The Importance of Celtic Culture in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The Green Knight, serves as a symbol himself. He is presented as a mixture of foreign and familiar, evil and good. In the beginning the Green Knight is carrying peace(holly-branch) in one hand and war(battle axe) in the other.

“When the Green Knight appears in King Arthur’s court, the people there think he may be some sort of magical creature. How else to explain the fact that he’s entirely green? When he picks up his own severed head and speaks with it.” Now that’s supernatural! Have you ever seen someone talk with his own severed head? Also did you know that his horse was also entirely green?

The Green Knight is big and of course he is green, which might explain some of the delay in acceptance of the challenge, but these knights are warriors. The color green is not a frightening enough color, even combined with the Green Knight’s size, to scare a true warrior. The possible reason for the hesitation by the knights could lie in the description of the Green Knight’s eyes. The author points them out in line 304, "and roisterously his red eyes he [rolls] all about" (Sir Gawain). The critic Robert B. White Jr. says that "one need not look far to discover the general symbolic significance of red when it appears in early literature; it [is] generally associated with blood, cruelty, and violence" (224). The Green Knight’s eyes display just how sinister he is and provide the reason that the other knights are hesitant to accept the challenge. Gawain’s willingness to accept definitely sets him apart from the other knights. The author uses this symbol to reveal that Gawain is not only loyal, but also courageous, and worthy to have his attributes put to the test.

A notable paradox is seen in the appearance of the Green Knight. The first conflict in the poem occurs when an unknown rider appears before King Arthur’s court. The appearance of the mysterious rider is described meticulously. This unknown rider is a big, burly man: “From broad neck to buttocks so bulky and thick, / And his loins and legs so long and so great, / Half a giant on earth I hold him to be” (138-140). This man’s body is strange since it is intimidating but also attractive: “For in back and in breast though his body was grim, / His waist in its width worthily small, / And formed with every feature in fair accord” (143-145). Also, the rider has a holly bob in one hand, signifying goodwill and peace, and in the other hand an ax, which is threatening. His appearance and physique is confounding to the court and the reader in its rugged, imposing quality and in its refined, charming features, but possibly even more baffling is that the man is green: “At his hue most strange to see, / For man and gear and all / Were green as green could be” (148-150). The Green Knight, his clothing, gear, and horse are green. His appearance is natural yet unnatural: “That a horseman and a horse should have such a hue, / Grow green as the grass, and greener it seemed, / Than green fused on gold more glorious by far” (234-236). Green is the main color of nature and vegetation, while men and horses come from nature, it is unnatural for them to be green. The green enamel on gold is unnatural and contrasts what the green color represents. How can someone be rugged yet refined, imposing yet benevolent, and unnatural yet natural? This is all possible because the Green Knight represents nature, which can be wild and beautiful, calamitous and propitious, and barren and fruitful. In the times of

In addition to his unnatural size and presence, his magical nature is further hinted at as he appears “completely emerald green” (Sir Gawain l50) and later affirmed when he picks up his severed head and reminds Gawain of the rules of the agreement they made. This imagery of a seemingly omnipotent figure that a mortal man enters into an agreement is an allusion to the spiritual promise that individuals of the Christian faith enter with God. Ironically, the idea of the Green Knight acting as a metaphor for a supernatural power is part of a larger paganistic culture that stretches across the world and includes such figures as the Aztec “Corn King”, a “vegetation spirit representing fertility and involved in a sacrificial beheading (Benson 67). The supernatural is being appropriated to connect to the growing Christian culture of medieval Britain and make the narrative resonate with the general populace. Sir Gawain’s journey to fulfill his covenant with the Green Knight is fraught with supernatural perils, disorientation, and temptations but it eventually leads him to a chapel to fulfill his promise to the Green Knight: “See, Gawain, that you carry out your promise exactly,/ And search for me truly, sir, until I am found,/ As you have sworn in this hall in

A particular archetypal character in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight who plays a central role in creating the conflicts that help to develop Gawain’s character and the ultimate theme of this medieval romance , the Green Knight. The Green Knight deals with different archetypes, the evil figure… ultimately good, the trickster, and can also convey a type of mentor. In the story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, at the end once Sir Gawain finds the green chapel the green

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

The Green Knight plays many archetypal characters throughout the whole story. For example, one of the archetypal character the Green Knight plays the Evil Figure. The speaker states “Then the Green Knight swiftly made him ready, and grasped his grim weapon to smite Gawain.” (Weston 8) This conveys that since Gawain had beheaded him the year before, it was now his turn to return a blow to Gawain's head. Although throughout the story the Green Knight is seen as the evil figure, he ultimately ends up being a figure of good by discipline Gawain from his acts of dishonesty Another character that the Green Knight plays is the Trickster. No one knew the identity of the Green knight since his appearance was very abstract. Gawain later finds. that the Green Knight was the host of the castle in which he spent days before he had to go and face the Green Knight. A third character that the Green Knight plays is a minion. Later along in the story, the Green Knight reveals that

to mind, for his severed head, like St. Melor’s, lives on after it has been

From all the information the Green Knight gives, more continues to show about his character showing that he is merely just a lackey of something much greater. With him taking the role one of the mentors of the story, this character archetype in a sense connects with the Green Knight also being the EPUG or the “Evil Figure that is Ultimately Good.” This ties in with the fact that the Green Knight is also the host and what is said in the ending dialogue between Gawain and the knight is informing Gawain of the ultimate goal. “Sir Knight, and wast wanting in loyalty, yet that was for no evil work, nor for wooing neither, but because thou lovedst thy life—therefore I blame thee the less” (Weston 40). This quote takes place when the knight/host exposes who he identifies as to the Sir Gawain and what the plan all along was, this last exchange between the two conveys that the Green Knight also partakes two more character archetypes; the minion and it proves the claim of him being the “evil figure who is ultimately good.” The last exchange shows how he falls into the role of the minion, how the Green Knight talks about Arthur’s evils sister, Morgain, and how she worked toward dishonoring Camelot.

Kinney presents a good foundation for the Green Knight's role in the story, but she fails to see that as the tester of Gawain's masculinities the Green Knight must prove that he is more of a man than Gawain, not just his equal. The Green Knight validates his superior masculinity by proving that Gawain can not stop him from being a man. This is evident in this passage, which takes place after the Green Knight has had his head cut off by Gawain in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:

His greatest foe ultimately turns out to be not the Green Knight, but himself, as the major conflict is within: his own fear of death. He does triumph over that fear insofar as he seeks out the Green

The character of the Green Knight, Sir Bertilak, wholly opposes the Christian, honorable characterization of Gawain. When Gawain comes to meet the Green Knight, he exclaims: “‘Can this be the Chapel Green?/Alack!’ ...Here might/The devil himself be seen/Saying matins at black midnight” (2185-2188). The Green Knight is a fairy, who resides in a parody of a church. His pagan figure contrasts sharply with this characterization of Gawain, who is strongly connected with his Christian faith. Gawain is also a foil to the Green Knight in that Gawain epitomizes courtly manners, whereas the Green Knight lacks courtesy. He traipses into Camelot and acts as though he cannot tell Arthur is king (224-231), and later refers to the courtiers as “beardless children” (280), showing a great lack of manners. Later, as Sir Bertilak is hosting Gawain, it seems that the Green Knight does actually possess courtesy. However, boarding Gawain is revealed to be a part of a grand scheme to shame prideful knights of the Round Table (2456-2459). The illegitimacy of his courtesy toward Gawain shows that the Green Knight lacks the honesty attributed to truly courteous knights. The Green Knight, a pagan figure that shuns the manners of the court, is inverted by the character of Gawain, who epitomizes honorable knighthood in this

He appears with no armor to shield him from feeling the world, in fact his green appearance, though brawny in description, does contain undertones of green passivity. He is neither depicted as spiritual blue, nor warm emotional yellow, rather the fusion of the two, devilish green. To live in a state of uncertainty is the antithesis of mid-evil chivalry. It is a knights’ duty to know his place in society and to whom he serves, not to think or feel therefore when Gawain asks the Green Knight for instructions to find his home, the Knight gives no formal address, rather an experiential response. He says “If I tell you true, when I have taken your knock… you shall hear straightaway of my house and home and my own name” (398-399). This statement forces Gawain to live in the reality and emotion of the moment rather then set out on his quest upon social consequences.