Pagan and Christian Symbolism in "Sir Gawain and the Green Night"

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval text written by an unknown author sometime around the fourteenth century. The story is written in Middle English often making the translation difficult and open for interpretation. The story begins for Sir Gawain, a member of King Arthur’s court, as a mysterious man appears in Arthur’s court to present a challenge. He offers a challenge for the court, a blow for a blow. Gawain takes the stranger up on his challenge and it continues from there. Gawain then has to face the consequences of the decisions he makes and it then manages to spiral from there. The story creates a vivid picture of how Gawain experiences a conflict between the word of his chivalric code as well as his bond and how he lives his everyday life. Debate has raged for many years whether or not this story emphasizes the values of the chivalric life or in fact criticizes it. The language and syntax of the text itself along with the events of the story paint a critical and perhaps unconventional portrait of the chivalric life.

Within Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it is apparent that the theme of time governs the structure of the text. On New Year’s Eve, during the feast at King Arthur’s court, Gawain accepts the game offered to Arthur by the Green Knight. The Knight allows whoever accepts the challenge to strike him with his own axe. Gawain strikes, and now must be meet the Green Knight at the Green Chapel in a year and a day, from there the poem begins to be structured by time. In the beginning of part two, the poet illustrates the changing of the seasons, this imagery perceives Gawain’s departure from

Sir Gawain’s courageous initiative in accepting the Green Knight’s challenge is a characteristic any hero must possess. Sir Gawain begins his venture of courageousness the instant he accepts the challenge that the Green

Sacrifice is a quality that many people choose to ignore. But Sir Gawain magnified this virtue to its extent, even to the brink of death. When the Green Knight challenged the knights of King Arthur for a game, and King Arthur volunteered, it was Sir Gawain who stepped in. Gawain takes on the Green Knight game and goes for the blow. Gawain chops off the Green Knight’s head, but in shocking disbelief, the Green Knight picks up his head and gives a speech. The Green Knight then instructs Gawain to get his way to the Green Chapel to receive his blow in return. Lines (347-350) states, “For I find it

During Sir Gawain’s journey, he is met with countless types of situational archetypes that involved conflict, character

After the establishing of the threat, Gawain agrees to the “fateful region of both treasure and danger…” (Campbell 53), also known as the call. The Green Knight himself initiates the quest, originally representing the herald. As Gawain rose the sword and let it fall on the knight’s neck, the Green Knight “neither faltered nor fell; he started forward with outstretched hand and caught the head…” (Weston, 9). At the attempt to decapitate the Green Knight, Gawain realizes that he will not be easily killed and rethinks what he has agreed to. At this point, the reader can define the Green Knight as a trickster for misleading Gawain into his death. Time flew by for Gawain and soon took off on his journey to find the mysterious knight. On a chilly winter night, Sir Gawain prays to God to help guide him to a safe place to spend the rest of the night. He comes across a castle in which he stays in for three days. The castle’s owner shelters Gawain and tests his loyalty.

After a moment of consideration, Sir Gawain accepts the terrifying challenge. As he tries to perform the first part of the challenge, he stumbles into an even bigger surprise. As Gawain hits the Green Knight with an ax, the head of the Green Knight falls on the floor. Instead of the Green

Our attention now turns towards Gawain, who is still asleep in bed. He awakes to find the lord's wife entering his room; surprised, he quickly pretends he's asleep. She sits beside him on the bed, pins him down and points out that her lord is away and the rest of the castle is asleep. This is the first test Gawain faces, where he is tempted to break his knightly code of honor. The wife offers herself to him for sexual pleasure. Gawain is tempted by this offer but fends off her aggressive attempt by politely declining, stating that she is "bound to a better man."(228)

To begin with, the Green Knight teaches Sir Gawain respect when he has to come forward and repay the Green Knight’s agreement. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight come to an agreement, one day the Green Knight gets his head cut off by Sir Gawain, and next year on the same day Sir Gawain must have his head cut off by the Green Knight. If he does not follow through with his word he will be considered a coward. Sir Gawain agrees to his game and sets off to his expedition a year later. Sir Gawain arrives and says, “Where is the hero / who swore he’d be here to meet me ?”(lines 223-224). Sir Gawain goes to the place of

There is heavy celebration and feasting among all of the court for fifteen days until New Year’s Day. King Arthur proposes a game and refuses to eat his dinner until he has heard a wonderful story. Everyone sits in quiet at Arthur’s request, and suddenly they hear something coming from the door. The Green Knight burst through the door glowing, decorated with gold speckles and wielding a glowing green axe while mounted on his Green Horse. The Green Knight has very handsome features including long hair and a long beard. The Green figure shocked the guest and the court leaving their jaws locked open at the sight of this Green Knight. The Green Knight proposes his offer reassuring Arthur that he is not there to fight, as he has no armor on, but rather test Arthur’s court that he has heard so many great things about. He offers the court a particular challenge against his life, saying that whomever strikes him must let the Green Knight repay the same blow he suffered to the challenger. With such a odd challenge at the courts midst, Arthur and his guest are still shocked at this figure and hesitate to reply. The Green Knight begins to question the courts reputation and Arthur will not take this disrespect. King Arthur steps up and grabs the Green Knight’s Axe, prepares to take a blow, but is stopped by his nephew Sir

Sir Gawain finally moves on from the castle and goes to the Green chapel, which happens to be a mound. He gets there, and is admittedly scared, but ready to die. The Green knight goes to strike Sir Gawain with his axe, but does not. The Green knight notices Sir Gawain flinches and begins to mock him. Sir Gawain proceeds to tell the Green knight that he will not be able to pick up his head like the Green knight did. The Green Knight goes to strike Sir Gawain a second time and Sir Gawain does not flinch this time. Sir Gawain is ready to die now after the first flinch. The Green knight then went to strike Sir Gawain a third time and he began to get frustrated, the Green knight began to talk with Sir

sneaks into Gawain room and tries to seduce him but Gawain pushes her off. He shows respect

The Green Knight agrees if Gawain will come to wherever he thinks the Green Knight will be. Of course, Gawain has no clue where he would find him, so the Green Knight says that he will tell him if Gawain can hit him square on the neck. Then Sir Gawain strikes him directly on his neck, and the Green Knights head rolls off. The Green Knight proceeds to pick up his head and leave, while bleeding terribly from the neck as if he were unharmed. Before he leaves, he tells Sir Gawain to come to the Green Chapel when they agreed. So then a year passes before Gawain comes across his second trial. It occurs while Gawain stays in the castle of a hospitable lord before he is to meet again with the Green Knight. During his stay, the lord and Sir Gawain agree to "exchange what each has won during the day" (Ponsor 128). For three days the lord brings back what he has hunted, and Gawain gives him the kisses he has received from the lady of the castle. However, he also received a magical green scarf from the lady on the third day, but fails to exchange it for it is a token of good luck. When Sir Gawain finally meets with the Green Knight, he prepares to be struck with a scythe, but the Green Knight ends up only giving him a minor scratch on the neck. This is because the knight was testing his honor, and he scratched him because he did not maintain his honor on that third day. He was supposed to hand over

There are many great movies, like “300” or “Saving Private Ryan,” that are told with the classic chivalry elements that were known to describe the noble knights from hundreds of years ago. Much like the courageous soldiers in these movies, Sir Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, faced many conflicts that might have questioned his moral code of nobleness. Sir Gawain was a great knight that was loyal to King Arthur and had the courage to take on the challenge the Green Knight proposed at the beginning of the poem. The Green Knight asks for a brave knight to strike him and in a years’ time for the challenger to receive the strike back from him. “The society in which Gawain lived was a valorous society,” (Engelhardt 219). Sir Gawain, throughout the poem, shows various traits that are traced back to chivalry. His character is not the only thing that shows chivalry elements. The symbols like the pentangle and the Green Knight himself represent values of chivalry. The plot unravels several conflicts that make Sir Gawain really contemplate the right thing to do and a major theme deals with the nature of chivalry. The poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is about chivalry because of its symbolism, plot, and the theme.

When the time came, Gawain left on his journey to the Green Chapel. This journey helped Gawain gain some of the wisdom he would need to become mature. He had to travel from country to country, always asking others if they had seen the Green Knight. He