Power In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Gawain and the Green Knight is a about Gawain proving himself to be one of the knights as well as being a role model for the other knights in King Arthur's court. One day, the Green Knight came in at a banquet asking people who are daring enough to give him a knick on the neck. Due to this, King Arthur was going to volunteer himself to do that since he is the king of the court. Instead, Gawain volunteered himself to give the Green Knight the knick on the neck, only to completely decapitate the Green Knight. When Gawain decapitates the Green Knight, he has to search for him for a year and day to prove himself to be a worthy knight.

Later in the story, Gawain met a Lord of a castle who invites Gawain to stay with him, to which Gawain replied,

Though her powers are that she is the wife of Bertilak, so she does have some direct power within her hands through her noble status. The girdle that she offered Gawain contains magic, although it’s not like her husband’s magic, but it proves to be something just as powerful. In the text, it mentions,

“For the body which is bound within this green belt, as long as it is buckled robustly about him,

Will be safe against anyone who seeks to strike him.” (766) Her other powers would also include being a smooth talker, which she would need to ask Gawain questions and make him answer. That way, if he doesn’t comply with her, then his chivalry is on the line. Lady Bertilak’s sexuality seems to be the most noticeable of her powers since she can seduce someone to test how worthy they are to be a knight.

As for the women in the middle ages, they probably didn’t have many powers. From the poem, there weren’t many qualities that stood out for Lady Bertilak to list the powers that she had to control others. In the end, it’s basically her husband making her do the things she is doing. Her power in the story is basically using her stereo typical womanly powers of talking and seducing men in order to gain control of