Gawain: Masculinity vs. Homoeroticism

Anum Zindani
English Literature
March 28, 2011
Gawain: Masculinity vs. Homoerotism
In the romance Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain shows his masculinity by standing up for his king, King Arthur, and showing his knightly chivalric virtues. What exactly the audience does not know or some even may know is that in addition to those duties, male sexual performance was a major key to being male (Bullough). It was part of their duty to keep their female partners happy and satisfied, unless they did so, they failed as men. Thus, how did Sir Gawain retain his masculine identity while abstaining from sex? While Beowulf’s heroism stems from his physical courage and his attack on horrendous monsters, Gawain’s heroism arises from appearing elegant, beauteous, and showing chivalric virtues.
Sir Gawain was surrounded by father figures his whole life which created a superego that required Gawain to repress his sexual desires toward women, according to Sigmund Freud (Griffiths). During that time, these father figures were testing his ability, if he really was worthy of becoming a courtly knight by abstaining from sex. Therefore, the only way Gawain could accomplish and maintain his masculine identity was to show that he really could abstain from sexual activities and appear elegant. As the poem unravels, we perceive Gawain exchanging kisses with the Lord’s wife, and the Lord, and we begin to question if Gawain actually appears to be homoerotic or is he simply returning the kisses from Lord’s wife. As we further read the poem in Norton Anthology of English Literature, we see that Gawain was simply returning the kisses to the Lord from his wife because he felt that was the right thing to do. Since this poem was written in the fourteenth century, the kisses exchanged with the king may or may not be erotic kisses as Gawain was simply returning the kisses to the Lord from his wife and was not actually in love with him. There is no question of homoeroticism in Sir Gawain as homoeroticism means that there is a tendency to be aroused by the same member of the same sex, which was not evident in Sir Gawain’s situation.
We observe Sir Gawain’s masculinity in the beginning of the poem where he, alone, stands up for King Arthur, while the other knights are watching above him. As quoted from the Norton Anthology of English Literature, Gawain says, “When such a boon is begged before all these knights” (Greenblatt 169). During this time, when Gawain speaks to the King, he says, “That you have many bold men, but none arise from their seat to fight with the knight, and I, who is among the weakest of them all, will stand up for you as I know very well that no one will benefit from the loss of my life” (Greenblatt 169). At this point, we see that although Gawain is weak, he immensely cares for his king and will do anything for him. This, however, represents Gawain’s true masculinity as he was so chivalrous that he received a pentangle which consisted of the five knightly virtues that should be present in all knights. This pentangle on Gawain’s shield signified his perfection and power over evil.
A year later when the Green Knight had left Gawain to prepare for his voyage to search for him, the father figures devise some restraint to prevent Gawain from engaging in any of his sexual desires. However, when the poem unravels towards the end, we see Gawain returning kisses to the Lord from the Lady. Dinshaw emphasizes this idea that Gawain was not homoerotic as if he was, then he would have had sex with the Lady and hence with the Lord, but we see that he tried to suppress his sexual desires in front of the Lady: “If Gawain had succumbed fully to the lady’s seduction and if he had honored the terms of his promise to the lord he would in fact have had to have sex with the lord—to yield his winnings, that is, his sexual conquest, in his own body, just as he has done with the kisses he received” (Dinshaw, 206). Gawain was simply returning the kisses to the Lord because they were rules for the game. The Lord says that the rules for the game are that whatever one gains in a day must be given to the other person in return. Therefore, when the Lord gives the deer to Gawain on the first night, he simply returns him the kisses as that’s all he gained during the day. As much as anyone would like to say that Gawain was homoerotic, we cannot. He did not accept anything from the Lady except the green silk girdle because the Lady had insisted upon it and said that it will protect him in his battle with the Green Knight. Dinshaw explains how Gawain’s kisses with the Lord are not homoerotic: “It is certainly true that innocent kisses often occur between men at moments of heightened emotion in late Middle English texts—just kisses, as when Arthur and his court regretfully kiss Gawain goodbye as he sets out on his journey” (Dinshaw 210). This piece of evidence illustrates on Gawain’s character for exchanging kisses with the Lord as he was merely following the rules for the game. Since the word “homosexual” was not discovered in the fourteenth century, it is very unlikely to say that Gawain was homoerotic.
The three hunting scenes that occur during this time in the poem show Gawain’s resistance to the Lady in bed. With the deer, he faints and pretends to sleep as if he wants to avoid her at all cost. The second day, he is more aggressive in his attempt to stop and finally on the last day, he acts clever, like the fox and tries to avoid her. Skipping to the ending of the poem, we see The Green Knight exchange strokes to Gawain three times. The Green Knight explains that the first two ax strokes represent the first two days of the game, when Gawain faithfully gives everything to the Lord he won that day. For the third day, Gawain gives back everything except for the girdle that the Lady had given him for his protection and as a result, he is punished by the slight scrape on his neck. However, the Lord still praises him and says that he is the finest man alive for resisting his sexual desires toward the Lady, despite the fact she is so pretty. The Green Knight says that Gawain is not castrated. Nonetheless, Gawain is ashamed of himself for the one failure. Even when the Lord urges him to keep the girdle and explains that this was all a plot done by Morgan le Fay to shock Guinevere to death by the staged beheading, Gawain insists on going back to Camelot.
Thus, as noted by Dinshaw, Gawain was not homoerotic as he was simply returning the kisses to the Lord because it was part of the game and at heightened emotions, such as the hunting scenes; the kisses were merely innocent and non-homoerotic.
As previously stated, being a male or showing masculinity required men to be involved in a sexual performance. The Lady in Sir Gawain places the emphasis on “the courtly, gentility side, making a knight’s achievements as a warrior depends upon his duty as a lover” (Prior 96). Prior says that for men to be masculine, they must show love to their ladies, and hence the Lady in Sir Gawain attempts to seduce him. Nevertheless, Gawain resists her as he knows what his father figures had told him, that the only way he can become a courtly knight and be masculine is to repress all his sexual desires for women.
Throughout his life, Gawain has been taught by his father figures that in order to maintain masculine identity as a courtly knight, he needs to learn how to repress his sexual desires. If Gawain loses his control, then he will be reduced from a courtly knight to a common man who only thinks about pleasing his sexual desires. At the end, when Gawain almost loses his control, he feels ashamed of himself and believes he is a coward. Just then, the Green Knight explains that he is not castrated. By proving to himself and to the Green Knight that he can control his sexual desires, Sir Gawain retains his masculinity; he is indeed a man.

Works Cited
Bullough, Vern L. "On Being a Male in the Middle Ages."
Medieval Masculinities: Regarding Men in the Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures; 7.
Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1994.

Dinshaw, Carolyn. "A Kiss is just A Kiss: Heterosexuality and its Consolations in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Critical Crossings 24.2 (1994): 206-10. Print.

Griffiths, Fred. "A Psychoanalytic Approach to the Question of Masculinity in
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Introduction. Lumination:
Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Anniina Jokinen. Luminarium
Through Express, 30 Apr. 1997. Web. 31 Mar. 2011. <http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/masculin.htm>.

Prior, Sandra Pierson. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Pearl Poet Revisted.
New York: Twayne Publishers, 1994. PR1972 .G353 P75. 96-97. Print.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed.
Stephen Greenblatt and M.H. Abrams. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, Inc., 2006. 169-203. Print. 3 vols.