The Green Knight

Sir Gawain: the portrayal of a transforming hero

The Romance poem Sir Gawian and the Green Knight, a high Middle-Aged poem composed in the late 14th century, has a Celtic setting with the characteristics of medieval life. In this poem, the hero shows the typical chivalric features of Anglo Saxon heroes, for instance bravery, loyalty, courage and humility. Furthermore, it involves an internal and external journey that the hero must undergo. It this essay I will state and explain how Sir Gawain is portrayed as a hero.

In this poem the typical chivalric features of Anglo Saxon heroes are seen in the shield Gawain is dressed in and in Gawain’s characteristics as a hero. First, the two-sided shield shows a mixture and clash of two cultures and religions, the Christian and the Pagan. On the inside, there is an image of the Virgin Mary, a Christian element. On the outside, there is a pentangle or endless knot, a pagan element. This pentangle reflects Gawain’s moral, physical and spiritual perfection. Each one of the five points represents a set of Gawain’s virtues: friendship, fraternity, purity, politeness and pity. The first two sets deal with his physical perfection: his five senses and his five fingers. The following two, deal with his spiritual perfections, his fidelity set up in the five wounds of Christ. The fifth represents the five joys of the Virgin Mary: annunciation, nativity, resurrection, ascension and assumption. At the end of the poem we see that one of the lessons that Gawain learns is to come to terms with imperfection, meaning that nobody is perfect, we are mere humans.

“[…] through the Green Knight's tests, we see that Gawain is not the perfect knight he strives to be. Neither we, nor the Green Knight, nor his fellow Knights of the Round Table hold him to this standard of perfection. […] We know he remains true until his fear of death overcomes him. All this proves he is only human. Yet Gawain only sees that he has been inconsistent in upholding the chivalric code, and this means failure to him. This is an indication of the standard Gawain has set for himself, and we see why he has the reputation he has. Despite all that has happened, Gawain is still a loyal, noble, honest and courteous knight.”[1]

Along the poem we are able to acknowledge Gawain’s characteristics as a hero. Gawain is loyal to his king and to his knight’s title when the Green Knight presents the challenge and none of the other knights offer themselves to accept the challenge: “I stake my claim. / This moment must be mine.” This is an undeniable evidence of his courage and bravery as the Green Knight was presented as “a mountain of a man, immeasurably high, / a hulk of a human from head to hips, “ and a fearless one “Quite simply he stands there […], his face without fear, “. Additionally, Gawain is introduces as a humble and modest hero by sacrificing his life instead of Arthur’s life: “loss of my life would be grieved the least. / Were I not your nephew my life would mean nothing; / to be born of your blood is my body’s only claim.”

Sir Gawain, an adolescent knight, has to undergo a journey that will imply two changes, an external one and an internal one. As an external one, at the beginning of the poem we deduce that Sir Gawain is very young and probably an adolescent since this poem is placed in King Arthur’s reign, and it is known that King Arthur was a very young king: “He [King Arthur] brimmed with ebullience, being almost boyish / in his love of life, and what he liked the least / was to sit still watching the seasons slip by.” Plus we know that he belongs to the high class and that he is an important person in the court of King Arthur. He is the nephew of the King and he is seated next to Guinevere: “Good Sir Gawain is seated by Guinevere / and at Arthur’s other side sits Agravain the Hard Hand, / both nephews of the king and notable knights.” At the end of the poem, we see that this journey helped Gawain mature.

So as to reflect his rite of passage in an internal change, Sir Gawain needs to be taught and pushed to a journey of maturity and the character that portrays this kind of paternal figure is the Green Knight, who helps Sir Gawain to grow, to mature and to learn about himself. The Green Knight helps Sir Gawain by presenting the challenge. At the beginning, Gawain thinks that he is weak: “I am the weakest of your warriors and feeblest of wit”. At the end, after going through the temptations and exchanges, Sir Gawain learns a lesson, he is able to come to terms with himself, realizing and accepting the idea of not being perfect, the he is also human. With this journey, parts of Gawain will die, symbolizing his rebirth, by the Green Knight’s absolution. ““The harm which you caused me is wholly healed. / By confessing your failings you are free from fault / and have openly paid penance at the point of my axe. / I declare you purged, as polished and as pure / as the day you were born, without blemish or blame.”” He is not naïve anymore; he acknowledges a truth that he did not know: That the Green Knight was Lord Bertilak: “Here in my homelands they call me Bertilak de Hautdesert.”, and the identity of Morgan: “And in my manor lives the mighty Morgan le Fay, […] So that ancient woman who inhabits my home / is also your aunt – Arthur’s half sister,”. Additionally, she was the one who settled in motion everything: ““She guided me in this guise to your great hall / to put pride on trial, and to test with this trick […] She imagined this mischief would muddle your minds”.”

To sum up, this poem clearly details how Sir Gawain changes internally with the help of the three temptations, exchanges and blows that form the challenge. To do so, Sir Gawain was presented as an adolescent in mind. Likewise, the poem shows that Sir Gawain is true to the chivalric code of that time, from beginning to end.

Bibliografía

• Armitage, Simon. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A new verse translation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007.

• Kim Neininger. “A Character Analysis of Sir Gawain as Presented In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” (1996) http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj2b/gawain.html [13 June 2013]

----------------------- [1] Kim Neininger. “A Character Analysis of Sir Gawain as Presented In Sir Gawain and The Green Knight” (1996) http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/proj2b/gawain.html [13 June 2013]