Sir Gawain and The Green Knight
Text Analysis: Passages 203-278
Summary
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes place early in the career
of King Arthur. Young and
naive, Arthur presides over a court that has great wealth and few problems.
The Green Knight is a mysterious and magical character who presents a
challenge to the pride and wealth of Arthur's kingdom.
However, this challenge is not to the battle-strength of Arthur's court,
but to its values.
The Green Knight disrupts a Christmas celebration taking place in Camelot,
and offers a contest: an exhange of ax-strokes. Gawain takes
up the contest and chops off the head of the Green Knight who survives
through magical means. Gawain sets forth to accept the
return blow which is to take place a year and one day from the first.
While Gawain is searching for the Green Knight's chapel, he is taken in by
a great lord named Bercilak who puts Gawain's honesty and integrity to the test.
In parrying Bercilak's wife's attempts at seduction with
gentlemanly skill, Gawain passes this moral test.
Finally, we discover that the lord is in fact the Green Knight
himself. Instead of being killed at the Green Knight's hands,
Gawain returns
to Arthur's court with a green girdle: representative of Gawain's only
failure. By accepting the girdle from Bercilak's wife and not surrendering
it as the wager demanded, Gawain fails in his promise. With
love for his own life as his only failure, Bercilak and Arthur
find little fault with Gawain, and Gawain's reputation as the most
virtuous of the Knights of the Round Table remains unblemished.
The following analysis is of a passage early in the story. The Green Knight
has just made an impressive entrance into Arthur's court, and is ready to
issue his challenge.
Passage Synopsis:
Passages 203-207:
The Green Knight is on his horse in Arthur’s court, and his appearance is being described. He is not wearing
battle-gear, and has no armor or shield for defense. He is holding a holly bob which is a symbol of peace.
Passages 208-220:
He is carrying one weapon: a huge green ax. Many lines are used to describe this awesome looking ax. It’s wound with
iron and lace, and tassels and buttons of bright green hang from it.
Passage 221-232:
The Green Knight rather rudely ignores all the guests and goes directly to look for Arthur, referring to him as "The
captain of this crowd." (225)
Passage 232-249:
The character of the Green Knight is so strange with his green outfit, green
skin, and green horse that the entire court is in awe. They have no idea
what to make
of him and think he could be a phantom or faerie. They are so wonder-struck
as to be "slipped into sleep, so slackened their
speech" (Norton, 244). Everyone in the court waits for Arthur to speak first, some out of dread, but some also out of courtesy.
Passage 250-278:
Arthur, who doesn't appear to be afraid, greets the knight with courteous words as if nothing is amiss. The Green Knight
hails Arthur with somewhat rude words—"the praise of you, prince, is puffed up so high" (Norton, 258)—and comments on the great
renown of Arthur’s court. He assures Arthur that he has not come for battle, "by the branch that I bear in hand" (Norton, 265), and by the fact
that he is not dressed in battle gear. He says he is there for a "game," i.e., some kind of contest. Arthur responds
that if a "contest bare you crave, You shall not fail to fight" (Norton, 277-278), and calls him "Sir courteous knight" (Norton, 276). While sounding
somewhat facetious, it is more likely that Arthur is following a code of formal speech.
Here, Arthur is telling the Green Knight that his court will not back down and will respond to any challenge the
knight wishes to offer.
Difficult Language
Line 203: "no helm, nor hauberk":
A hauberk is a medieval coat of armor, usually of chain mail.
Line 204: "nor appurtenance":
An appurtenance is apparatus or equipment, i.e., accessories. It refers to the fact that the Green Knight is wearing
no battle-gear.
Line 210: "The head on its haft was an ell long":
An ell is a measurement equal to approximately an arm’s length. Another definition says it is a
former English unit of measure equal to 45 inches.
Line 214: "Stout was the stave":
A stave is a stick or a staff, in this case, the staff of the Green Knight's ax.
Line 270: "And other weapons to wield, I ween well":
Ween means to "think, to suppose, to imagine." In this context, it means "I believe," as in: "I have other weapons to wield, I believe."
Important Symbols
- The Green Knight is holding a holly bob. Holly, an evergreen, is a pagan symbol used by Christians to
celebrate Christmas. An evergreen was brought into the house on the winter solstice as a sign
that greenery, i.e. spring, will come again. In this context, the holly bob is used by the Green Knight as a symbol of his peaceful
intentions.
- That the story begins on Christmas and ends on New Year’s is also significant. As holy days, they are a symbol of the
portentous nature of the actions that are taking place.
-
The Green Knight himself is a symbol. With every article of
clothing, skin, and hair colored green, he is reminiscent of a
fertility god, perhaps related to wall paintings of The Green Man still
found today in English churches.
Citations
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