Animal Symbology in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Lais

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the Lais of Marie de France, the authors use animals as metaphors for human actions, and as characters. By analyzing the use of these animals, we are able to explore the meaning the authors were trying to communicate through specific scenes. The Book of Beasts, a translation by T.H. White (1984 ed.), provides a medieval standpoint when analyzing the use of animals in the Lais and in Gawain.

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, there is specific use of three animals as metaphors for human actions. These animals are the deer, boar, and fox. When Gawain rests with the Lord and Lady on his way to battle with the Green Knight, we see three hunting scenes, which coincide with three seduction, or flirting, scenes. During these hunts, the Lord of the manor kills three animals. The first is the deer. White's translation states that the deer, or the stag, can be used as a metaphor for Christians. The author felt that deer were able to eat snakes for medicinal purposes, and thus shed their old skin. This ability makes them like Christians in that when they eat up the devil, or sin, and then they are able to confess or shed their sins. The Lady, who is compared to a snake with the "s" alliteration, tempts Gawain. He refuses her advances at this point in the story, but later, he feels he must confess for taking her sash, thus shedding his sins.

The next hunt results in the boar. The Book of Beasts, states that boars are wild and brutish, thus when someone is called boorish it refers to the nature of a boar. In the seduction scene, the Lady becomes impatient and somewhat rude. She is trying to force Gawain into a relationship by saying he is mean for not teaching her what he knows, and for leading ...

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...t speak to her lover only through the window of her room. At night, she would go to her window while she thought her husband was sleeping, claiming that the song of the nightingale kept her awake. After the nightingale is killed by the husband, the lord keeps the body with him always as a sign of devotion to the lady.

Marie de France's use of animals in her lais is molded and adjusted to fit her needs. She creates metaphors relating to love and love relationships that were not mentioned in the Christian based Book of Beasts. However, the Gawain author appears to have kept true to the type of descriptions and natures of the animals in White's translation. Both authors were able to use animals to express specific features of human emotions and relationships, furthering our understanding of the nature of temptation, love and relationships in the medieval period.