What Is The Parallel Between Gawain And The Green Knight

Throughout Gawain and the Green Knight, we as readers are presented with many symmetrical elements. The poem is filled with balance, contrast, and antithesis. These literary devices help to make the story interesting for readers, but also have significance to the character of Gawain himself. In this essay, I will explore some of the deeper meaning of a few parallels presented in Gawain and the Green Knight; such as Gawain’s shield and the green girdle, the temptation scenes, and a few miscellaneous parallels.

There are two parts to Gawain’s journey during the poem. The first, in which he leaves Arthur’s court (536-569), and the second, from when he leaves Bercilak’s castle in search of the green chapel (2011-2041). In the earlier scene Gawain seems indifferent to the fate that he is about to incur asking his comrades, “Why should I tarry? In destinies sad or merry, true men can but try.”(562-565); the scene ends with a description of his shield. The second passage, however, ends in a very different way with a description of the green girdle that Gawain wears “to keep himself safe” (2040). The girdle in essence becomes a contrasting

In both scenes we see a reference to the siege ending in Troy (1 &2525). The first scene opens up the story while the last serves as a way to bring the action to a close and return to normalcy. When the Green Knight enters into Arthur’s court he is holding both a holy bob and an axe (206-208). These items are directly parallel to each other; the holy bob representing an everlasting life as it is the only thing still living in the winter, and the axe representing certain death as it is a weapon used to introduce men to their mortality. These items serve to foreshadow the events that will eventually play out. Either Gawain will someone survive the axe swing and continue on his way, or he will be snuffed out by the sharp blade and meet his untimely