Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the poet depicts an entertaining story of adventure and intrigue. However, the poem is more than a grand adventure. It is an attempt to explore the moral ideals of Sir Gawain. Gawain's standards are represented by the pentangle on his shield. The depiction of the pentangle occurs when Sir Gawain is preparing to gear up for his quest for the Green Chapel. Gawain's outfit is described in great detail, including its color, makings, and apparel. His armor is meant to serve as a means of protecting his physical being. This shield has great spiritual values in the five-points of the pentangle. Representing the knight's physical being, the shield serves as a form of protection of the knight's inner soul. The attempt to maintain and balance his high religious values of the shield with his ideals of courtesy is the eventual cause of Gawain's downfall. The removal of Gawain's shield from his attire contributes to his downfall. Without the ideals of the pentangle protecting him he plummets into a world of turmoil.
Before Gawain's fall there is a combination of both virtues when Gawain, in search of the Green Chapel, prays for help on Christmas Eve. His language reveals his religious teachings and devotion:
..."I beseech of Thee, Lord,
And Mary, thou mildest mother so dear,
Some harborage where haply I might hear mass
And Thy matins tomorrow-meekly I ask it
And thereto proffer a...
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...g the symbolism of the pentangle on Gawains shield. Her observations show that the shield is actually a representation of the knight's soul.
8) Morgan, Gerald. "The Significance of the Pentangle Symbolism in Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight." Modern Language Review. 74 (1979): 769-790.
Morgan discusses each part of the pentangle in this article. Each part of the pentangle stands for an aspect of Gawains life.
9) Howard, Donald. Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Notre Dame:
Notre Dame Press, 1968.
This is a compiled work that presents several aspects of the poem. Each article offers a different view on the repersentation of certain symbols in the poem.
10) http://csis.pace.edu/grendel/projs2d/analpage.html.
This website provides a detailed character analysis of Gawain, giving insight into the meanings behind his actions.
...stops him from sleeping with Bertilak’s wife, only until his finds a way to avoid death does he goes against them. What Gawain learns from the green knight’s challenge is that instinctively he is just a human who is concerned with his own life over anything else. Chivalry does provide a valuable set of rules and ideals toward which one to strive for, but a person must remain aware of their own mortality and weaknesses. Sir Gawain’s flinching at the green knight’s swinging ax, his time in the woods using animal nature requiring him to seek shelter to survive and his finally accepting the wife’s gift of the girdle teaches him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error.
The pentangle symbolizes the five virtues of knights consisting of, generosity, friendship, courtesy, chastity, and piety. All of which Gawain is striving to adhere to due to his knightly obligation to the code of chivalry. Gawain alleges that all virtues are seamlessly interconnected in the man as in the geometric figure on the shield. Together with the amour, the shield seems to complete the visi...
In part four of this tale the theme that is advanced is chivalry, honor and human weakness. As Gawain goes to meet the Green Knight we get the feeling of dread by the authors description of the weather outside. It is bitterly cold and snowing. The wind is whipping around Gawain as he travels (115). The extreme weather reminds us that Gawain is going to face something just as ominous. As Gawain dresses for his meeting he binds his love token ( the green girdle) twice around his middle. He is somber as he prepares for his impending death. His sense of honor is what binds him to this meeting that will certainly be his death, so he thinks (117). Gawain is steadfast in his desire to fulfill his promise to meet the Green Knight.
VII. Gawain is placed in many different situations in which he must demonstrate that he does, in fact, possess the attributes of a worthy knight.
Sir Gawain is presented as a noble knight who is the epitome of chivalry; he is loyal, honest and above all, courteous. He is the perfect knight; he is so recognised by the various characters in the story and, for all his modesty, implicitly in his view of himself. To the others his greatest qualities are his knightly courtesy and his success in battle. To Gawain these are important, but he seems to set an even higher value on his courage and integrity, the two central pillars of his manhood.
Symbolism is used throughout literature to give deeper meaning to a variety of literary works. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight symbolism is seen through the actions of Sir Gawain against the trials he faces. The poem is first set during Christmas time at Camelot, showing that they were Christian for they were celebrating Christmas. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world. Symbolically, one can see Sir Gawain holding true to Christian values: first, by standing up for what he believes in; second, by staying true to a future mate; and thirdly by repenting from sins due to a broken promise.
Sir Gawain is, undoubtably, the most varied of the Arthurian characters: from his first minor appearance as Gwalchmei in the Welsh tales to his usually side-line participation in the modern retelling of the tales, no other character has gone from such exalted heights (being regarded as a paragon of virtue) to such dismal depths (being reduced to a borderline rapist, murderer, and uncouth bore), as he. This degree of metamorphosis in character, however, has allowed for a staggering number of different approaches and studies in Gawain.
Before Gawain departs for his journey to the Green Chapel, he is given a shield designed with a pentangle, an endless knot on the outside, on the inside was an image of the “Queen of Heaven found in her child” (l. 647), the Virgin Mary and her the child Jesus. The image of Mary and Jesus is a reminder of integrity, faithfulness, and purity the vital characteristics of being not only a knight, but also being one of God’s followers. He embarks on this journey with “his horse by forest and hill, And no one but God to talk to on the way” (l. 695-696). During this time, Sir Gawain prays to God for a place to celebrate Christmas mass. He prays to Mary and ends his prayer with a “Pater and Ave and Creed” (l. 757-758), which are The Lord’s Prayer, a Hail Mary, and the Apostles Creed. These prayers represents faith, charity, and hope. In general, this shows Sir Gawain is very religious due to the fact that he repeatedly prays and give thanks to
Gawain, nephew of the famed Arthur of the Round Table, is depicted as the most noble of knights in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Nonetheless, he is not without fault or demerit, and is certainly susceptible to conflict. Gawain, bound to chivalry, is torn between his knightly edicts, his courtly obligations, and his mortal thoughts of self-preservation. This conflict is most evident in his failure of the tests posed by the wicked Morgan le Fay. With devious tests of temptation and courage, Morgan is able to create a mockery of the courtly and knightly ideal, through Gawain's failure of these tests. By satirizing the effects of Gawain's inner conflicts, the unnamed Gawain poet reveals that even the best of men are innately selfish and subject to thoughts reprehensible to the chivalrous code.
In the anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the character of Sir Gawain is portrayed as the imperfect hero. His flaws create interest and intrigue. Such qualities of imperfection cannot be found in the symbol of the pentangle, which he displays on his shield. This contrast between character and symbol is exposed a number of times throughout the poem allowing human qualities to emerge from Gawain’s knightly portrayal. The expectations the pentangle presents proves too much for Gawain as he falls victim to black magic, strays from God, is seduced by an adulterous woman, and ultimately breaks the chivalric code by lying to the Green Knight.
The first symbol in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that I will discuss is Sir Gawain’s knightly shield. On Gawain’s shield is a pentangle, the five points on this pentangle represent the five virtues of the perfect knight; piety, friendship, generosity, chastity and courtesy. Each of the five virtues is tested on Gawain throughout the poem creating an emphasised importance on the shield’s representation and meaning. “Now alle þese fyue syþez, for soþe, were fetled on þis knyȝt, And vchone halched in oþer, þat non ende hade, And fyched vpon fyue poyntez, þat fayld neuer” (SGGK, 656-8). This quote tells of the pentangle’s design, how each line of the pentangles composition is endlessly linked to one another, suggesting that each virtue depends on th...
Sir Gawain's shield is a symbol with multiple meanings, offering both moral and physical protection. Through the display of the Pentangle and the Virgin Mary on his shield, Sir Gawain shows his belief in God and his trust in him. Each point on the Pentangle shows his virtues of free-giving, friendliness, chastity, chivalry, and piety. But also shows his five senses, five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, and the Five Joys. The Pentangle also shows that there is no beginning and no end. By the time Gawain thought it was over and he was going to die, it was...
Morgan, Gerald. "The Significance of the Pentangle Symbolism in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'." The Modern Language Review 1979: 769. JSTOR Journals. Web. 26 Jan. 2016.
While Gawain fails to accept the truth about his immoral identity, he also fails to maintain a sincere and truthful relationship with God. Camelot believes that Gawain is a perfectly chivalrous and Catholic knight, when in actuality he is an actor with an impure thought. Gawain is driven by selfish motives; he only considers what is best for him and as a result, uses God as a vehicle to get what he wants. Gawain acknowledges God when he desires comfort and “crosses himself, and cries on Christ in his great need,” of a castle (761-761). Likewise, Gawain prays when he wants protecting; his shield, decorated with the highly symbolic Pentangle and Virgin Mary, is the ultimate Holy accessory for his battle. Gawain only regards God when he is either wishing for comfort or for safety. Furthermore, Gawain strays from Catholicism completely by expecting the green sash to save him in the fight. Believing that the magical Pagan article will truly redeem him, demonstrates fear and proves Gawain lacks faith in God. Gawain lacks morals when abandoning Catholicism for a Pagan artifact, and when he does pray to God his spiritual motives are impure and
No matter where we go in the world, we will always be surrounded and tempted by sin. These temptations test our character and morality, and they prove that our human nature inherently causes us to fall to the sins that encompass us. Even though the world is a dark and immoral place to live, we all value our lives and are prepared to do almost anything to protect ourselves from harm’s way. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the green girdle serves as symbol that highlights Gawain’s incessant love for life that tempts him to stray from his knightly code of chivalry.