Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• Source Burrows, J.A. A Reading of Sir Gawain and
  the Green Knight. New York Barnes and Noble,
  1966.

2
Sir Gawain

• The Character
• Courageous and brave
• Flawless example of Christian chivalry
• Flawed everyman

3
Sir Gawain

• Element 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

4
Sir Gawain

• Testing Plot
• Tester is unrealistic and remote
• Test is extreme
• Hero follows the higher of conflicting virtues
• Tester relents and allows hero to fulfill lower
  virtue

5
Sir Gawain

• Departs from Romance
• Calendar time/ real places
• Hero is one of us, not superior
• Tester is split Morgan and Bercilak
• Gawain fails the test because he is human and
  sinful
• Mixture of romance and realism

6
Sir Gawain

• Main Characters
• Arthur King of Camelot
• Sir Gawain Representative, not elect
• Green Knight Ambiguous nature
• Green body-supernatural
• Green and gold equipment-courtly youth
• Holly bob-life and peace
• Axe-war

7
Sir Gawain

• The Game
• Governed by rules
• Tests important knightly virtues
• Involves seemingly inevitable death

8
Sir Gawain

• Code of Chivalry
• Posses faith in God
• Loyal to people, principles, and promises
• Without deceit
• Upright and Virtuous

9
Sir Gawain

• The Five Virtues
• Generosity
• Companionableness
• Courtesy
• Pure mind
• Compassion

10
Sir Gawain

• Recognition
• The Green Knight
• The exchange game was the real test

11
Sir Gawain

• Confession
• Shame and mortification
• Statement of Sin Gawain admits cowardice,
  covetousness, and untruth
• Request for penance

12
Sir Gawain

• Condemnation
• Gawain did sin
• Sin was from love of life, not malice
• Problem of shifting blame to women

13
Sir Gawain

• Thematic Points
• Openness and ambiguity
• Combination of romance and realism
• Gawain is human/sinful

14
Sir Gawain

• Sir Gawains human experience
• Social living
• Alienation
• Self-discovery
• Desolation
• Recovery and Restoration