Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Courtly Love Analysis

The conventions of courtly love are both upheld and broken in Part III of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The four prominent components of courtly love include: tokens, concealment, servitude, and imprisonment. They are adhered to and broken by Gawain and the lady when they are alone together in the castle, as well as when Gawain and the lord discuss their daily winnings with each other. Under the rules of courtly love Gawain should have given the lady a token in order to show his admiration for her, so that she would be able to look at the trinket and be reminded of him. The lady asks Gawain to give her a token, but he says that, “a love-token...is of little avail” (1805, 57). Gawain’s action shows how he did not conform to one of the conventions of courtly love by not giving the lady a token. This tradition is broken a second time when the lady decides to “give [Gawain] [her] girdle” (1828, 58). Even though this belt will protect his Gawain’s life, the act of him accepting this token demonstrates how the convention of a male figure giving the female figure a trinket is broken.
However, the tradition of concealment and secrecy is upheld, particularly pertaining to the girdle. After the lady presents Gawain with the token, she “[beseeches] him for her sake to conceal it well” (1862, 59) because she wants to keep her admiration
He asks the lady “[do] [you] permit your prisoner to rise” (1219, 44), upholding the fact that he is her captive. By Gawain referring to himself as her “prisoner”, he is allowing the lady to have command of him. The lady also abides by this tradition by showing her authoritative control of Gawain. She responds to Gawain’s question by commanding that “[he] shall not rise from [his] bed” (1223, 44). This imbalance of power demonstrates how Gawain plays the role of being the lady’s prisoner in the game of courtly love as he has less power than