of its kind. It is the most skillfullymade of the English romances,and the most complex in
intention,exhibitinga subtletyof presentationand densityof
implicationwhichwe have only begun to appreciate.1It is also
For a full account of the present state of Gawain studies, includinga judicious
122
Gawain's Shield and the Quest for Perfection
late in the historyof the genre,and, since it is alive and original in ways that most of its contemporarypieces are not, we
should not be surprisedif it shows some of the stressesof the
period in which it was made.
Because Arthurand Gawain are figuresof England's destiny,
and providedpatternsof individualconduct and its consequences, the aims of the poet are essentiallyserious;but I findthat
the poem reveals a sense of humorwhichmitigatesthe seriousness of its themes and adjusts the magnitudeof its exemplary
hero to the temper of an age which produced the satires of
Chaucer and Langland. The burdenof my essay will be to examine some of the implicationsof the poem's comic tone forits
centralconcernwiththe ideal of secularperfection.This poet is
more than propagandist and entertainer;he is the amiably
ironicteacher and conscienceof the court. His poem manifests
approval of the noble lifeand a livelyenjoymentof its elegance.
But beneath the brilliantsurfaces he finds a dark world of
potential failure,and subtly,sometimescomically,he warns of
powers of evil whichmay corrupteven the most virtuousmen
and institutions.He presentsGawain as the normagainst which
his audience is asked to measure its own achievement,and he
warns against the follyby whicheven the most exemplarycan
be corrupted;but his presentationis sympathetic,graceful,informedwitha humorthat turnsin upon itself,because the poet
belongsto the societyhe picturesand has his own stake in the
doubtfulpossibilitiesof its continuedsuccess.
At the verybeginningof the poem we encounterthe frameof
see Morton W. Bloomfield," Sir Gawain and the
evaluation of currentinterpretations,
Green Knight: An Appraisal," PMLA, LXXVI (1961), 7-19. Since Bloomfield'sappraisal will undoubtedlybe the point of departurefor futurestudies of the Gawain
betweenhis approach to the poem and
poem, a clear statementof the main difference
mine may be helpfulat the outset. Bloomfieldagrees with George Kane (Middle English Literature[London,1951,]pp. 73-76) that the conduct of the hero is not the main
concernof the poem: "What is the poet's firstintention? AlthoughI do not agree
with Kane that it is the decorative and visual which the poet wishes to elevate
I think he is making an importantpoint-that the ethical side can be overvalued. I
do not believe the poem was writtenfundamentallyto presentus with a good man
who emerges somewhat stained or humbled from his encounterwith the world of
evil or of the supernatural.The humor,suspense,and tone of the poem belie the centralityof this interpretation"(p. 17). My own view is that these are preciselythe
qualities of the poem which modify,embody, and shape the poem's central moral
concern.
Richard Hamilton Green
123
time withinwhichEngland saw the greatnessof its originsand
destiny;but the greatnessof the past is marredby remindersof
failure. Britain's ancient gloryis marked by its beginningsin
Troy, by the heroicfigureof Aeneas, and Brutus the founderof
Britain;but Troy was burnedto ashes, Aeneas the atheling,the
trueston earth,was taintedwithtreason,and the historyof Britain to the time of Arthurhas been a successionof war and woe,
of bliss and blunder. Arthuris presentedas the noblestof British kings,rulinghis fairfolkin theirfirstage, the most fortunate under heaven, possessingall the weal of the world. Everything is superlative,suggestingat once England's pride in its
hero-kingand the poet's awareness of an excessive self-confidence deflatedby events in the popular historyhe knew and
believed,a confidencethat will or oughtto be shakenby events
withinthe narrowerdimensionsof his tale. In Arthur'scourt
are gatheredthe most famousknights,the loveliestladies, and
in theirmidstwas Guenivere,the comlokestthat man ever saw.
Into this descriptionof lively, beautifuland accomplishedpeople, gatheredat Christmas,the time of the First Coming,at the
New Year, in theirfirstage, the poet introducesa discordant
to remindhis hearersof what
note, not obtrusivebut sufficient
theyalreadyknewabout the legendaryArthur,his beautifulbut
vulnerablequeen, and his Round Table. The greatkingis " sumquat childgered,"and restless,stirredby his young blood and
wild brain.2
In the midst of the feast there occurs the ominousintrusion
of a figurefromanotherworldwho cannot be ignored,however
much he offendsagainst the social proprietiesof the occasion.
The GreenKnightcomesto test the great fameof the courtand
its knights,the " wisestand worthiestof the world'skind." He
is in
his urbane self-confidence
is as graciousas he is terrifying;
tellingcontrastto the nervoussilenceof the court. Arthurrises
to the occasion, and so, of course, does Gawain; but even the
king seems somewhatpetulant,and his ungraciouschallengeto
a fightearns the Green Knight's scorn for these beardless childer. As his figuresuggests,and as events prove, the Green
Knight is no adversaryto be overcomeby physicalprowess. He
2 What ensues is no " chyldys game." See William Matthews, The Tragedy of
Arthui' (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1960), pp. 161-3.
124
Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
belongsto the world of mystery,a mixtureof benevolenceand
malevolence,an ambiguous figureof forcesbeyond man's full
understandingand control- as ambiguousas all the agents of
divine trial. He has come to test their reputationfor wisdom
and fortitudeof a different
sort,the natural and supernatural
virtuesof the ChristianKnight.
The GreenMan wants a Christmasgame, a test of mortality,
but when he describesits rules he is met again by silence and
fear.Arthurhad wanted a marvelbeforedinner,but he wanted
a marvelousstoryor some hand-to-handcombat with predictable consequenceshoweverpainful. He had asked for nothing
so mysterious,so fatal as this. The Green Knight breaks the
shocked silence with contempt: is this the famous court of
Arthur?can the Round Table be overwhelmedby one man's
words?He laughs in theirfaces.With a humilitywhich,as events
prove,reflectsmore social grace than any profounderkind, Gawain volunteers.Withthisactionwe move fromthe widersphere
of institutionalvirtueto the test of the individualknight,the
representativeof Arthur'scourt,of English chivalryand Christian soldiership.
With masterfuleconomythe poet marks the passage of the
ecclesiasticaland solar year, a figuresome criticshave used to
suport ecclectic readings which make the poem somehow an
account of a vegetationmyth.3But this processionof seasons,
withinthe Christian context explicitlyand pervasivelyestablished by the poet, much more clearlyindicatesthe passage of
time fromthe firstComingto the second,fromman's undertaking the journey of life to the judgmentwhich is its inevitable
conclusion. The armingof the knightabout to undertakehis
quest occurs on the morningfollowingthe celebrationof All
Saints Day on Novemberfirst,the last great feast of the litur3 The most influentialreadingbased on vestigesof pagan myth and ritual is found
in JohnSpiers," Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," Scrutiny,XVI (1949), 270--300.
Bloomfieldputs succinctlythe most seriousobjection to such criticismas it has so far
beeen applied to this poem: " Sir Gaivain is one of the few undoubtedlyaristocratic
poems of the English Middle Ages extant. It would be surprisingif in this courtly
and Christianatmosphereof a poem perhaps writtenentirelyor partly in high style,
we could findalive mythicand ritualisticelements" (p. 14). This does not, of course,
suggestthat Christianmythand ritualare not immediatelyand pervasivelyalive in the
of Christianideas need furpoem. Many details of the poet's figurativerepresentation
ther historicaland criticalinvestigation.
Richard Hamilton Green
gical year whenthe medievalchurchcelebratedthe finalvictory
of all those who had achieved the perfectionwhichthe Church
Militant on earth still sought. When the ceremonialarmingis
completed,Gawain attends Mass and offershis homage at the
highaltar. He then returnsto the court,takes leave of the king
and the lords and ladies who kiss him and commendhim to
Christ. He mounts,takes his helmet,and-climactically-is presentedwithhis shield. With the poet I intendto pause over the
shield and its pentangle,though" tary hit us schulde,"because,
of the hero,it is of the utmostimportance
as the identification
foran understandingof Gawain's characterand actions.
The shield is literallya means of physicalprotection,its herBut both are
aldic device a conventionalmeans of identification.
symbols,and since the poet leaves no doubt of the importance
of their figurativemeanings,we may with profitexplore both
the commonplaceassociationshe could take forgrantedand the
particularmeaningshe takes pains -tospecify. This shield and
its device constitutean iconographicalinstanceof extraordinary
importancein the late Middle Ages, unique in its combination
of rarity,elaboration,and focal positionin the work as a whole.
For the Middle Ages, the basic figurativemeaningsof armor,
and especiallyhelmetand shield,werefoundin Ephesians,chapter 6, a passage so fullyglossedin St. Paul's text and so widely
used in medievalliteraturethat to pursue it beyond its specific
remindersforthe action here would be pointless. " Be strengthened in the Lord, in the mightof his power. Put you on the
armorof God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits
of the devil." That is, put on the virtuesof Christiansoldiership to stand against the adversariesof the spirit: "for our
wrestlingis not against fleshand blood; but against the rulers
of this world of darkness. Thereforetake unto you the armor
of God, that you may be able to resistin the evil day, and to
stand in all thingsperfect.In all thingstake the shieldof faith,
wherewithyou may be able to extinguishall the fierydarts of
or near conthe most wicked one." An English contemporary,
temporary,of the Gawain poet, Robert Holkot, writes in his
commentaryon Wisdom:
" Our shieldis our faith.In all dangerstake up the shieldof faith
all the fieryweaponsof the mostevil
by whichyou can extinguish
126
Gawain's Shield and the Quest for Perfection
one. In the historyof Britain it is writtenthat King Arthurhad a
pictureof the gloriousVirginpainted on the inside of his shield,and
that wheneverhe was weary in battle he looked at it and recovered
his hope and strength.So, too, if we wish to triumphin the warfare
of this present life, we should bear on the shield of our faith the
image of the Virginwith her Son; we should look at her and be confidentin her,because fromher we derive virtueand strength."4
The heraldic charge which appears on the outside of the shield
literally identifiesthe knight who bears it, but it is also, as the
poet elaborately makes clear, the symbolic means of identifying
his characteristic virtues and aspirations. And since nearly everythingthat happens in the poem is governed by the behavior
of the hero, the device which defines his character is likely to be
of pervasive significancefor the entire action. The poet himself
stresses the importance of the pentangle's symbolism when he explains its meaning and why it " apende3 to Pat prynce noble."
It is, he says, a sign that Solomon set in betokening of truth, by
the symbolism that it has.
Hit is a syngnebat Salamon set sumquyle
(625)
In bytoknyngof trawbe,bi tytle bat hit habbe3,
For hit is a figurebat halde3 fyue poynte3,
And vehe lyne vmbelappe3and louke3 in ober,
And ayquere hit is endele3; and Englych hit callen
Oueral, as I here, be endeles knot.
Forty hit acorde3 to bis kny3tand to his cler arme3,
For ay faythfulin fyue and sere fyue sybe3
Gawan wat3 for gode knawen, and as golde pured,
Voyded of vehe vylany,wyth vertue3ennourned
in mote;
(635)
Forpy be pentangel nwe
He ber in schelde and cote,
As tulk of tale most trwe
And gentylestkny3tof lote.
Fryst he wat3 fundenfautle3in his fyue wytte3, (640)
And efte fayled neuer be frekein his fyue fyngres,
And alle his afyauncevpon folde wat3 in be fyue wounde3
pat Cryst ka3t on be croys,as be crede telle3;
And quere-so-euerbys mon in melly wat3 stad,
His bro bo3t wat3 in bat, Jur3alle ober bynge3,
Roberti Holkoth in librum Sapientiae praelectionesCCXIII (Basle, 1586),
4M.
lect. 36, p. 127. The "History of Britain" referredto by Holkot is probablythat of
pseudo-Nenn'ius.This text was called to my attentionby ProfessorR. E. Kaske whose
generouslearningis felt elsewherein this essay.
Richard Hamilton Green
1927
pat alle his fersneshe fengat be fyuejoye3
pat be hendeheuenquene had of hir chylde;
At bis cause be kny3tcomlychehade
In be morehalfof his scheldehirymagedepaynted,
pat quen he bluschedJertohis beldeneuerpayred. (650)
Pe fyftfyuebat I findebat be frekvsed
Wat3fraunchyse
and fela3schyp
forbeal byng,
His clannesand his cortaysyecrokedwereneuer,
And pite,bat passe3alle poynte3,
bysepurefyue
Wereharderhappedon bat habel ben on any ober.5
Gawain was endowedwith all the fivefivesin the perfectunity
of the endlessfigureby whichthey were represented-a wholly
virtuousknight,the best that his societyhad to offer.The poet's
exegesis is sufficiently
enigmaticin itself,but in its narrative
context (apart froman undercurrent
of suspicionwhichI shall
take up in a moment) it supportsthe idea that Sir Gawain is
the exemplarof Arthur'scourt,and so of all England; he is, or
ought to be, the model of the secular,militantestate, the ideal
of the rulingclass, presentedfor the admirationand emulation
of the contemporaryaudience.
The hero's claim to the prefectionindicatedby his chargecan
only be confirmed
by the success of the quest whichhe is about
to undertake. But Sir Gawain's most notable action in the
course of his trial,the one whichbreaks the patternof our easiest expectations,is a failure;the exemplarof chivalricvirtueis
false,treacherous,cowardly,recreantin that " lewte Jat longe3
to kny3te3" (2373-2384). At this momentnear the end of the
poem, we should recall those earlierominoussigns of youthful
pride whichsuggest,in howeverlow a key, that Arthur'scourt
and its hero are somewhatless perfectthan the ideal to which
they aspire. If we have not noticed them,it may be that we
have found attractivethose relativelyminor signs of human
weakness which establishthe congenialbrotherhoodof the imperfect.As one recentcritichas put it, speakingformany: Gawain is a likeableman, all the morehumanforhis slightfault,a
model forthe verybest human conductin spite of that " slightest compromise,"the deceit of acceptingthe magic girdle.6But
' The text cited is that of J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon (Oxford,1925).
'Alan M. Markman, "The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, PMLA,
LXXII (1957), 574-86. Markman's thesis is bluntlystated: " To come at it directly,
128
Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
our poet is not so complacent,and neitheris his hero; the ideals
England were neitheras flexiblenor as
of fourteenth-century
earth-boundas that. A feelingof sympathy,like the note of subdued amusement,is in the poem, but neitherindicatesa lack of
committment
to the heroicideals which Gawain representsand
to whichnoble men must aspire. To recognizethe inevitability
of partial failure,and to weigh it ironicallyagainst reputation
and pretentions,
vice into virtueforthe sake
is not to transform
of the generalcomfort.It remainedforlater ages to reduce human aspirationsto human size, and to exorcizeguilt with the
We can only recoverthe
reassurancesof statisticaltogetherness.
moral worldof a poem devoted to chivalricperfectionby recalling what was meant thenby perfection.The key to the evidence
in the poem is foundin the device inscribedon the shieldof the
hero.
II
Little that has so far been writtenof Gawain's pentanglehas
been shown to belong to the age in whichthe poem was made
or to bear directlyon the poet's use of the device.7 The pentanI suggestthat the primarypurpose of the poem is to show what a splendid man Gawain is " (p. 575). Markman properlyfindsthat ". . . human conduct is the heart
of the poem . . . and that Gawain represents". . . the ideal feudal Christianknight
. . ." (p. 576), but his reading of the poem is quite literal and his notions of the
ideals of human conductare much more modernthan medieval. George J. Engelhardt,
inF"The Predicamentof Gawain," MLQ, XVI (1955), 218-225,establishesthe moral
issue which is central to the poem's action and characterizationby showingthat, in
spite of reputationand real virtue,the hero does succumb to the world's imperfection.
may be regardedas an elaborationof Engelhardt'sassessment
My own interpretation
of the poem's subject, and a substantialmodificationof his treatmentof the poet's
tone and historicalmeaning.
' In addition to the briefand general notes supplied by editorsand translatorsof
the poem, see V. S. Hopper's discussionin connectionwith his general treatmentof
the numberfive. Medieval Number Symbolism (New York, 1938), pp. 123-5. Among
the pentanglein the termsestablishedby the poem, Engelthose who have 'interpreted
but he findsit to be simply" the symhardt comes nearest the poet's interpretation,
" (pp. 218-9). His
bol of the completeman, whose integrityadmits no imperfection
only documentationof the concept of the eques pentagonalisis a referenceto Edgar
de Bruyne on this variation of the medieval homo quaadratusin Ptudes d'esthetique
medievale, II (Bruges, 1946), pp. 348-50; but de Bruyne finds no pentangles from
Vitruviusto Leonardo da Vinci. We might call attentionto the pentangles,used as
aids to drawingin the traditionwhichextendsfromVitruviusto the late Renaissance,
found in the sketchbookof Villard de Honnecourt (fl.1225-50). See Theodore Bowie,
7,
The Sketchbookof Villardde Honnecourt (Bloomington,1959), plates 35, 36, 339.
However,Erwin Panofskyobservesthat, in spite of medieval concernfor" the God-or-
Richard Hamilton Green
129
gle is as old as historyand as ubiquitous as the gammadion,a
situation which has given readers a false sense of confidence
whileobscuringthe fact that the device is veryrare in the Middle Ages. We have been told that it has been found scratched
on Babylonian pottery,that it is a sign of the Pythagoreans'
perfectnumber,that it is an alternateto one of the suits in the
Tarot pack, that it is used in Freemasonryand in Jewishiconographyon account of its associationswithSolomon,and we are
remindedthat as the drudenfuszit appears in Faust and elsewherein German.But all thisis earlyand late, or almostwholly
and whilesome of it may have a remote,or psyundocumented,
chologicallyprofound,bearingon our poem, I should like to explore some possibilitieswhichare nearerthe explicitand implicourtpoet of the seccit interestsof a skillfuland well-informed
ond half of the fourteenthcentury.
First, the pentangle,or pentalpha,or pentagram,is called a
sign set by Solomon as a tokenof truth. The poet could hardly
have chosen a more ambiguouspatronfor Gawain's virtue. For
Solomon is a figureof perfection;there was no man like him
and his reputationreached the cornersof the world (3 Kings
4.29-34). He was forthe Middle Ages a figureof Christ,the exemplarof wisdomand kingship,of power over demons. But in
the Bible, and everywherein the exegeticaltradition,he is a
gravelyflawedfigure,remarkablywise, but in the end guiltyof
folliesthat cost him his kingdom;and thoughhe had powerover
demons,he was ultimatelytheirvictim,forhis weaknessforwomen turned him away fromGod and he built temples to the
powers of darkness (3 Kings 11.1-9). In the late Middle Ages
dained correspondencebetween the universe and man," medieval theoriesof proportions had degeneratedinto a code of practical rules which had lost all connection
with harmonisticcosmology."The History of the Theory of Human Proportionsas
a Reflectionof the Historyof Styles," Meaning in the Visual Arts (Garden City, N.
Y., 1955), pp. 83-91. In my opinion,philosophicaluses of the analogies between geometrical figuresand natural relations (e.g. Dante's comparisonof the pentagon and
the soul: see below, p. 132) are related more closely to the Gawain poet's use of the
pentangle.
Robert Ackerman,in a recent article on Gawain's shield (Anglia, LXXVI [1958],
254-65), attemptsto associate Gawain's five fiveswith the sacramentof Penance and
the vernacular penitentialliteratureof medieval England. He fully documents the
conventionaluse of the sins of the five senses as categoriesfor the examinationof
conscience,but his effortsto show a similar connectionfor the other pentads are
unconvincing.
130
Gawain's Shield and the Quest for Perfection
theologiansdebated whetheror not he was saved.8 Gawain himself,late in the poem afterhe has acknowledgedhis failure,associateshimselfwithSolomon'sweaknesswhenhe comfortshimselfthat othershad been drivento follyand sorrowby the wiles
of women: Adam, Sampson,David, and Solomon (2414-2428).'
If Solomon is a dubious figure,so is his pentangle. It is not
foundin the Bible, not even in the elaborate decorationof his
fivesand even a pentemple,thoughwe do findtheresignificant
tagon. Nor is it associated withhim in medieval art and literature apart fromthis poem, with a singleexception. It is found
in the books of magic associated with his name which were
known and occasionallydescribedas idolatrousbooks of necromancy.10Hugh of Saint Cher and othersdo commentfavorably
8Henri de Lubac, Exege'se medievale,I (1959), pp. 285-290.
'Chaucer's Parson attests the conventionalityof this ancient patternof human imperfection: "Pul ofte tyme I rede that no man truste in his owene perfeccioun,but
he be strongerthan Sampsoun,and hoolierthan David, and wiserthan Salomon." The
Parsonl's Tale, 1. 955. The Venerable Bede, in his commentaryon Proverbs 7.26, has
much the same catalogue of strongmen who were deceived by women: Et fortissimi
quique interfectisunt ab ea. Ut ipse Salomon sapientissimusvirorum,ut Sampson
fortissimus,ut David mansuetissimusa mulierumdecipula, ut Origenes ab haeretica
doctrina,quem post apostolos Ecclesiae magistrumfuisse,quandiu recte sapuit, qui
negaverit,errat. Super Parabolas Salamonis Allegorica Expositio, I, vii. (PL 91, col.
964).
10 Lynn Thorndikegives abundantevidence forthe associationof Solomon and magic
in the late Middle Ages. Among writersof the thirteenthcentury,he cites William
of Auvergne,bishop of Paris, who declares that there is no divinityin the angles of
Solomon's pentagon,and that the rings and seals of Solomon are a formof idolatry
and involve execrableconsecrationsand detestableinvocationsand images. De legibus,
ch. 27. AlbertusMagnus (in Speculum astronomniae,
ch. 2) lists five treatisescurrent
under the name of Solomon as evil books of necromanticimages. A History of Magic
and ExperimentalScience, II (New York, 1923), esp. p. 280. C. C. McCown, in his
edition of the Greek text of The Testament of Solomon (Leipzig, 1922), says that
books of magic attributedto Solomon flourishedin the Middle Ages, and that the
most popular was the Clavicula Salomonis, in which there are many " pentacles," or
magical drawings (p. 100). Against these books, he cites a steady line of condemnation. The only text of the Clavicula I have been able to see (S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King [London, 1889], in the Houdini Collection of the
Library of Congress) is edited fromseven MSS, the oldest being no earlier than the
end of the sixteenthcentury. McCown's edition of the Greek Testamentis based on
Harleian MS 5596, among others,writtenin the fifteenthcentury. In a late recension of the Testament the seal engraved on Solomon's ring is a pentagram,a type
identifiedby McCown as belongingto the westerntraditionof the ring (p. 86). In
summary,such evidence as I have seen indicatesthat, in the late Middle Ages in the
West, the pentanglewas associated with Solomon,and both with magic, in a popular
traditionwhich was condemnedby the Church. The Gawain poet's adaptation of the
pentangleseems to be wholly original.
Richard Hamilton Green
131
on certainfiguresof Solomon,inscribedon gems,whichhad the
power of castingout demons,but I have not foundthese specified as pentangles.11The crucial fact is, however,that in the
poem the pentangleis not a magic charmwith inherentpower;
it is a sign or token of innervirtue. The test is of virtue,not
of magical power; in this romanceenchantmentbelongs to the
poet's finelycontrolledmode, not his subject. Here, with exquisite ironythat serveshis thematicpurposes,the poet transformsa suspect magical sign into an emblem of perfectionto
achieve the simultaneoussuggestionof greatnessand potential
failure. These suggestionsare strengthenedif we turn to the
significanceof five,and the pentagon,as figuresof human perfection.
The pentagonappears in Dante's discussionof human excellence in the Convivio,wherehe uses the pentagonto illustrate
Just as the pentagonis one, but inman's naturalperfection.12
cludes potentiallythe figureswhich are containedin it, so the
human soul, whichis one and rational,includespotentiallythe
fourlower kinds of vital activitywhich belong to lesser living
things. If the fifth,specifyingpower of the rational soul be removed or subdued by the lower power of the sensual appetites,
we are left with a brute animal, a dead man. Dante takes his
fromAristotle'sDe anima, and he finds
doctrine,and his figures,
his specificallymedievalelaborationsof it in the scholasticcommentators,notably St. Thomas."3 But note that the pentagon
symbolizesnatural perfectionas the philosopherknew it, not
supernaturalperfectionto whichman, by reason of the fall and
the grace of redemption,was called. A pentagonin the Biblical
The
traditionassociatedwithSolomonhas a similarsignificance.
" " Excogitavit etiam characteresquosdam, qui inscribebanturgemmis,quae antepositae maribusarrepitiicum radice quadam Salomoni monstrata,statim illum a daemonibus liberabant. Haec scientia plurimumvaluit antiquitus in gente Hebraeorum;
ante adventum Christi saepius homines a daemonibus vexabantur."Hugo de Sancto
Charo, Opera (Venice, 1703), ad II Regum iv, f. 266r. Note Hugh's caution with
respect to this " scientia."
1211 Convivio, ed. G. Btisnelliand G. Vandelli, 2nd ed. (Florence, 1954), IV, vii,
vol. II, pp. 79-80. Cf. Enrico Proto, L'Apocalissi nella Divina Coinmmedia(Naples,
195), pp. 186-7.
De anima, II. iii. 279-298 (414a 28-414b 31); and St. Thomas, Comm.
13 Aristotle,
in Aristotelislib. de anima, Lect. 5, 279-298. Aristotle'sDe Anima in the Version of
William of Moerbeke and the Commentaryof St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. Kenelm
Foster. 0. P. and SilvesterHumphries,0. P. (New Haven, 1951), pp. 196-203.
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Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
doorsto the Holy of Holies, the doors to eternallife,are hinged
on pentagonalposts five cubits high (3 Kings 6.31-32). Bede's
comment,repeatedin the Glossa Ordinariaand thereforestandard throughoutthe late Middle Ages, explains that the pentagonal posts signifythe body withits fivesenseswhichis destined
to be admittedto heaven, and the five cubits signifythat this
destinycan be achieved only by those who serve God with the
fivesenses of the body and the fivesenses of the heart."4
The numberfiveas symbolis limitedin the same way as the
pentagon.15In Macrobius and Martianus Capella, and generally
pentads of almost any
in the Fathers and later commentators,
sort stand for the senses,and, by extension,for the body and
the sensual appetites. The five senses are limitedinasmuchas
of reason,just as the pentagonalsoul
theyneed the government
is limitedby its,dependenceon grace. In Durandus' great work
on the liturgy,ritual fives are also found to signifythe five
woundsof Christ,the fivekindsof mercynecessaryforsalvation,
the secular estate as opposed to
and perhaps most significantly,
the spiritualestate whose numberis four.16
These traditionalviews fit well enough the poet's enigmatic
explanationof Gawain's fivefives. To be foundfaultlessin his
fivewits is to have achieved,at least by reputationand aspiration,natural controlover the senses,interioras well as exterior.
Not to fail in his fivefingersis a darker,but nonethelessconventionalattributewhich,so far as I know,has not so far been
(PL 91, col. 770. Of the five senses of the body
14 De Templo Salomonis Lib. XV
and those of the heart Bede writes: " corporisvidelicetcum per eosdem sensus aliquid
pro illo [Domino] agunt; cordis vero, cum sobrie,et iuste, et pie cogitantde iis quae
per ipsos corporissensus agere decernunt."
" For general discussionsof the number five,see Hopper, Medieval Number Symbolism,pp. 120 ff,Proto, L'Apocalissi, pp. 181-9, and R. E. Kaske, " Dante's ' DXV'
and 'Veltro,"' Traditio,1961, pp. 197-8.
(Lyons, 1568). For ritual fives signifyingthe
16 Rationale divinorum,
offieiorwim
senses and the five wounds of Christ see I, vii, 35r, and other " cruces quinque " in
index; for his elaborate explanationof the numberfive as the numberof the secular
estate as opposed to four,the number of the spiritual estate, based on the historic
differencein the numberof weeks of Advent, see VI, ii, 255: "Seculares, qui rebus
per quinque hebdotransitoriisstudent,quae quinque corporissensibusadministrantur,
iuxta illud Evangelii Joani: Erant viri quasi quinque millia. Siquimadas intelliguntur,
dem quinque millia viri,Deum secuti,designanteos, qui in seculariadhuc habitu positi,
exterioribus,quae posident,bene uti noverant: ipsi namque saturanturquinque panibus, quia legalia institutaeis proponendasunt, qui per quinariumnumerumpropter
quinque libros Mosi intelliguntur."
Richard Hamilton Green
133
satisfactorilyexplained.17Perfectionin the five fingerswas, in
the Middle Ages,a conventionalfigureforthe fivevirtueswhich,
in the wordsof Johnof San Geminiano," are necessaryforman
in orderthat his worksshould be perfect." The thumb stands
forjustice because-as Aristotleand Avicennahad said-justice
workswith the other virtuesand is equal to them in strength,
just as the thumbworkswith,and is equal to, the otherfingers.
The index fingersignifiesprudence,the thirdfingertemperance,
the ringfingerfortitude,and the digitusauricularisfiguresobedience with respectto the divine will, to human authority,and
points to the natural
to one's own reason.18This interpretation
virtues,and thereforeto natural perfection,and thus it fitsthe
patternof the numberfive,the figureof the pentagon,and the
domain of the five senses. With the five wounds of Christand
the fivejoys of Mary we move fromthe signsof naturalperfection to figuresof the theologicalvirtuesof faith and hope.
For the five wounds there is a pentanglein the Renaissance
century.In Valerwhichwas probablyknownin the fourteenth
iano, Carteri,a Lapide and othersthe pentangleappears as a
symbolof Viyda, or salus, in ancient times a charm against illness or bodily injury,but in Christiantimes a figureof salvation because it is a figureof the five wounds of Christ." Valeriano illustratesthe figurewith a nude Christ,arms and legs
moderatelyextendedwiththe wounds in hands, feet and breast
17 AckermanfindsGawain's integrity
in his five fingersa natural developmentof his
lack of fault in his five wits; the poet " resortedto the establishedtraditionof allegorizingthe five fingers,just as did Chaucer and Langland " (Penitential Doctrine,"
p. 263). Earlier, Ackermanhad argued that Chaucer's Parson "twice develops allegories on the fivefingers. . . " (p. 261). In the passages in question,the five kinds
of gluttonyare said to be the fingersof the devil's hand by which he draws folk to
sin (11. 825-30), and the fivesteps of luxuryare the devil's otherhand (11. 850-55);
neitherfigurestrikesme as beingclose to this sign of Gawain's perfection.The Langland
figure (C. XX, 109-167) is even more remote: in it the Trinityis elaboratelycompared to the unity and interdependenceof fist,palm and fingersin the human hand.
18 Joannesde Sancto Geminiano,Summa de exempliset rerumsimilitudinibus(Antwerp, 1630), VI, xlviii, 326-7: " Est enim manus quinque digitis munita in quibus
quinque virtutes designantur,quae necessariae sunt homini ut opera eius sint perfecta." In addition to assigninga major virtueto each of the fivefingers,Joannesgoes
on to elucidate threeaspects of each virtue as representedby the three bones of each
finger.Cf. De bestiis et aliis rebus, III, lx (PL 177, col. 124-5), formerlyattributed
to Hugh of Saint Victor.
19Piero Valeriano, Hieroglyphica (Basel, 1556), pp. 351-2; V. Cartari, Le Imagini
in
dei Dei de gli Antichi (Venice, 1587), p. 69; Cornelius a Lapide, Comrmemntarius
Apoc. (Lyons, 1732), ad I. 8, p. 18.
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Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
connectedby lines to make a pentangle. Says Corneliusa Lapide: "this pentalpha is God, who is alpha and omega, and
ChristusSalvator; whenceValeriano justly adapts the figureto
the five wounds of Christ." And Valeriano: " But since these
storiesof the preternaturalpower and symbolicmeaningof the
agreeable,I
pentagramin antiquitymay not seem sufficiently
have decided to pass over many storiesof this sort,especially
since it ill becomesmen given to seriousthingsto occupy themselves with such worthlesslegends. But I certainlycannot pass
true " salvation"
otherthe fact that we can accept as signifying
(verae salutis) the five wounds of Christ . . . which appropriately constitutea pentalpha."20
III
In summary,then,the device on Sir Gawain's shieldindicates
the moralperfectionto whichthe knightas miles Christiaspires.
The heraldicchargesignifiesthe characterof the hero about to
undertakethe " anious viage " which will test his rightto the
device as it will test the rightof the court he representsto its
reputationfor perfection.But, as we have seen, the sign that
Solomon set as a token of truthis fraughtwith suggestionsof
human weaknessin the face of the powersof darkness;the hero
will do well to keep his gaze fixedon the image of spiritualperfection,the " hende heuen quene," painted on the inside of his
shield.
Alone, with no companionbut God, he undertakeshis journey, He is an alien, far fromfriends,and surroundedby enemies. Againstsuch obvious adversariesas dragonsand trollshis
valor and piety are sufficient.The real test comes in the familiar social environmentof Bercilak's castle where,divested of
armor and shield, warm and well fed and admired,he must
struggleagainst the dark powers withinhimself,aroused and
concealed by the softeninginfluencesof society. On the final
day of his journey,Gawain is keenlyaware of the liturgicalseason. It is the solemnvigil of Christmas,a day of penance and
expectation. Still wanderingin the wildernesshe prays to the
Virginto hear Mass on the greatfeast,and he criesforhis sins.
20Hieroglyph.,p. 351.
Richard Hamilton Green
135
But aftera graciousand admiringwelcomeat the castle,when
he is comfortablysettled beforethe firein the great hall, Gawain forgetsboththe perilsof thejourneyand the implicationsof
the season-not to speak of the doom he mustface on the octave
day. The vigil of Christmaswas a day of fast and abstinence,
but Gawain is serveda fishdinnerfitfora gourmetwith an insatiable medieval appetite. With amused ironythe poet records
Gawain's gracefulcomplimentson the feast,and the protestsof
the waiters: this is a penitentialdinner;wait untilyou see what
we have tomorrow.The poet also notes that the hero seemed
to have a betterand bettertime as the wine went to his head.
Afterdinner,the lord of the castle, his ladies, and his honored
guest go to the chapel for solemnVespers,and, while I should
not want to take too solemn a view of this episode, what goes
on in the chapel betweenthe well-fedhero and his host's beautifulwifesuggestsdevotionto somethingotherthan the liturgy.
Under other circumstances,the lady's bare breast and bright
throatmightclaim even the perfectknight'sattentiveconcernbut not in the chapel. There is laughterin the poet's voice as he
contraststhe broad buttocksof the ugly older matronwith the
beauty of the youngwife:she was a " morelikkerwyson to lyk"
(966-969).
The courteousflirtationcontinuesnext day, the day, as the
poet remarks,that " dry3tynfor oure destyne to de3e wat3
borne." The tone of the poem at this point surelydoes not suggest the sternmoralist'scondemnation,but neitheris it a simple celebrationof noble manners.It is designedto suggestsome
softeningin the moral fiberof a hero distractedfroma quest
which will tryhis virtueto the utmost. It would be gauche of
the poet, and so of the critic,to spoil thisparty,but in the context of the total action it is not amiss to remindourselvesthat
Gawain is fallingsomewhatshort of the perfectionof his five
wits and fingers,not to speak of the five wounds, especially
since it is just such genteelcompromiseswithheroicand singlemindedvirtuewhichwill resultin his fall withinthe week.
Nor is the virtuedisplayedby Gawain in the bedroomas impressive as it has been taken to be by most modern readers.
These scenes are high-styleparody of a discreditedliteraryconventionin strikingcontrastto the simplicityand coarsenessof
the analogous scenes in The Carl of Carlyle. Here again the
136
Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
note of amusementinveststhe action and dialogue. Everything
is excessiveand mildlyridiculous:the great Gawain lies in bed
far into the morningwhilehis host is out in the forestengaged
in the chivalricexerciseof hunting. His wife,a gentle lady, is
engaged in a hunt of her own, and with all the courtesieof a
sophisticatedtrollop. "Here you are . . . and we are alone,"
she says, as she sits on his bed. " My husband and his men have
gone for the day . . . the door is locked. Since I have in my
house the man whomthe whole worldpraises,I shall spend my
time well, while it lasts. You are welcometo my body, to use
it foryour pleasure," If this falls somewhatshortof gentilesse,
Gawain's replyis mildlyridiculousenoughto completethe parody of amour courtois:" In faith,that would indeed be a favor,
but I am unworthyto reach forsuch reverenceas you suggest"
(1230-1244).To read these scenes as thoughtheywere a solemn
of his skill as
exerciseof Gawain's chastity,or a demonstration
a courtierwho will not,whateverthe provocation,offenda lady,
is to mistakegame forearnest.This is a gentlemockeryof mannersmistakenformorals,and furtherevidencethat Gawain is in
fact more vulnerablethan he knows.
The poet's handlingof Gawain's religiousconscienceis more
subtle, and equally amusing. When, after the third grueling
morningof temptationin the bedroom,he accepts the magic
girdle because he thinks it can preservehim from death, he
breaks his faithas a knightto his host, to his fearfulantagonist, and most of all to himself.The pentangleis shatteredand
in its place taken by a new sign,now indeed a magic charmor so he hopes-which he will later call " a token of untruth,"
the analogue of the foul skin of the fox in the parallel symbolism of the hunt. At once the hero wants to go to confession,
and in the scene which followsthe poet adds to his pervasive
revelationof medievalpsychology.
comic ironyan extraordinary
is
no
This
ordinaryconfession;it is the last chance fora doomed
man. Gawain confesses" the moreand the mynne,"his greatand
small sins, and he is said to be shrivenso clean that Judgement
Day should come in the morning-as, of course,it will. But he
has repressedthe only serioussin of whichwe can imaginehim
guilty;and, if it does not seem seriousto us, it will to him when
to
he has to face it at the Green Chapel, and that is sufficient
make it so. But face to face withhis confessorin the castle he
Richard Hamilton Green
137
cannot acknowledgeit, even to himself,forto do so would be to
lose the protectionhe thinksit offers.To suppose, as a recent
of the confessionalscenes does, that Gawain makes
interpreter
at the
and faces the perilousconfrontation
an invalidconfession,
Green Chapel in bad conscience,is to think worse of the hero
There are moralissues which
than the poem as a wholepermits.12
the rational mind will not face, or face dispassionately,when
survivalseems to be at stake and when so many mitigatingcircumstancescan be invokedto cloud the issue.
The ironyof muddledconscienceis sustainedthroughthe New
Year's journeyto the greenmound and to the end of the quest.
When his guide suggestsflight,Gawain gallantly refuses,because, he says, " Ful wel con dry3tynschape/ His seruante3for
to saue " (2138-2139). And later, " To Godde3 wylle I am ful
bayn. /And to hym I haf me tone" (2185 - 2159). Does his
hand strayunconsciouslyto the supposedlymagic girdle;and do
at this exwe, who know of its existence,smile sympathetically
emplaryChristianknightwho hedges his bets against impending doom? Only when he is confronteddirectlywith the evidence of his untruthdoes Gawain acknowledgethe flaw in his
virtue. And, as essentiallygood men will, especiallythose who
in virtue,he is overwhelmedby shame
tend to overconfidence
and greatlyexaggeratesthe degree of his failure. He accuses
himselfof cowardice,treachery,and untruth-and, significantly,
of disgraceto his class, recreancyin the " larges and lewte that
longe3to kny3tes" (2374-2388).
But the Green Knight will not condemn him, nor will the
poet, nor will the reader. Sir Gawain is one of the best who ever
walked,but here he lacked a littlein fidelityto that perfection
to which he aspired, and for which he stood. In this self-discovery the hero made a beginningin the necessaryvirtue of
humility.Will Arthur'scourt profitby the lesson? The poem
suggeststhat it probably will not. The knightwho went out
to vindicatethe honor of the court bore on his shield the sign
that Solomon set as a token of truth; he returnedwith new
knowledgeof his limitations,carryingthe girdleabout his neck
as a token of untruth. But the lords and ladies of the court,
21 JohnBurrow," The Two ConfessionalScenes in SirGawainandtheGreenKnight,"
MP, LVII (1959-60), 73-79.
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Gawain's Shield and the Quest forPerfection
still somewhat childgeredand given to pride, laughed loudly
and decidedamiablythat the knightsof the Round Table would
wear the green lace in honor of Gawain. Will the fourteenthcenturycourtiersprofitby the lesson? They will at least have
been remindedof the ideal to which they were called, and of
even the best. But the poem has not
the weaknesswhichafflicts
demanded tears or terror. Amid the relieved laughterof the
knightsand ladies one sees the wrysmileof the amiable poet: it
is enoughif some of the laughteris directedat themselves.
The JohnsHopkins University
Richard Hamilton Green
139