I. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Manuscript• Cotton Nero A.x.

(projet)

• 1375-1400

• Also contains Pearl, Patience, and Purity

• Humility, Piety, Humility, Piety, Integrity, Loyalty, Integrity, Loyalty, HonestyHonesty

The Green Knight – Hero of Ecology?

• Eastern origins– Green is the color of Islam

• Connection to the Pagan god, Odin

• Has regenerative qualities – like a plant

• Influenced Robin Hood

• The Green Man appears in gardens and other vegetation

Elements of Romance• Set in a remote place and time

• Incorporates the marvelous and miracles

• Hero is superior to other men and his environment

• May involve “Testing Plot”– Tester is unrealistic and remote – Test is extreme– Hero follows higher of conflicting virtues– Tester relents and allows hero to fulfill lower virtue (example: God

and Abraham

Ideals of Knighthood• Physical ideals:

StrengthSkill at armsHorsemanship

• Non-physical ideals:CourageHumilityCourtesyLoyalty

• Gawain tries to be loyal to Arthur, to Bertilak, and to his own word. His failure is in loyalty to his word

Departures from Romance

• Calendar/cyclic time and some real places

• Hero is one of us, not superior to us/environment

• Tester is split: malicious magic Morgan and likeable, realistic Bercilak

• Gawain fails the test because he is human/sinful

• Realism may result from 13th-14th century “penance campaigns,” new “moral psychology.”

• Mixture of romance and realism leaves the reader wondering what rules govern this world.

Sir Gawain: the character

• Courageous and brave courtesy and chivalry

• Flawless example of Christian chivalry

• Flawed everyman

• Gawain is Arthur’s nephew• Never portrayed as Christian –

unlike the other knights of his time

• Alienated from the other knights

Characters• King Arthur—legendary king of Britain

– Husband of Guinivere and uncle of Gawain– Presides over the famed Knights of the Round Table

at Camelot

• Queen Guinevere—The wife of Arthur– According to legend, she had an affair with Sir Lancelot

which brought about the fall of the Round Table. – Adversary - the enchantress Morgan le Fay, who, we learn

at the end of the poem, conjured the Green Knight in order to terrify Guinevere

• Sir Gawain—The nephew of Arthur and a knight – He accepts the challenge of the Green Knight, whom he

must behead, then seek out next year

More Characters• Knights of the Round Table

– Sir Ywain, Sir Eric, Sir Dodinal le Sauvage, Sir Bors, Sir Bedivere,Sir Lionel, Sir Lucan the Good and Sir Mador de la Porte

• Sir Agravain á la dure main—A knight; Gawain’s brother

• Sir Lancelot—A knight; has an affair with Queen Guinevere

• The Green Knight—Mysterious man in Green whom Gawain, in response to a challenge, beheads and must later seek at the Green Chapel

Yes, More Characters

• Lord Bertilak—Lord of the castle of Hautdesert, where Gawain stays on his way to find the Green Knight– At the end of the story, he is revealed to be the

Green Knight himself

• Lady Bertilak—Wife of Lord Bertilak, – tries to seduce Gawain three times while her

husband is away• When Gawain refuses her advances, she gives him a sash-

has the magical property of preserving him from harm from weapons

– When Gawain first sees Lady Bertilak, she is accompanied by and old crone, Morgan le Fay (different incarnations of a single person?)

Wait, One More• Old Crone / Morgan le Fay—

The woman first who accompanies Lady Bertilak when Gawain first arrives at castle Hauptdesert– She appears ugly as her

younger companion is beautiful– In Arthurian romances,

Morgan is a powerful and ambivalent sorceress, who often lays temptations for the knights of King Arthur

Sir GawainThe Game

• Governed by rules

• Tests important knightly virtues

• Involves seemingly inevitable death

Sir Gawain

Code of Chivalry

• Posses faith in God

• Loyal to people, principles, and promises

• Without deceit

• Upright and Virtuous

Sir Gawain

The Five Virtues

• Generosity

• Companionableness

• Courtesy

• Pure mind

• Compassion

Sir Gawain

Recognition

• The Green Knight

• The exchange game was the real test

Sir Gawain

Confession

• Shame and mortification

• Statement of Sin: Gawain admits cowardice, covetousness, and untruth

• Request for penance

Sir Gawain

Condemnation

• Gawain did sin

• Sin was from love of life, not malice

• Problem of shifting blame to women

Sir Gawain

Thematic Points

• Openness and ambiguity

• Combination of romance and realism

• Gawain is human/sinful

Sir Gawain

Sir Gawain’s “human experience”

• Social living

• Alienation

• Self-discovery

• Desolation

• Recovery and Restoration

Courtly Love

• Elevated women

• Object of love was to be worshipped from afar as an ideal

• Only noble people were worthy of love

• Poem seems to condemn courtly loveLady visits Gawain in

his bedroom

Fitts• Fitt One: Beheading Game,

relates to pagan myths about agriculture Arthur: poet’s qualified approval

• Sir Gawain: representative, not elect

• Green Knight: ambiguous nature

– Green body: supernatural

– Green and gold equipment: courtly youth

– Holly bob: life, peace

– Axe: war

Fitt One: The Game

• Gratuitous (thus romantic, not heroic)

• Governed by rules (romantic, not heroic)

• Seasonable (customary Christmas drama)

• Quasi-legal (rules are reiterated)

• Tests important knightly virtues

• Involves seemingly inevitable death

• Ernest/game ambiguity makes it possible for Gawain to treat the obligation lightly, but does not make it right for him to do so (Burrows 24).

Fitts Two and Three:Exchange of Winnings and Hero’s Temptation to test his loyalty, honesty, chastity

• Midwinter: Indoors/outdoors– Wine, feasting, celebration– Cold, sleet, rain

• Arming of Gawain

Fitt Two: The Pentangle• “Truth”

– “Loyal to people, principles, or promises”– Possesses “faith in God”– “Without deceit,” “sincere”– “Upright and virtuous”

• The Fifth Five: Five Virtues– Generosity, companionableness, courtesy,

pure mind, compassion – Secular and social– Interdependent

Fitt Two: The Journey

• Eight weeks: 11/2-12/24• Departs on All Souls’ Day • Four phases

– Arthurian England– N. Wales (Winifred’s Well)– The Wirral – “Strange country”

• Realistic and fantastic

Fitt Two: Hautdesert

• Parallels Camelot (A-B-A)• Provincial outlook – a “lopsided

pentangle” – skewed expectations of G• Gawain’s behavior: confirms claims made

for him in arming scene• Names: host knows Gawain’s name but

Gawain doesn’t know host’s• Another contract – same qualities,

ambiguity

Fitt Three

• Fabliau: parallelism; sexual favors are commodities

• Dalliance: compare lines 1010-1015 to 1218-1221

• Lady manoeuvres based on her misconception of Gawain – courtesy is all

• Courtly ladies can pursue

• Kisses are not adulterous

Fitt Three: Hunt and Bed

• In both, day three represents a departure from the noble conduct of days one and two.

– Deer/boar are noble; fox is ignoble

• In both, the victim . . .

– Flees an adversary (hounds/lady)

– Retreats from prospect of another adversary (Bercilak/Green Knight)

– Succumbs to original adversary (hounds/lady)

Fitt Three: The Girdle

• Green and gold (should remind reader of Green Knight)

• Not accepted for monetary value or beauty

• Gawain acts differently after his fall:

– Gawain goes to Confession, not Mass

– Gawain awaits host, instead of host calling

– Gawain goes first, not host

– Gawain wears blue, color of faithfulness

Fitt Four: Arming/Journey

• Green girdle added to arming

• Neither unqualified condemnation nor uncritical indulgence

• Variation from departure from Camelot – Gawain does not hear Mass – odd for day of death

• Qualities of Death ascribed to Green Knight

– Indiscriminate/universal/inevitable

– Must be faced alone (guide turns back)

Fitt Four: Recognition

• Green Knight is Bercilak de Hautdesert.• Morgan la Faye, Gawain’s aunt, orchestrated events to

humiliate the Round Table.• The exchange game was the real test.

• Fitt Four: Morgan le Faye’s hatred of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

• Considered translation imperii = transfer of culture from one civilization to another (Troy to England)

Fitt Four: Confession

• Replaces false confession at Hautdesert

• Shame and mortification

• Reparation: Gawain returns girdle (and it is given back to him)

• Statement of sin: Gawain admits cowardice, covetousness, untruth

• Request for penance (Bercilak refuses)

Fitt Four: Judgement

– Condemnation – Gawain did sin– Mercy – Sin was from love of life, not from lower

passion or malice– Contrasting responses show decorum

• Bercilak shows comparatively more mercy, for Gawain is more prone to despair than to presumption

• Gawain shows wounded pride, but is harsh on himself

– Problem of shifting blame to women – perhaps to make Gawain’s behavior realistic?

Fitt Four: Return

• Symbols

– Gawain’s cut is healed.

– Gawain wears the girdle.

– Court adopts the girdle.

• Contrasting responses again show decorum

– Gawain is ashamed

– The court downplays his sin

• What does the court’s adoption of the girdle really mean?

NOT EPIC

• Hero fighting for spiritual ideals

• Not fighting for people against a monster or other threat

• Chivalric/Arthurian Hero NOT an Epic Hero like Beowulf

Synopsis – 2500 lines on 2 slides

• Starts on Christmas Eve at the court of King Arthur

• Gawain accepts a challenge from The Green Knight• Chop off his head, then seek the GK out in one year, then the GK

will behead him• Gawain does it

• The next year, Gawain sets off to find the GK. After surviving many perils, he comes to stay with Bertilak and his wife – hospitable

• Lady Bertilak tries to seduce Gawain but he refuses• She offers him a sash that will make the wearer invulnerable to

weapons • Gawain accepts hoping to protect himself from the GK

Synopsis• The next day he sets off to find the GK and he appears

• 1st blow of the ax – Gawain flinches and the GK complains• 2nd blow of the ax – The GK praises Gawain for not flinching –

Gawain complains and wants him to finish• 3rd blow of the ax – Nicks Gawain’s neck, but does not decapitate

• The GK explains that he is Bertilak• The first two checked blows were for the honorable behavior shown

by Gawain in refusing to be seduced by Lady Bertilak• The nick was for dishonorably taking the sash

• Gawain wishes to return the sash, but Bertilak insists that he keep it.

• Gawain says that he will wear it as a token of his shame.

• When he returns home everyone is delighted by the story• They follow his example and wear green baldrics in honor of Gawain

Poetic form and devices

• Alliterative Revival

• Bob and Wheel

– Bob: one line of two or three syllables

– Wheel: four three-stress lines

– Entire structure rhymes ababa

The Structure of the Poem

• Three Gawains:

– Courteous and brave brother of Round Table

– Flawless exemplar of Christian chivalry

– Flawed everyman

• ABA structure of first half

• Fabliau-like parallels in Fitt Three

• Concentric Ring Structure (Solomon 1963): urban social structures

X. Concluding Points • Openness and ambiguity pervade the text.

• Text strives to combine romance and realism.

• Text does not prove that courtly and Christian values inherently conflict, rather only that Gawain is human/sinful.

• Gawain’s experience represents the “fundamental cycle of experience” – “social living, alienation, self-discovery, desolation, recovery and restoration” (Burrows 186).

• Does Gawain take responsibility for his actions?Source: Burrows, J.A. A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1966.