Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

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Sir Gawain

• Eldest of four sons of King Lot of Orkney and
  Arthurs sister Morgawse
• Prominent from first 12th-cent. stories in which
  he is the leading knight, courageous, pure, and
  courteous
• In later stories his excellence was surpassed by
  that of Launcelot

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Sir Gawain (continued)

• Gawain eventually became Launcelots mortal enemy
• He is killed when Arthur lands at Dover before
  the final battle with Mordred
• Gawain is related to the sun-god of Welsh
  mythology, and elements of this relation are in
  many stories about Gawain

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The Pearl Poet

• This unknown poet was the author of Sir Gawain
  and the Green Knight, Pearl, Patience, and
  Purity, all probably composed around 1370
• All of these poems are found in one manuscript,
  known as Cotton Nero A X
• Pearl is a dream-vision elegy on the death of a
  child Patience and Purity are homiletic
  narratives

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Presents a clear and critical look at the ideals
  of physical and moral integrity demanded of the
  medieval knight
• Has often been regarded as the choicest of the
  Middle English romances
• Contains a frame narrative structure involving
  two adventures instead of the many usually
  associated with a hero

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• The two central incidents test Gawains character
  as a knight (and as a person)
• These tests lead to a critical examination of
  chivalry in general
• The beheading tests his physical courage and
  fidelity to his word
• The lady of the castle tries his moral courage

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What is chivalry?

• Chivalrythe medieval institution of knighthood
  the principles and customs of this institution
  the qualities idealized by knighthood, such as
  bravery, courtesy, honor, and devotion to the weak

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Gawain doesnt come away unscathed
• He flinches from the physical blow of the ax
• His behavior regarding the bedchamber is not
  totally above reproach
• His conduct is open to interpretation by himself,
  the Green Knight, and Arthurs court

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Form of the poem is unusualtold in four sections
  or fits
• Verse form is irregular stanzas, unrhymed
  alliterative verse until around the last four
  lines
• Stanzas average around 20 lines, but the last
  five lines are much shorter than the others

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• The first of these five lines is a short bob
  line of one metrical foot (one stress)
• The remaining four are trimeters or tetrameters,
  generally iambic, rhyming abab and form the
  wheel
• The poem contains 2,530 lines of long-lined
  alliterative verse of varying length

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• The poem is divided into four fitts or
  narrative sections

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Fitt 1

• Arthur and court at Camelot at New Years waiting
  for a marvel when one appearshuge green man
  enters, bearing an axe and a holly bough.
  Challenges a knight to cut his head of on
  condition that the knight agrees to have his head
  cut off a year hence. Arthur wants to accept
  (hes young in this story)

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Fitt 1 (continued)

• Naturally, the king cant accept the challenge,
  so Gawain as the best of the knights accepts in
  the kings stead. Cuts the knights head off.
  Green Knight picks up his head and rides away,
  apparently none the worse for the experience,
  leaving the Camelot crowd tittering and muttering
  in amazement.

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Fitt 2

• The action definitely slows down in this section.
  Gawain sets off one year later to keep his part
  of the bargain. He rides through grim, wintry
  landscapes, but comes upon a beautiful castle on
  Christmas Eve where he is graciously received.
  The lord of the castle agrees with Gawain to
  exchange spoils with Gawain at the end of each
  day.

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Fitt 3

• While the lord hunts, Gawain is hunted. The
  knight, famous for his skill in the art of love,
  is the prey of the amorous lady of the castle.

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Fitt 3 (continued)

• On the first day, the lady gives him one kiss
  the second day she gives him two on the third
  day she gives him three and a magic girdle (not
  by Playtex) that will save his life. He exchanges
  the kisses for the lords game, but keeps the
  girdle, thereby breaking the bargain and not
  keeping his word.

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Fitt 4

• Gawain goes to Green Knights chapel where he
  kneels to receive his blow. Twice the knight
  feints at him, and the third time he makes a
  slight cut on Gawains neck.

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Fitt 4 (continued)

• Green Knight explains that he is the knight of
  the castle in a different form, and that the cut
  in the neck was because of Gawains infidelity in
  keeping the girdle. Gawain bitterly curses his
  failing and the snares of women, but the Green
  Knight applauds him and when he returns to
  Camelot, all the court declare they will wear
  green girdles to honor him.