Sir Gawain:
• Arthur’s sister’s son and
one of the most loyal and
bravest knights.
• Follows the code of
chivalry (humility, piety,
honesty, loyalty).
• Practices courtly love.
• Failure: loves his life so
much that he will lie to
protect it—and breaks the
code of chivalry.
Green Knight:
• Green from head to toe.
• Arrives at Arthur’s court during Christmas festivities.
• Physically huge and carries a giant axe.
• Says he comes as a friend but wants someone to give
him a blow to the neck which he will return in one
year.
• Expects a knight to take up the challenge.
Gawain, as the most chivalrous of the knights, chops off
the Green Knight’s head and then is shocked to see the
Knight pick up his head and ride off—but not before he
reminds Gawain of their bargain. Gawain has been
deceived by sorcery but he is honour bound to his
agreement.
The next November, Gawain rides off to fulfil the promise.
After weeks of travelling through the wet and cold, in
North Wales, he comes to a splendid castle and is
welcomed by the lord and his lady. They tell him the Green
Knight is nearby. In the meantime, he joins them in their
Christmas season festivities.
The lord tells him that he is going hunting. He
says they must exchange whatever the lord gets
on the hunt with what Gawain gets in the castle.
On the first day the lord gets
a deer and Gawain a kiss
from the lovely and tempting
wife of the lord. On the
second day the lord gets a
boar and Gawain two kisses.
On the third day the lord
gets a fox and Gawain three
kisses. Gawain exchanges all
of these with the lord, but
does not tell him the lady has
also given him a protective
girdle, or belt.
On the agreed upon day,
Gawain is taken by a
servant of the lord to
the meeting place.The
servant tells him to run
away, but Gawain rides
on alone. He is
determined to accept
his fate for the honour of
King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round
Table.
Gawain has some trouble finding the Green
Knight’s chapel, but then discovers that it is a
mound in the glade.
The Green Knight acts
surprised and pleased to
see Gawain. He says he
can trust Gawain.
The Green Knight prepares for the blow. Gawain is
willing to accept his fate, but he sees the blade
coming and flinches.The Knight berates him for his
weakness and Gawain says he will not flinch again
and he will not be talking once his head has been
chopped off—an allusion to the sorcery that has
protected the Knight.
Gawain kneels
again and the
Knight pretends
to swing but does
not. Gawain does
not flinch this
time and the
Knight decides
Gawain is ready.
The Knight
swings but only
nicks Gawain’s
neck. Gawain
leaps up and says
the Knight has
had his only
chance. Gawain
does not seem to
realize that the
Knight has
chosen to spare
his life.
The Knight tells Gawain
that he is also his host
(Lord Bertilak) and that
the lady is his wife.
He tells Gawain they are even, but he tells him the nick is
punishment for the fact that Gawain has not been honest
about telling him his wife has given him the protective
green girdle (belt). He criticizes Gawain for trying to
deceive him. Gawain’s coat of arms has a pentangle which
represents truth, and, ironically, it is this chivalric virtue
which Gawain fails. Bertilak had been sent by Morgan le
Fay to test Arthur’s knights, and Gawain as their
representative, has failed his lord.
The Knight says though love of life is a more justifiable
reason for deceit than lust or greed, even one small sin
may lead to others. Gawain is ashamed and gives the
belt back to the Knight. He promises that he will try to
not fail in virtues again and will “sin less.” The Knight
forgives Gawain and rewards him with the belt. He
invites him to ring in the new year at his castle.
SYMBOLS
AND
THEMES
• In medieval England, the colour GREEN was a pagan
representation of nature, associated with the Celtic
fairy world.
• The Green Knight is not satanic, but he symbolizes the
nature worship that existed before Christianity. So, he
is not evil, but he is also not Christian. And, in deeply
pious societies, one is often with them or against them.
• So, a battle between Arthur’s knights and anything
associated with pre-Christian paganism is like a battle
between “good” and “evil.”
• Also, Arthur’s knights can be seen as Christian “AngloNorman” and the Green Knight as pagan, nonChristian “Anglo-Saxon.”
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FIVE
• The pentangle was designed by Solomon as a
symbol of fidelity.
• A pentangle is also called an endless knot.
• In medieval symbolism, the red represents the
blood of Christ and the gold represents perfection.
• Gawain’s five virtues:
a. the dexterity of his five fingers
b. the perfection of his five senses
c. his devotion to the five wounds of Christ
d. his reflection on the five joys of Mary in
Christ
e. his virtues in the five social graces.
The five joys of Mary are also known as The Five
Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary:
They are:
a. The Annunciation (the announcement by the
angel Gabriel to Mary that she is with child)
b. The Nativity (the birth of Jesus)
c. The Resurrection (Jesus rising from the dead)
d. The Ascension (Jesus goes to heaven forty days
after the Resurrection)
e. The Assumption (taking of Mary to heaven).
The five social graces which Gawain
exemplifies above all others are:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Free giving (generosity)
Brotherly love (fellowship)
Chastity
Pure manners (courtesy)
Piety (charity)
Gawain faces five challenges:
a. He voluntarily confronts the Green Knight
b. He must strike a clean blow
c. He must keep his promise to meet the
Green Knight in one year and a day
d. He must survive the journey to the green
chapel
e. He must resist the lady’s temptations.
What is Gawain’s sin?
a. Accepting the girdle is not a fault.
b. Hiding it is a potential fault.
c. His actual withholding of it from Bertilak is
the fall.
d. Giving it back to the lady would have erased
the potential fault.
e. The real fault, from Gawain’s point of view, is
that the reality of his own mortality causes
him to break the endless knot.
f. He acts with cowardice and is covetous.
g. Gawain fails the test of bravery and chivalry,
but the Knight forgives him.
• Gawain resolves to wear the girdle forever as a symbol of
his failure.
• The other knights of the Round Table decide to wear it as
a symbol of honour.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight gently criticizes the fact
that chivalry values appearance and symbols over truth.
• The members of the court never reveal their true
feelings, and choose to appear beautiful, courteous, and
fair-spoken.
• Arthur is described as the “most courteous of all”—
people are ranked in the court according to a code of
behaviour and good manners.
• The lesson that Gawain learns is that he may be the
most chivalrous knight in all the land, but he is still
human and capable of error.
• At a basic level, he is just a human being concerned
with his own life.
• Chivalry may be a set of ideals towards which to strive,
but a person must be aware of his or her own
mortality and weakness.
Sources:
http://www.slideshare.net/mrsa
bercrombie/notes-sir-gawainand-the-green-knight-44553989
Google Images.