Archetypes In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century Middle English alliterative romance about the adventure of Sir Gawain, King Arthur's Knight of the Round Table. This great verse is praised not only for its complex plot and rich language, but also for its sophisticated use of symbolism. Symbolism is a technique used in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to give a significance to the plot. The Green Knight, the Green Sash, and Sir Gawain's Shield are three of the most prominent symbols given to us in this verse.

​In the beginning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain is introduced as a courtly knight with a sense of perfection. The author does this to compare it to his failures, which are later displayed through Gawain’s acts at Morgan le Fay’s castle. Gawain is portrayed to be a chivalrous knight with honor and courage. Gawain is presented with a challenge: accept the game to cut off the Green Knight’s head, and in a test of courage and honor, set out to allow the Green Knight to return the favor to him in a year and a day. This initially shows the knightly characteristics of Gawain which presents him as noble and honorable, which allows the author to shock the audience when Gawain falls under pressure to actions that contradict the chivalrous code. The first of these actions taken by Gawain in opposition to his morals is the temptation

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the poem of a Sir Gawain and his quest to find the Green Knight and the green chapel in one year and a day later. This occurs after the Green Knight appears in King Arthur's court to test the honor of the legendary knights of the roundtable. The challenge he brought would be that he will withstand the blow of his axe from any of the knights as long as that knight would agree to meet him in a year and a day later to receive a blow from the axe in return. No one would accept it, not even King Arthur. Therefore Sir Gawain decides he would accept the challenge after the Green Knight provokes Arthur because he was not accepting the challenge. Sir Gawain would go on a year later on a journey to find the Green Knight and the Green Chapel with many peculiar things happening on the way. He eventually finds him and receives the same blow from the Green Knight with the axe but nothing happens to him. There are some archetypes in the story, and we will see some examples of them.

Shown to be a noble high class knight, Gawain’s behavior portrays that he is a brave and moral character. When King Arthur is about to meet the Green Knight’s challenge, Gawain steps in to take his place and asserts that he is the weakest of all knights and that he would not be missed if he had died. He conveys that he is truly humble and is willing to sacrifice himself for his uncle, expressing his courage and chivalric values of selfless loyalty. Furthermore, Gawain is depicted as “reputed good and, like gold well refined, He was devoid of all villainy, every virtue displaying”, hence the golden pentangle represents his purity and given that it is also a symbol of religion, Gawain depicts that he wants to be connected to God and maybe

An archetype, which can also refer to as a universal symbol, can not only limit it to theme, setting, and symbol but can also refer to as a character. A type of archetype can not only represent one character, it can represent many different types of characters. Depending on the story that the author wants to try and portray. In the medieval romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dramatically demonstrates how a single character can play many archetypal roles. This story possesses many different types of characters that can all have more than one archetype. Having characters that more than one archetype in this story helps build Sir Gawain’s character and helps guide him through his initial quest and trails that he encounters to face in order to face the Green Knight. There are several different characters in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that aid in the troubles that Sir Gawain faces throughout the story.

Throughout the poem, the Green Knight plays various roles as an archetypal figure, for example he serves as both a herald and a mentor to Gawain. The poem begins at the Round Table, with a challenge being presented to the knights by the Green Knight. No one budges to accept the challenge so Gawain steps up and accepts it, knowing Camelot’s honor will be at risk. Gawain is told by the Green Knight that they must meet at the Green Knight Chapel in one year so the Green Knight can return the blow that Gawain gave to him. At this point, the Green Knight serves as the “announcer of adventure” or the “herald” (campbell 48) since he approaches the knights at the Round Table. As Gawain begins his journey to the Green Knight's Chapel, he meets a Host of a castle, who makes a deal with Gawain to stay there for three days. Although it is unknown to Gawain, the Green Knight is the Host, just in disguise. As the Host, the Green Knight mentors Gawain with their deal as a means of training Gawain for his upcoming challenge. Their deal was “we will make a covenant. Whatsoever I win in the wood shall be yours, and whatever may fall to your share, that shall ye exchange for it. Let us swear, friend, to make this exchange, however our hap may be, for worse or for better.” (Weston 20) and it provided a way for Gawain to prove himself and his worth to the Host, which is exactly what he did. As stated before, the many roles of the Green Knight each aid in Gawain’s development as a character and prepare him for his awaiting challenge.

Even though the green knight turns out to be good at the end of the story, he still presents Gawain with a variety of difficult challenges throughout the poem that make him seem evil. The green knight is first perceived as evil when he barges into king Arthur’s castle and insults the knights of camelot for hesitating to cut off his head. The moment that Sir Gawain volunteers to cut off the green knights instead of allowing Arthur to do so he is crossing the threshold from the ordinary world into the world of adventure. When Gawain departs on his journey to have his head cut off he is putting the greater good of camelot before his preference of not being decapitated by giant green knights. This choice that Gawain makes marks his first step towards becoming a better knight. Even

In many works of literature, many archetypes (or symbols) are used to help the reader understand the story of a hero’s quest. In the Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, the hero has to go on a fatal journey to uphold the reputation of Camelot. While enduring that journey, Gawain has to conquer many trails. Gawain’s succession of trials leaves the hero, like Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner, a “sadder but wiser man.” With all the trials that Gawins intakes, many archetypal characters contribute to the theme of the story.

Archetypes are universal symbols used in literature to represent fundamental human motifs. In the medieval romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the hero must undergo archetypal situations to succeed in his quest to redeem the honor of Camelot. Gawain embodies the transcendent hero as he further goes into “The Zone of Magnified Power” (Campbell 71) then faces conflict resulting from the threat placed on the society. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dramatically demonstrates how a single character can play many archetypal roles.

The characteristics of heroism, magical elements, and the supernatural, just to name a few, are all shown in the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. First, we see the supernatural when the Green Knight speaks even though he has been beheaded. Next, we see magic and larger than life characters when the Green Knight reveals he is both Lord Bertilak and the giant knight. Lastly, heroism is shown when Sir Gawain stands up for his King and takes his place in battle. It is these characteristics that place Sir Gawain and the Green Knight into the genre of medieval

With every corner we turn in today’s culture, we become more and more aware of the archetypes that surround us. Archetypes are the works of a typical character, situation, setting, or symbol that can be found in fantasy and reality. An example would be the renowned medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Pearl Poet. The author permeates the story with situational, symbolic, and character archetypes that illustrate the profound life of Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain was apprehensive of his journey at first, but as time passes, he began to make choices that unveils to the audience the true flawed knight that he was.

At first the hero possesses no clue of the excursion set upon them, he receives a call to a journey from the herald which changes his life. In the poem, during the celebration takes place when the Green Knight challenges Camelot, “If any knight be so bold as to prove my words, let him come swiftly to me here..” (Weston 6); thus ultimately making this request the call for Gawain. Even though the Green Knight displays this challenge towards King Arthur, Gawain wholeheartedly intervenes and presents himself as the one to undergo the challenge. As Gawain agrees to the “fateful region of both treasure and danger…” (Campbell 53); he hesitates towards the refusal of the call the Green Knight presents to the knights of Camelot, but knows he must do it for the reputation of Camelot. Gawain must decapitate the Green Knight with an axe and in return the Green Knight holds a right to deal him

Even in the middle ages of literature, a story such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight had many aspects of Joseph Campbell’s view of the hero’s journey. In the story of our character Sir Gawain accepts a “Call to adventure” (Campbell 45) and goes on a quest that will go through many of the archetypes. Likewise, there lies one character, The Green Knight, that can be many of the archetypal characters in the cycle of the hero’s journey. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight dramatically demonstrates how a single character can play many archetypal roles.

Gawain, a knight of the famed King Arthur, is depicted as the most noble of knights in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Nonetheless, he is not without fault or punishment, and is certainly susceptible to conflict. Gawain, bound to chivalry, is torn between his knightly edicts, his courtly obligations, and his mortal thoughts of self-preservation. This conflict is most evident in his failure of the tests presented to him. With devious tests of temptation and courage, Morgan le Fay is able to create a mockery of Gawain’s courtly and knightly ideals. Through the knight Gawain, the poem is able to reveal that even knights are human too with less than romantic traits.

The colour green in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is another important symbol used in this poem. The colour green is evident in the character of the Green Knight and in the green girdle that Gawain accepted of Lady Bertilak. The connection between the colour of the Green Knight and of the green girdle can be seen as a symbol of the inevitable failure of Gawain. As Gawain accepted the girdle he failed to keep his word to Bertilak and the Green Knight and also failed two of his knightly virtues, chastity and courtesy. The colour green therefore can be seen as a symbol of Gawain’s betrayal in the poem. “Þis is þe token of vntrawþe þat I am tan inne, And I mot nedez hit were wyle I may last; For mon may hyden his harme, bot vnhap ne may hit” (SGGK, 2509-11). This quote discusses the girdles meaning to Gawain once he arrives back to Arthurs court. It is described as a ‘token’ of dishonesty and Gawain believes he must now wear it