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• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Literature Notes
• Poem Summary
• About Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Lines 1–36 (Stanzas 1–2)
• Lines 37–249 (Stanzas 3–11)
• Lines 250–490 (Stanzas 12–21)
• Lines 491–619 (Stanzas 22–28)
• Lines 763–1,125 (Stanzas 33–45)
• Lines 1,126–1,411 (Stanzas 46–56)
• Lines 1,411–1,689 (Stanzas 56–67)
• Lines 1,690–1,996 (Stanzas 68–79)
• Lines 1,998–2,159 (Stanzas 80–86)
• Lines 2,160–2,388 (Stanzas 87–95)
• Lines 2,389–2,478 (Stanzas 96–99)
• Lines 2,479–2,530 (Stanzas 100–101)
• Character Analysis
• The Green Knight
• Bertilak (or Bercilak) of Hautdesert
• The Lady of Hautdesert
• Morgan le Fay
• King Arthur
• Queen Guenevere
• Character Map
• Biography of the Poet
• Critical Essays
• Symbolism and Medieval Literature
• The Structure of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Full Glossary for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Character Analysis Gawain

Gawain is one of the greatest of King Arthur's knights, famed for both his bravery and his courtesy. While the other knights remain tongue-tied with fear, Gawain alone volunteers to take Arthur's place in the beheading game proposed by the Green Knight, thus becoming a representative both of King Arthur and of the ideal Arthurian knight. The poet presents Gawain as a paragon of virtue, praising his chastity, generosity, kindness, and Christian faith. Gawain dreads the encounter with the Green Knight in which he expects to lose his life, but he carries through with their agreement anyway, demonstrating his honor and his courage.

However, by taking the silk belt and keeping it secret, Gawain proves himself to be less than perfect. When finally confronted with his failing, Gawain accepts responsibility for his actions and shows remorse, indicating that he grown spiritually and morally. Many readers feel that Gawain is too hard on himself in wearing the belt as a reminder of his guilt, and that the standard of perfection he wants to uphold is simply unattainable. Despite having failed in one crucial area, Gawain remains an appealing figure, embodying everything that is most attractive about the chivalric ideal.

Gawain's overriding quality throughout the poem is what the Gawain -poet calls "trawthe," or truth. Truth in this sense includes many things: honesty, faith, loyalty, uprightness, purity. Gawain condemns himself for untruth at the end of the poem, but Gawain's imperfections make him a more interesting character than the perfect model of virtue he first appears to be. He is brave, yet he fears death. He is chaste, yet he is attracted to his beautiful hostess. He is courteous toward women, yet he repeats a standard piece of misogynistic rhetoric. He is loyal and honorable, yet he deceives his host and tries to gain an advantage in his match with the Green Knight.

The characters of medieval literature are often flat; mere types who serve a specific function within the plot or personify a single quality. However, the poet adds many subtle touches that give depth to Gawain's character. Besides his interesting imperfections, he displays a surprising range of emotions. His anger and defensiveness when he realizes his fault, his fearful imaginings as he approaches the Green Chapel, and his obvious attraction to his hostess hint that his character has an inner life, not merely a stock role to play.

Previous Lines 2,479–2,530 (Stanzas 100–101)

Next The Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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The court of King Arthur is celebrating New Year’s Eve, but at the height of the festivities, a massive green figure bursts in, terrifying them. This Green Knight tells the court that he desires their participation in a game, in which he and one of the knights present will trade axe blows. The chosen knight will take the first strike, and then he must wait a whole year to receive a strike in return from the Green Knight.

The knights make no answer, but when their visitor mocks them for cowardice, Arthur steps up and offers himself as the contender. Just as the king readies himself to take his strike with the axe, Sir Gawain stops him and offers himself instead. Gawain strikes at the calmly standing Green Knight, and cuts the knight's head off. The court is astonished when the knight then picks up his head from the floor and instructs Gawain to find him at the Green Chapel before riding away.

After that strange event, the court goes back to normal. The seasons pass until Michelmas in early autumn, when Gawain must depart for his trial. Wearing the court’s finest armor, including a shield decorated with a symbolic Christian pentangle , Gawain nervously sets off. He journeys through wild country, facing danger after danger. Finally, on Christmas day, when he is freezing and almost losing hope, Gawain prays to Mary for guidance and a castle appears in the distance.

At the castle, he is welcomed heartily by its lord , who introduces him to two ladies, his beautiful wife and an old maid . The lord invites Gawain to play a game. Each day the lord will go out to hunt while Gawain rests in the court, and by the end of the day, they will swap whatever they have won. It soon becomes clear that what there is to be won at court is the host’s beautiful wife. She steals in to Gawain’s chamber when her husband has gone and woos Gawain, who strains to be chivalrous and charming without succumbing to desire. Their playful conversation is alternated with descriptions of the hunting, connecting the acts of sport and courtship.

On the first day, the lord hunts a deer, and the lady gives Gawain one kiss. When the men meet for dinner, the lord presents Gawain with the meat and, befitting the deal, Gawain exchanges it for the kiss he has received. On the second day, the lord exchanges a boar for two kisses. On the third day, the lord kills a fox and the lady kisses Gawain three times. Furthermore, she asks for a love token from Gawain. When he claims he has nothing to give, she starts offering him tokens of her own. He refuses, until she offers him a green girdle, which she explains will protect the wearer from death. Hopeful that the girdle might protect him from the Green Knight, Gawain accepts. He hides it under his clothes to keep it a secret from the lord.

The next day, Gawain anxiously leaves his new friends to go and face the Green Knight at the Green Chapel. The lord sends a servant with him to show him the way and the pair soon arrive at a forest, where the servant tries to dissuade Gawain from facing the Green Knight. But Gawain doesn’t want to be a coward. He goes on alone. The terrain becomes strange, tall rocks obscure his view, but eventually he finds a grass-covered cave. He hears the Knight sharpening his weapon inside and prepares himself.

The Knight emerges and makes two false strikes, the first because Gawain flinches from fear and the second to praise him for not flinching. The third strike lands, but it only wounds Gawain. It is then that the Green Knight reveals that his name is actually Bertilak , that he is the lord of the castle where Gawain has been staying, and that he has been testing Gawain. He explains that he has punished Gawain with this third strike for his dishonesty in hiding the green girdle on the third day of the hunt. He also explains that the old woman at the castle is Morgan Le Faye , a wizardess, who is the power behind the whole game "beheading game" and who wanted to test Arthur's court. An embarrassed Gawain, with the green girdle on his arm as a sign of his failure, returns to Camelot, where a hero’s welcome awaits. When he confesses his sins, King Arthur admires his humility and orders the court to wear symbolic green bands in solidarity.

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2.4: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Learning Objectives

• Identify literary techniques used in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• Identify and account for the pagan and Christian elements in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• Define medieval romance and apply the definition of the genre to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The last 40 years of the Middle Ages, from 1360 to 1400, produced the three greatest works of medieval literature:

• Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
• Malory’s Morte d’Arthur
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the  Pearl Poet , the unidentified author of Pearl, Patience, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Beheading of the Green Knight. From the manuscript Cotton Nero A.x, f. 94b

Scholars believe the same unknown individual wrote  Pearl ,  Patience , and  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , thus referring to him as the Pearl poet.

Modern English Text

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Jessie L. Weston.  In Parentheses . Middle English Series. York University. Verse translation.  http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Jessie L. Weston. University of Rochester.  The Camelot Project . Prose translation.  http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/sggk.htm
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Paul Deane.  Forgotten Ground Regained: A Treasury of Alliterative and Accentual Poetry . Verse translation.  http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight .  Representative Poetry Online . Ian Lancashire. University of Toronto Libraries. Middle English with prose translation.  http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/62.html
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . W. A. Neilson.  In Parentheses . Middle English Series. York University. Prose translation.  http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/sggk_neilson.pdf
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A Close Verse Translation. Geoffrey Chaucer Page . Harvard University.  http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/ready.htm
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight : A Middle English Arthurian Romance Retold in Modern Prose. Jessie L. Weston.  Google Books .  http://books.google.com/books?id=j8l7-HnlMfkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sir+gawain+and+the+green+knight&source=bl&ots=C7I7E8GMVE&sig=cvMDxdXVp1PqOueBlJSEZPjXhpE&hl=en&ei=x2twTMmFKoL7lweM6smADg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=13&ved=0CFsQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&

Original Text

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . The Cotton Nero A.x. Project. Dr.Murray McGillivray, University of Calgary, Team Leader. University of Calgary.  http://people.ucalgary.ca/~scriptor/cotton/transnew.html
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon.  Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse . University of Michigan.  http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cme;cc=cme;rgn=main;view=text;idno=Gawain
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . W. H. Neilson.  LibriVox . Recording in modern English.  http://www.archive.org/details/gawain_mj_librivox

Alliterative Revival

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  is part of a movement known as the  alliterative revival , a resurgent use of the alliterative verse form of oral Old English poetry such as  Beowulf . In the following lines, the first two lines of the poem, note the repetition of the  s  sounds in line 1 and in line 2 the  b  sounds:

Sidebar 2.1.

S iÞen Þe  s ege and Þe as s aut watz  s esed at Troye,

Þe  b orʒ  b rittened and  b rent to  b rondeʒ and askez

Sidebar 2.2.

Since the siege and the assault was ceased at Troy,

The burg [city] broken and burned to brands [cinders] and ashes

Bob and Wheel

As these first two lines of the poem illustrate,  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight  is written in long alliterative lines, each stanza having a varying number of lines. These long alliterative lines are followed by the  bob and wheel , a group of five short lines at the end of an alliterative verse rhyming ABABA.

For example, in stanza three, beginning with line 37, the story begins with a description of King Arthur and his court at Camelot in eighteen long alliterative lines followed by the five short lines of the bob and wheel:

Sidebar 2.3.

Þe hapnest under heuen

kyng hyʒest mon of wylle

hit werere now gret nye to neuen

so hardy ahere on hille

Sidebar 2.4.

in the hall

the most fortunate ones under heaven

highest king of most will

it is now hard to name

so hardy a one on the hill

Notice the two-syllable line called the bob and the four lines called the wheel:

Sidebar 2.5.

Also notice the ABABA rhyme scheme:

Sidebar 2.6.

Green man myth.

Also like Old English poetry,  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , although composed well into the Middle Ages when the Church dominated society, combines hints of paganism in the figure of the Green Knight with obvious Christian elements in Sir Gawain. The Green Knight is a type of  Green Man , a character in ancient fertility myths representing spring and the renewal of life, a parallel of Christian belief in resurrection. In some decapitation myths, a motif found in  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , the blood of the Green Man symbolizes the fertilizing of crops, thus insuring an adequate food supply. Surprisingly, Green Man symbols are common in Gothic cathedrals, such as these in Ely Cathedral, in York Minster, and in the ruins of Fountains Abbey.

Green Man in Ely Cathedral.

Green Man in York Minster.

Green Man in the ruins of Fountains Abbey.

Chivalry and Courtly Love

In this story, the actions of Sir Gawain and the rest of King Arthur’s knights are measured by chivalry, the code of conduct which bound and defined a knight’s behavior. In fact, the ordeal that Sir Gawain endures is eventually revealed to be a test of the Court’s dedication to their vows of knighthood.

The concept of medieval chivalry was famously described in 1891 by Leon Gautier, who listed ten rules of chivalry from the 11th and 12th centuries:

• Thou shalt believe all that the Church teaches and shalt observe all its directions.
• Thou shalt defend the Church.
• Thou shalt respect all weaknesses and shalt constitute thyself the defender of them.
• Thou shalt love the country in the which thou wast born.
• Thou shalt not recoil before thine enemy.
• Thou shalt make war against the infidel without cessation, and without mercy.
• Thou shalt perform scrupulously thy feudal duties, if they be not contrary to the laws of God.
• Thou shalt never lie, and shalt remain faithful to thy pledged word.
• Thou shalt be generous, and give  largesse  to everyone.
• Thou shalt be everywhere and always the champion of the Right and the Good against Injustice and Evil.

In addition to the ideals of chivalry, the nobility often modeled their behavior, in literature at least, on the concept of  courtly love , rules governing the behavior of knights and ladies in a ritualistic, formalized system of flirtation. Courtly love is an integral part of the medieval romances sung by troubadours as entertainment in the courts of France, stories of knights inspired to great deeds by their love for fair damsels, sometimes a damsel in distress rescued by the knight. The idea behind  amour courtois  is that a knight idealized a lady, a lady not his wife and often in fact married to another, and performed deeds of chivalry to honor her.

“Rules” governing the conduct of a knight involved in courtly love were outlined by Andreas Capellanus in his 12th-century book  The Art of Courtly Love .  The ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies  lists Capellanus’ rules:

• Marriage is no real excuse for not loving.
• He who is not jealous cannot love.
• No one can be bound by a double love.
• It is well known that love is always increasing or decreasing.
• That which a lover takes against his will of his beloved has no relish.
• Boys do not love until they arrive at the age of maturity.
• When one lover dies, a widowhood of two years is required of the survivor.
• No one should be deprived of love without the very best of reasons.
• No one can love unless he is impelled by the persuasion of love.
• Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice.
• It is not proper to love any woman whom one should be ashamed to seek to marry.
• A true lover does not desire to embrace in love anyone except his beloved.
• When made public love rarely endures.
• The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.
• Every lover regularly turns pale in the presence of his beloved.
• When a lover suddenly catches sight of his beloved his heart palpitates.
• A new love puts to flight an old one.
• Good character alone makes any man worthy of love.
• If love diminishes, it quickly fails and rarely revives.
• A man in love is always apprehensive.
• Real jealousy always increases the feeling of love.
• Jealousy, and therefore love, are increased when one suspects his beloved.
• He whom the thought of love vexes, eats and sleeps very little.
• Every act of a lover ends with the thought of his beloved.
• A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved.
• Love can deny nothing to love.
• A lover can never have enough of the solaces of his beloved.
• A slight presumption causes a lover to suspect his beloved.
• A man who is vexed by too much passion usually does not love.
• A true lover is constantly and without intermission possessed by the thought of his beloved.
• Nothing forbids one woman being loved by two men or one man by two women.

Note that many of the stereotypical signs of being in love are listed, such as appearing pale (#15), being unable to eat or sleep (#23), and displaying jealousy (#21). Other familiar concepts such as playing hard to get (#14) and secret loves (#13) come from the rules of courtly love. The rules also make clear that engaging in the rituals of courtly love is only for the nobility (#11).

The concept of courtly love and the medieval romance arrived in Britain with Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine, a region in what is now France, and her marriage to the English King Henry II.

Images from the Middle Ages portray noble couples in typical aristocratic medieval activities: playing chess, hunting with falcons, dancing, and, in some images, obviously engaging in courtly flirtations. In one scene, for example, a lady appears to be presenting a token to a knight. In another, a knight appears to have stabbed himself, possibly in despair over his unrequited love. In another scene, knights fight in a tournament while adoring ladies watch from the stands.

Temptation of Sir Gawain by Lady Bertilak. From the manuscript Cotton Nero A. x, f. 129

Medieval Romance

In  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , both the code of chivalry and the rituals of courtly love govern Sir Gawain’s behavior and decisions, as would be expected in a medieval romance, a narrative with the following characteristics:

• a plot about knights and their adventures
• improbable, often supernatural, elements
• conventions of courtly love
• standardized characters (the same types of characters appearing in many stories: the chivalrous knight; the beautiful lady; the mysterious old hag)
• repeated events, often repeated in numbers with religious significance such as three

Key Takeaways

• One of the major writers of the Middle Ages is the unidentified Pearl Poet, and one of his major works is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exhibits literary techniques typical of the alliterative revival.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reveals vestiges of paganism in a society dominated by Christianity.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight illustrates two concepts important to medieval nobility: chivalry and courtly love.
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight exemplifies the medieval romance genre.
• Review the rules of chivalry as reported by Leon Gautier. On which points does Sir Gawain fail to live up to his vows of knighthood?
• How do the tenets of courtly love affect Sir Gawain’s interaction with Lady Bertilak?
• Do you detect any incongruities in the two systems of chivalry and courtly love?
• Describe the two “games” in which Sir Gawain becomes involved. What was the purpose of these two challenges?
• Identify examples of the characteristics of medieval romance apparent in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Resources: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

General resources.

• “Music, Literature and Illuminated Manuscripts.” Learning: Medieval Realms. British Library.  http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/medieval/musicartlit/musicartliterature.html
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . Anniina Jokinen.  Luminarium . Links to text, images, and scholarly information.  http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/gawainre.htm

The Pearl Poet

• “The Pearl Poet.” Paul Deane.  Forgotten Ground Regained: A Treasury of Alliterative and Accentual Poetry .  http://alliteration.net/Pearlman.html
• “The Pearl- (Gawain-) Poet.”  Online Companion to Middle English Literature . Chair of Medieval English Literature and Historical Linguistics of the Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf.  http://user.phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de/~holteir/companion/Navigation/Authors/Pearl-Poet/pearl-poet.html

Courtly Love

• Andreas Capellanus.  The Geoffrey Chaucer Page . Harvard University.  http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/andreas/index.html
• Andreas Capellanus: The Art of Courtly Love, (btw. 1174–1186). Paul Halsall.  Internet Medieval Sourcebook . The ORB: Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies.  http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/capellanus.asp
• “Chivalry and Courtly Love.” David L. Simpson. DePaul University.  http://condor.depaul.edu/dsimpson/tlove/courtlylove.html
• “’Courtly Love’ Images.” Dr. Debora B. Schwartz. English Department, College of Liberal Arts. California Polytechnic State University.  http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl513/courtly/images.htm

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Type of Work

....... Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval romance, a long poem resembling an epic in its focus on heroic deeds. Unlike an epic, however, a medieval romance is light in tone, and its content is at times fantastic and magical. In a medieval romance chivalrous knights pay homage to lovely ladies. The knights are often pure in heart and soul, although sorely tempted by the wiles of beautiful women. There may be merriment and singing. The manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight appeared circa 1375, although it may have been written some years earlier. Because the original language of the poem is difficult for the modern reader, it appears today in translations. This study guide is based on Jesse L. Weston's public-domain prose translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , published in 1898. . Author

....... The author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has never been identified. He or she wrote with considerable skill and sophistication, using specific details and vivid imagery to develop the story. Three other works � The Pearl , Purity , and Patience � are also attributed to this author.

....... The action takes place in Medieval England and Wales in the age of the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The story begins at Arthur's castle at Camelot when his nephew � the doughty Sir Gawain � takes part in a test of valor proposed by a visitor, a giant of green complexion and attire. The scene shifts to the countryside, then to another castle, then to the countryside, then to the valley of the giant � the centerpiece of which is a mysterious Green Chapel � and finally back to Camelot. The location of Camelot, if it existed, is uncertain. Some legends place it in Monmouthshire, Wales. Others place it in England in Corneal, Soberest, or Hampshire. 

Sir Gawain : Brave, chivalrous young knight of Camelot who is the nephew of King Arthur and Morgan le Fay. He takes up the challenge proposed by the fearsome Green Knight. King Arthur : Ruler of the legendary Camelot. Guinevere : Queen of Camelot. Green Knight / Bernlak de Hautdesert : Giant of green complexion and attire who pays a surprise visit to Camelot at Christmastide to challenge the knights to a test of bravery. The narrator reveals him at the climax as Bernlak de Hautdesert. Magic worked by Morgan le Fay enabled him to assume the guise of the gigantic knight. Morgan (or Morgain) le Fay : Half-sister of King Arthur and aunt of Sir Gawain. (She is the daughter of Ygraine, Arthur's mother, and Ygraine�s first husband.) She resides at the castle of Bernlak de Hautdesert as the companion of Bernlak wife. From books and from Merlin the Magician, Morgan le Fay learned sorcery and was particularly skilled in the arts of healing and changing shape. Some accounts depict her as sinister and others as generous and beneficent. She became an enemy of Queen Guinevere after the latter banished Guitar, Morgan paramour. It was Morgan who enabled Bernlak de Hautdesert to change into the Green Knight in order to work a jest against Camelot, frighten Guinevere, and test the mettle of young Gawain. The Lady : Bernlak's beautiful wife. She participates in the scheme of Morgan and Bernlak.  Guide : Man who leads Gawain to a high place overlooking the valley of the Green Knight and the mysterious Green Chapel at which Gawain is to meet the Green Knight. Knights of the Round Table : Besides Gawain, these include Ywain, Erec, Sir Dodinel le Sauvage, the Duke of Clarence, Lancelot, Lionel, Lucan the Good, Sir Bors, Sir Bedivere, Sir Mador de la Port, and Agravain à la dure main.  Bishop Bawdewyn : Guest at Camelot. Catholic Priest : Clergyman who hears Gawain�s Confession. Porter : Man who greets Gawain at the entrance of Bernlak castle. Ladies, Servants, and Others at the Courts of Arthur and Bernlak Gringalet : Gawain�s trusty steed.

Plot Summary By Michael J. Cummings ... © 2008 Based on Jesse L. Weston's public-domain prose translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , published in 1898

The place whither ye go is accounted full perilous, for he who liveth in that waste is the worst on earth, for he is strong and fierce, and loveth to deal mighty blows; taller is he than any man on earth, and greater of frame than any four in Arthur's court, or in any other. And this is his custom at the Green Chapel; there may no man pass by that place, however proud his arms, but he does him to death by force of his hand, for he is a discourteous knight, and shews no mercy. 

I will to the chapel let chance what may, and talk with that man, even as I may list, whether for weal or for woe as fate may have it. Fierce though he may be in fight, yet God knoweth well how to save His servants.

....... The story begins and ends at Camelot. Between the Camelot episodes are an episode in the wilderness, an episode at Bernlak's Castle, another episode in the wilderness, and an episode at the Green Chapel in which the Green Knight (Bernlak) wields the axe against Gawain. Thus, the plot structure is balanced, with two Camelot episodes, two wilderness episodes, and two episodes in Bernlak's domain (at his castle and at the Green Chapel).  ....... This study guide is based on Jesse L. Weston's public-domain prose translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . The original text is in Middle English and largely unintelligible to all but Middle English scholars. In his preface to the first edition of the translation, published in 1898, Weston describes the structure, language and style of the poem as follows:

....... Our poem, or, to speak more correctly, metrical romance, contains over 2500 lines, and is composed in staves [stanzas] of varying length, ending in five short rhyming lines, technically known as a bob and a wheel, � the lines forming the body of the stave being not rhyming, but alliterative. The dialect in which it is written has been decided to be West Midland, probably Lancaster, and is by no means easy to understand. Indeed, it is the real difficulty and obscurity of the language, which, in spite of careful and scholarly editing, will always place the poem in its original form outside the range of any but professed students of medieval literature, which has encouraged me to make an attempt to render it more accessible to the general public, by giving it a form that shall be easily intelligible, and at the same time preserve as closely as possible the style of the author. ....... For that style, in spite of a certain roughness, unavoidable at a period in which the language was still in a partially developed and amorphous stage, is really charming. The author has a keen eye for effect; a talent for description, detailed without becoming wearisome; a genuine love of Nature and sympathy with her varying moods; and a real refinement and elevation of feeling which enable him to deal with a risqué situation with an absence of coarseness, not, unfortunately, to be always met with in a medieval writer. Standards of taste vary with the age, but even judged by that of our own day the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comes not all too badly out of the ordeal!

Gawain's Conflicts

....... The climax occurs when Gawain discovers that the Green Knight reveals that his grazing axe blow was a feint intended to expose Gawain as a less-than-godlike warrior who resorted to a charm (the sash) to protect himself. 

Flawed Humanity � or, Nobody's Perfect

....... Gawain tries to be the perfect knight. And he is indeed brave, chivalrous, respectful, self-confident, and deeply religious. But during his sojourn at Bernlak's castle, he accepts on several occasions � though he does not invite � the kisses of Bernlak's wife, a woman of surpassing beauty. In addition, he accepts from her a sash that he believes will make him invulnerable to the axe blow of the Green Knight. He keeps secret all that passes between him and the lady. These episodes reveal Gawain as a flawed human, a young man who is less than he thinks he is. Here is why:

• Passive acceptance of the lady's amorous advances is no less reprehensible than active acceptance. His action wrongs his host.
• Accepting the sash impugns his bravery and self-confidence, for it reveals him as doubtful of his ability to defeat the Green Knight.
• Keeping secret his acceptance of the sash � and the kisses � makes him seem devious and disloyal.

Woman Power

....... Through their wiles, Morgan le Fay and the lady teach Gawain a lesson that enlightens him about himself. It was Morgan, not Bernlak, who contrived the scheme to deceive the court at Camelot. �She sent me in this guise to yon fair hall to test the truth of the renown that is spread abroad of the valor of the Round Table,� Bernlak tells Gawain.� She taught me this marvel to betray your wits, to vex Guinevere and fright her to death by the man who space with his head in his hand at the high table.� Bernlak wife playas a key role in the scheme.

Friendship and Camaraderie

....... The entire court of Camelot supports Gawain as he leaves Camelot to find the Green Knight. When he returns from his adventure downcast and embarrassed, the knights and ladies comfort him and decide to wear a green sash in solidarity with him.  .

The Pentangle on the Shield

....... On Gawain's shield is a golden pentangle against a field of red. A pentagle is a star with five points. Because the lines forming the pentangle on Gawain's shield are continuous and never broken, the star is a symbol of integrity; it signifies that all the knightly virtues and moral values of the knight who bears the shield are intact in the knight's character. Whether these virtues and values will remain intact after Gawain leaves Camelot to find the Green Knight becomes a key question in the story. The narrator of the story explains and describes the pentangle, including the symbolism of each point of the star, in this way:

And why that noble prince bare the pentangle I am minded to tell you, though my tale tarry thereby. It is a sign that Solomon set ere-while [some time ago], as betokening truth; for it is a figure with five points and each line overlaps the other, and nowhere hath it beginning or end, so that in English it is called "the endless knot." And therefore was it well suiting to this knight and to his arms, since Gawain was faithful in five and five-fold, for pure was he as gold, void of all villainy and endowed with all virtues. Therefore he bare the pentangle on shield and surcoat as truest of heroes and gentlest of knights. For first he was faultless in his five senses; and his five fingers never failed him; and all his trust upon earth was in the five wounds that Christ bare on the cross, as the Creed tells. And wherever this knight found himself in stress of battle he deemed well that he drew his strength from the five joys which the Queen of Heaven had of her Child. And for this cause did he bear an image of Our Lady on the one half of his shield, that whenever he looked upon it he might not lack for aid. And the fifth five that the hero used were frankness and fellowship above all, purity and courtesy that never failed him, and compassion that surpasses all; and in these five virtues was that hero wrapped and clothed. And all these, five-fold, were linked one in the other, so that they had no end, and were fixed on five points that never failed, neither at any side were they joined or sundered, nor could ye find beginning or end. And therefore on his shield was the knot shapen, red-gold upon red, which is the pure pentangle.

Ave : Ave Maria, or Hail Mary, a prayer said by Roman Catholics. betide : Happen or happen to. baldric : B elt or sash that winds across the chest from a shoulder to the opposite hip, then up the back to the shoulder. It may be used to support support a sword, dagger or horn.  byrny : Tunic of chain mail.  chain mail : Flexible metal armor. chamberlain : Servant assigned to a bedchamber. chivalry : Exemplary conduct expected of a knight; a knight's code of behavior.  Credo : Creed, or profession of belief, in the Roman Catholic Mass. The Credo (Latin for I believe ) is called the Nicene Creed. It is sung or recited. cuisses : Armor pieces protecting the thighs. doublet : Sleeveless jacket. greave : Armor covering the lower leg, from the knee to the ankle. hauberk : Coat of chain-mail armor. helm : Helmet. holt : Woods encompassing only a small area. Logres : A name for the land ruled by King Arthur. matins : Prayers recited early in the morning. Michaelmas : In Roman Catholicism, the feast day of St. Michael, an archangel, on September 29. Middle Ages : Period of history beginning about AD 400 and lasting until 1500; period between ancient and modern eras.  Paternoster : The Lord's Prayer. Also called the "Our Father." Reynard : Another name for a fox in folklore and fables. rood : Cross of Christ. squire : Aspiring knight who attends a knight and is second in rank to a knight. surcoat : Tunic, or loose-fitting garment, worn by a knight over his armor. vintail : Alternate spelling of ventail , movable covering for the face on the front of a metal helmet. wis : Know, suppose, imagine.

The Feudal Age

How Feudalism Worked

....... The king of a domain granted an expanse of land ( fief ) to selected men of high standing in return for a pledge of allegiance and military service. These men, who came to be known as great lords (or grands seigneurs ) then awarded portions of their land to lesser lords, or vassals, for a similar pledge of loyalty, or fealty , as well as dues and an agreement to fight the lord's enemies. In return, the great lord met the everyday needs of the vassals. Knights, highly trained mounted warriors, were the backbone of the great lord's army. Failure by a great lord or a vassal to live up to a commitment, or warranty , was a felony , a crime punishable by loss of the offender's title, land, and other assets. In severe cases, the offender sometimes lost his life or a limb. 

..... What a King or Great Lord Gave ---> Land ..... What a King or Great Lord Received ---> Protection (Military Service)

The Land and Its Workers

....... The estate on which a lord lived was called a manor. Peasants, or serfs , were attached to the land as property. They paid rents and taxes, farmed the land and performed many other servile duties. Sometimes freemen also worked the land. The lord exercised full political and social control over his land. ...  What Was a Castle?

....... A castle was a walled fortress of a king or lord. The word castle is derived from the Latin castellum , meaning a fortified place . Generally, a castle was situated on an eminence (a piece of high ground) that had formed naturally or was constructed by laborers. High ground constructed by laborers was called a motte (French for mound ); the motte may have been 100 to 200 feet wide and 40 to 80 feet high. The area inside the castle wall was called the bailey . Some castles had several walls, with smaller circles within a larger circle or smaller squares within a larger square.  ....... The outer wall of a castle was usually topped with a battlement , a protective barrier with spaced openings through which defenders could shoot arrows at attackers. This wall sometimes was surrounded by a water-filled ditch called a moat , a defensive barrier to prevent the advance of soldiers, horses and war machines. At the main entrance was a drawbridge , which could be raised to prevent entry. Behind the drawbridge was a portcullis [port KUL is], or iron gate, which could be lowered to further secure the castle. Within the castle was a tower, or keep , to which castle residents could withdraw if an enemy breached the portcullis and other defenses. Over the entrance of many castles was a projecting gallery with machicolations [muh CHIK uh LAY shuns], openings in the floor through which defenders could drop hot liquids or stones on attackers. In the living quarters of a castle, the king and his family dined in a great hall on an elevated platform called a dais [DAY is], and they slept in a chamber called a solar .  ....... The age of castles ended after the development of gunpowder and artillery fire enabled armies to breach thick castle walls instead of climbing over them.

Study Questions and Essay Topics

1. In planning their trick, did Morgan le Fay and the Green Knight foresee that Gawain would accept the challenge? (In other tales about the Knights of the Roundtable, Gawain frequently appears as headstrong and reckless in his willingness to accept challenges and prove his mettle.)  2. When the lady tells Gawain that the sash is a talisman that will protect him, he does not doubt her. Does his belief in its power reveal him as naive and gullible? 3. Interpreters of the story speculate that the color of the knight and the sash, green, has special meaning. Some say it signifies evil; some say it represents spoilage, corrosion, and death. Still others maintain that it suggests rebirth and growth, like the green plants of spring. What do you believe the color symbolizes in the story? 4. Write an essay that attempts to explain the motives behind the decisions Gawain makes. 5. In an argumentative essay, take a stand on whether stories about King Arthur and his knights are based on historical persons. .

Jesse L. Weston Translation W.A. Neilson Translation Paul Deane Translation Original Text Edited by J.R.R. Tolkien and E.V. Gordon Original Text With English Translation (University of Toronto)

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How The Green Knight Transforms the 14th-Century Poem It’s Adapted From

For starters, why was chivalry so important to medieval knights.

“I don’t have a story,” says Gawain—not yet Sir Gawain, as he’s not yet a knight—at the beginning of The Green Knight , David Lowery’s new film based on the late 14th-century Middle English poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . * The point of the film is to give him one, and if that story hews pretty closely to the “Hero’s Journey” formulated by the late folklorist Joseph Campbell and deeply beloved by Hollywood screenwriters ever since George Lucas dreamed up Luke Skywalker, it also brings a more somber and mature tone to what’s become a movie cliché.

Both Lowery’s film and the original poem, whose author is unknown, are about what makes a knight—that is, a man, or more specifically, a gentleman. The poem readily lends itself to Campbell’s formulas, which is not surprising, given that it inspired them. Lowery mostly follows a Campbellian interpretation of the tale: that is, treating it as a story of personal growth. His film takes place in a nearly empty, wintery landscape in which Gawain (Dev Patel) encounters solitary figures or groups of three. The exception is Camelot itself, a crowded, bustling, eventful town where Gawain drinks and dallies with a young woman of unclear social status and inexplicably cropped hair (Alicia Vikander). But he can’t become a true hero until he can get away from all those people.

When the Round Table’s Christmas feast is disrupted by the arrival of the uncanny Green Knight, with his challenge of an exchange of blows, Gawain, in order to prove himself and to acquire a story worthy of a king, volunteers. (In the original poem, as well as the rest of the Arthurian tradition, Gawain is never described as in line for the throne, but Lowry introduces the idea that Arthur is considering him as a potential heir.) Gawain lops off the Green Knight’s head, but the Knight simply picks it up and rides off, mua-ha-ha-ing, reminding Gawain that in a year’s time he must present himself at a place called the Green Chapel to receive a reciprocal blow.

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The poem passes over Gawain’s adventures on this journey pretty quickly, explaining (in Simon Armitage’s excellent translation ) “So momentous are his travels among the mountains/to tell just a tenth would be a tall order.” This is annoying, given how many words the Gawain poet is willing to lavish on such subjects as people’s outfits. Who devotes over a hundred lines to how Gawain was kitted out for his journey, while spending only a line or two on the hero’s encounters with giants, wolves, and “wodwos,” unclothed, hair-covered wild men who live in the forest? Lowery, no fool, shows us the giants and expands on the poem by having his Gawain duped by a band of motley brigands who steal his faithful steed Gringolet. He also comes to the aid of the sad ghost of St. Winifred (a Welsh martyr) by retrieving her skull from the bottom of a spring. These exploits impart appropriately chivalric lessons: Gawain learns that there is no point in trusting men without honor, and also that he is wrong to ask for a favor from Winifred in exchange for helping her.

Finally, Gawain arrives at the castle of Bertilak de Hautdesert. His experiences there take up the entire third “fit,” or part, of the poem. His host proposes yet another trading “game”: He’ll go out hunting, and whatever he obtains while doing so he will exchange for whatever Gawain gets by hanging around the castle all day. In the poem, long and vivid passages of hunting alternate with scenes of Gawain fending off the advances of Bertilak’s wife. He accepts the occasional kiss, which he duly passes on to Bertilak, making this interlude seem, to the contemporary reader, like an encounter with a couple of scheming swingers. Lowery’s film de-emphasizes the game in favor of a lengthy speech by the lady of the castle (also played by Vikander) about the color green and what it stands for: decay, time, life, and death. She gives Gawain a green girdle, or sash, that he refuses—until he learns that it is enchanted and will protect him from any harm. He does not then pass the sash to Bertilak, cheating in the game.

Gawain’s final encounter with the Green Knight in the leafy grotto of his chapel serves, in Lowery’s telling, as the plot development Campbell labeled “the Abyss.” The hero confronts a father figure of terrifying power and achieves transcendence via “an abandonment of the attachment to ego itself.” Lowery’s Gawain contemplates simply refusing to honor his promise to allow the Green Knight a free blow, then pictures the arc of his future life as king, but also as man whose cowardice and refusal to fully commit himself leads him to fail and disappoint everyone close to him. By surrendering his last defense, the enchanted sash, Gawain becomes a true adult.

Lowery underlines this interpretation by implying that it is Gawain’s concerned mother, Morgause (Sarita Choudhury), who has used her magical powers to summon the Green Knight to the court to engage Gawain in the test that will force him to grow up. In the poem, it is her sister, Gawain’s aunt, the sorceress Morgan le Fay, who is ultimately revealed as the instigator of Gawain’s adventures, mostly in service of “mischief.” Morgan, an amoral fairy, is also skeptical of the ethos of chivalry. She is always trying to undermine the chivalric project that is the Round Table and inject chaos into Britain. Like Campbell, Lowry views Gawain’s quest as fundamentally psychological, but the poem and the culture that produced it was far more interested in the social impact of the lessons Gawain learns.

To see this, it helps to understand chivalry not as an elaborate and arbitrary code of behavior, but as a romantic ideology designed to turn a squabbling collection of local warlords into something closer to a kingdom or nation. Without chivalry, knights are just strongmen, forever jostling for position and pursuing revenge. Chivalry—in theory, at least—urged them to redirect their strength toward helping the weak, defending the faith, and honoring the kinds of promises and commitments that bind a larger and more peaceful society together, from coming to the aid of allies to abiding by the terms of treaties and trade agreements. (This is one reason why trades feature so often in the story.) When Gawain declares that “honor” obliges him to deliver himself up to the Green Knight and a likely death, it’s easy for someone who lives in a modern state dominated by the rule of law to view this as foolish, outmoded vainglory. To us, it seems ridiculous that he would sacrifice himself for such a thing. But in medieval Europe, honor was often all that stood between a fragile order and bloody chaos. This is not to say that feudal Europe ever constituted a “safe” place to live, especially for the peasant classes, but it was nevertheless better than a condition of perpetual local warfare.

What did chivalry offer knights in exchange for giving up doing pretty much whatever they had the might to get away with? Status was one of the primary incentives. Observing the code of behavior known as courtesy demonstrated that a man was a member of the courtly or noble class, superior to mere commoners and churls, like the treacherous bandits who rob Gawain in Lowery’s film. In the poem, Gawain excels at the finer forms of courtesy. He is particularly adept at talking with ladies, a skill—one just as important in chivalry as prowess at arms—put to the test at Bertilak’s castle, where he must find a way to rebuff the lady of the house without offending her, to avoid the dishonor of violating Bertilak’s hospitality. Lowery’s Gawain is a bit of a fuckboy, who strings along his commoner girlfriend and carouses in taverns, and it makes little sense that he’d balk at this opportunity, but the Gawain of the poem is no less a knight for being a master of manners.

One popular interpretation of the poem views the Green Knight as a personification of nature; in addition to being the color of plants, he shares their ability to survive even after you cut off their heads. His “chapel” is little better than a hole in the ground. Gawain must travel north to find him, into regions associated in British folklore with primitive wilderness, compared to the “civilized” south. The implication is that the young knight has become a bit too sophisticated, and needs to renew his relationship to the root of knighthood’s power: masculine violence and force, but also a wildness felt to be at the heart of Britishness. A medieval king might not want his knights to be fighting all the time, especially with each other, but he wanted them to be up to the job when deployed into the battle.

Nevertheless, it is no feat of arms that earns Gawain his renown. The unknown poet who chose him as a subject describes, in the entire story, exactly one blow struck by the knight the one at the beginning against the unresisting Green Knight—a gimme. It is Gawain’s fidelity to his word and his tact, not his combat prowess, that are tested. These are social virtues, and they are enough to earn him the other great incentive that chivalry offered medieval knights: fame, praise, respect. In short, a story.

Correction, July 30, 2021: This piece originally misspelled David Lowery’s last name.

�Sir Gawain and the Green Knight����

Vocabulary to know

• Romance - A narrative form referring to an imaginative adventure concerning noble heroes, gallant love, a chivalric code of honor, and daring deeds .  The setting is generally far away and presents idealized heroes.

Vocabulary to know - continued

• Plot – The sequence of actions and events in a narrative that usual progress because of a conflict.
• Initiating incident
• Exposition – provides reader with background information such as characters, setting, and major conflict (The Green Knight’s challenge).
• Rising action – complications cause difficulties for main characters as they struggle to find solutions.
• Climax – the moment when interest and intensity reach their peak and may involve a discovery or decision that affects the final outcome.
• (Gawain realizes he has betrayed his chivalric ideals, and the Green Knight passes judgment on him.)
• Falling action ( resolution or denouement) – events after the climax when the conflict is resolved.
• (The Green Knight absolves Gawain of his sins and invites him back to his castle. Gawain thanks him, but opts to move on. They affectionately bid each other goodbye. Sir Gawain, restored and revitalized, returns.)
• Setting – One of the main elements of fiction that indicates the time and place of the action.
• Example: Camelot, King Arthur’s Court
• Conflict – A struggle between opposing forces that moves a plot forward and provides interest or suspense.
• Example: A green knight has appeared and issued a challenge to King Arthur’s knights.
• Symbol – A symbol is a person, place, or object that has a concrete meaning and also stands for something beyond itself such as an idea or feeling.
• Alliteration – The repetition of consonant sounds to impart a musical quality, to create mood, to reinforce meaning, to emphasize words, and to unify lines or stanzas.
• G listening g reen
• T ied around her fair t unic

Medieval Romance

• A narrative written in dramatic verse or prose involving heroes, love, faraway places, and supernatural events. This genre first appeared in France during the 12 th century and soon spread to England.
• Idealized, larger-than-life characters
• A challenge or test for the hero
• Unusual settings and supernatural elements
• Mistaken or hidden identity
• (The Green Knight hides his identity to test Gawain.)

The Gawain Poet

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was probably composed in the mid to late fourteenth century by an unknown author often referred to as "The Gawain Poet." Although his identity remains unknown, the Gawain Poet’s rich imagination and skill have earned him recognition as one of the greatest medieval English poets.

It is told in the Arthurian tradition since legends of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were very popular during the medieval period. The people enjoyed hearing heroic stories of gallant knights and their chivalrous deeds. The idealized legends of knights were a far cry from the reality of plagues, political battles and civil unrest in real medieval England.

The Gawain poet

Because of his dialect, the Gawain Poet probably lived in the northwestern part of England rather than London. His writing reflects a knowledge of aristocratic life as well as a love of rural life. The sole surviving manuscript is from about 1400 and contains three religious poems (Pearl, Purity, and Patience), which are also believed to be his works. The Gawain Poet is sometimes called the Pearl Poet.

The Code of Chivalry

• At age 7, boys from nobility became pages in the castles of nobles; at age 14, they became squires, serving knights and learning horsemanship and military skills; at age 21, they were knighted. A k night owed loyalty to God, to his lord, and to a lady to whom he had sworn his platonic love. Knights often competed in tournaments to prove their prowess.
• Real knights were far from perfect, but legendary knights obeyed a code of chivalry that reflected Christian ideals of courage, faith, bravery, modesty, courtesy, honor, and loyalty. Sir Gawain is the nephew of the legendary King Arthur.
• In the Japanese culture, the samurai were the equivalent of chivalric knights.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is considered one of the finest Arthurian (King Arthur and his knights) romances. The Green Knight appears at a New Year’s Eve celebration at Camelot. He challenges the brave knights of King Arthur’s Court to a contest. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge and severs the Green Knight’s head. However, the Green Knight picks up his head, requires Sir Gawain to meet him in one year for the return of the challenge, and then rides away. One year later, Gawain rides to find the Green Knight and complete the contest.

Many symbols are used in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

• Holly represents everlasting life through Christ.
• Green represents spring and the regeneration of life.
• The cut Gawain receives represents his lapse.
• The green sash represents Gawain’s fall and redemption.

Evaluate Theme

Evaluate how the external conflict between Gawain and the Green Knight represents broader issues. Consider the following:

• What is courage and what is cowardice?
• Is it permissible to avoid telling the whole truth?
• What makes a person worthy of respect?
• What is the difference between a mortal human being and a perfect hero, and which is worthier?

Roots and affixes

• For words that end in a vowel and consonant, normal spelling rules require doubling the final consonant when adding a suffix that begins with a vowel. Example: cut + t +ing= cutting
• Revel does not double the last consonant because the accent is on the first syllable. The rule to double the final consonant does NOT apply when the accent is NOT on the last syllable. Examples: revel, travel

Line 385 “I’ve reveled too well already . . .”

Participles

A participle is a verb form that is used as an adjective.

• Past participles usually end in –ed or -en.
• Present participles usually end in –ing.
• Examples: shining stars , crying baby

A participial phrase includes participles plus their modifiers and complements.

• Examples: The light streaming in through the window woke up the boy. Walking across the field, she saw flowers blooming.

Inferences are logical guesses based upon your reading from clues in the text. They are not explicitly stated by the author. For example, the Green Knight uses words and gestures to taunt the knights of Camelot:

• “ . . . He coughed, as if embarrassed ” (line 86)
• " Can this be King Arthur’s court?" (line 88)

Inference: The Green Knight taunts Arthur and the knights to insult their bravery and shame them into accepting the challenge he presents.

Inferences – cont.

What can you infer from the following text?

• If they were like stone before, they were stiller now,
• Every last lord in the hall, both the high and the low;

Related resources and links

The textbook presents Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Unit One. You may read the selection there or by purchasing a copy or using the link below. As you read, think about what honor meant in medieval times.

See the link below for an online version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

http://www.lib.rochester.edu/Camelot/sggk.htm

You may also enjoy reading

The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White.

• McDougall Littell – The Language of Literature: British Literature, pages 228-245 of the Teachers Edition.

Gawain as a Hero Essay

A hero is regarded as any individual who possesses exceptional and outstanding qualities, especially in circumstances where others have contemplated failure or given up. In other words, a hero is somebody who does an outstanding action that many people would not dare to try. Gawain can be considered as a hero in this poem due to his unique displays of determination, self-control and humility throughout the plot of the poem (Thomas 7).

Gawain finds himself in tough situations that can jeopardize his life but his daring character keeps him on course to fulfill his promise of an immortal character. Like most heroes, he has his own weaknesses but the exemplary display and determination overshadows his shortcomings. He ends up being recognized in the whole Camelot city and reveals certain secrets that have long been unknown to many residents of the state.

As the immortal Green Knight appears at Arthur’s Christmas party, all the knights at the round table are frightened. The fear is further increased by the challenge the Green Knight pauses and whose ultimate prize is not known by anyone. None of the knights who are considered to be the toughest military figures dare to take the challenge, “and none among them all dare answer speedily” (Stone line 437).

Gawain, to everyone’s surprise steps up to take the challenge to save Arthur’s face. This definitely brings out the his courageous character. He is willing to take on a mighty giant regardless of the risk lying ahead when everybody else is unwilling: “I pray thee of thy grace, be this adventure mine!” (Alfred & James line 519).

Gawain also proves to be a hero when he chops off the head of the Green Knight in a single stroke. He puts his life on the scales with the hope that the Green Knight would die in this fight. Nevertheless, he is willing to keep the promise he made to the Green Knight and is ready to have whatever he did on the Green Knight be done on him at an agreed place, “That stroke for counter-stroke with me exchange” (Alfred & James line 582). This is a unique action that none of the military knights could perform, and this makes Gawain a true hero.

It is obvious that he is lucky enough to find Bertilak who offers him accommodation as he awaits the fateful encounter with the immortal knight. However, it is at the Bertilak’s castle that he finds a real test for his self-control. Bertilak’s wife freely offers herself to Gawain: “Do though in bed abide, and take thine ease I pray” (Alfred & James line 1026).

She does all she can when the husband is away to spend a night with Gawain as it is later revealed that it was a planned trap to test Gawain’s lustful power. Gawain is not aware of the plan but is wise enough to find his way out and by so doing he proves to be a hero again, as he is strong enough to avoid the temptations from this lady and not to betray his host who has been so generous to him.

He manages to coil around and only accepts a kiss daily from the lady. This again saves him of the trap ahead of him when Bertilak suggests that they offer to each other their daily spoils. While Bertilak brings game meat to Gawain daily, she is paid back with a kiss from Gawain since this is what he gets from the wife: “Whate’er in wood I win, the profit thine shall be, what cheer though shall achieve, halt give me” (Alfred & James line 1058).

One could wonder what Gawain would have paid back with should he had fallen for the sexual favors from Bertilak’s tempting wife. Here, he is regarded a hero by the society not only for managing his lust but also for taking the best option that saved him from falling into Bertilak’s trap.

The final encounter with the Green Knight is blood curdling and chilling. In fact, when Gawain is about to meet the knight, the guide accompanying him promises not to let out the secret if Gawain changes his mind and turns down the earlier promise made to the Knight of which Gawain declines: ”whereof, Gawain good, let this man alone” (Alfred & James line 1088).

Gawain is so terrified on the first occasion when the Knight tries to wield the ax until the Knight is forced to pull back and he demands for more courage from him. The hero Gawain does not even flinch on the second attempt when the knight tries a blow on him. In a surprising turn of events, it is Gawain who urges the knight to go through with it and fulfill the promise. It is interesting how Gawain has built up courage to face the giant Green Knight and the promise is fulfilled as earlier stated.

Thus, Gawain is considered a hero for his massive courage and determination to meet the Knight’s challenge. His journey to the meeting point was made amidst hunger, cold, and desperation. Any other person could have contemplated giving up but Gawain kept to his course. Above all, he remained optimistic that nothing bad would befall him and that he would live to retell the story in Camelot. It indeed takes a hero to do this.

Finally, Gawain meets his prize and takes back the good news. King Arthur is surprised by the revelations from Gawain’s journey and encounter. When Gawain sets out for the encounter he had nothing for his protection unlike the Knight who seemed to possess supernatural skills.

Hence, the chances of him surviving the ordeal and coming back to Camelot (Greenblatt 2006). The Green Knight had promised to pay back with equal intensity whatever the challenge involved and now that Gawain chopped off the Knight’s head, little was expected of him since he had no powers to return back the head like the Knight had done.

The whole Camelot is surprised when Gawain arrives back, and besides he brings forth news of the King’s kinsmen. No doubt, this is good news to the king and explains why all the military knights wear girdles around their wrists in honor of Gawain. Although they do not know the events that led Gawain to wear the girdle, they freely agree to wear the girdle to show respect and appreciation for him.

This treatment by the knights towards Gawain shows the heroic concern accorded to him for his daring spirit to go yonder, fight and bring forth secrets of the king’s lineage. He definitely qualifies to be a hero for his accomplishment (Greenblatt 2006).

Everyone is left wondering what Gawain’s next course of action will be. His ambition and determination leave everyone surprised. For instance, why should he put his life on the line to save King Arthur? He sets out to meet the Green Knight with little information about him and he is still determined to his course even when he knows that the end result might be the loss of his life.

It is evident that he is doing this for fame and building a reputation for himself. He then qualifies to be called a hero in the society when he opens up to the Knight and accepts to have not offered to the knight everything he got from Bertilak’s wife.

Gawain also confesses and repents of his sin and agrees to wear the girdle as a sign of his sins and begs the Knight to pardon him: “Thy plea I beseech” (Alfred & James line 2034). Furthermore, the Knight notes that Gawain values his life more than being honest implying that Gawain is also concerned about his reputation and the public opinion about him (Burrow 2005).

It is the public reputation that makes a hero and Gawain like any other individual with heroic ambitions pays much attention to the outward reputation and this is definitely the reason why Gawain repents of his sins and seeks forgiveness since he knows the Knight might reveal the same in Camelot.

In this case, he is regarded as a hero since he accepts his weakness and makes an effort to make a good name. Very few people can make such a decision like that taken by Gawain given that only the Green Knight and he knew of this trap to test his integrity.

Works Cited

Alfred, David & James Simpson. The Norton Anthology: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print.

Burrow, James. A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . London, UK: Kegan Paul Ltd., 2005. Print.

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature , London, UK: W.W. Norton and Co., 2006. Print.

Stone, Brian. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. London, UK: Penguin, 2004.Print.

Thomas, Gary. Your Research Project . New York, NY: Sage, Rudestam & Newton, 2009. Print.

• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2022, August 4). Gawain as a Hero. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gawain-as-a-hero/

"Gawain as a Hero." IvyPanda , 4 Aug. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/gawain-as-a-hero/.

IvyPanda . (2022) 'Gawain as a Hero'. 4 August.

IvyPanda . 2022. "Gawain as a Hero." August 4, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gawain-as-a-hero/.

1. IvyPanda . "Gawain as a Hero." August 4, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gawain-as-a-hero/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Gawain as a Hero." August 4, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/gawain-as-a-hero/.

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