In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the characters experience many of the elements of fairy world and the supernatural. Although the characters often fall victim to the fairy world, the characters cannot realize the impact of the supernatural elements around them. By the Green Knight covering himself with nature elements, tricking the characters into a game, and using magic, the characters unknowingly involve themselves in a battle against fairy world. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight exposes elements of the fairy world to Arthur’s court by his appearance, trickery, and magical actions.
The Green Knight’s appearance hints that he belongs to the fairy world. The Green Knight stood “a mountain of a man, immeasurably high,
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a hulk or a human from head to hips, so long and thick in his loins and his limbs” (137). With his monstrous stature, the narrator admits, “I should genuinely judge him to be a half giant, or a most massive man, the mightiest of mortals” (139). Standing well above all other men, the Green Knight’s stature reveals an element of the supernatural. The court stood in awe as they surveyed his completely green appearance: “Amazement seized their minds. No soul had ever seen A knight of such a kind - Entirely emerald green.” (147) Riding in on his green horse, the men noticed his intricate, nature designs on his clothing: “All the details of his dress are difficult to describe, embroidered as it was with butterflies and birds, green beads emblazoned on a background of gold” (165). Shocked by his gargantuan, green, and gilded appearance, the court stared at the Green Knight in amazement: The Guests looked on. They gaped and they gawked And were mute with amazement: what did it mean That human and horse could develop this hue, Should grow to be grass-green or greener still, Like green enamel emboldened by bright gold? (232) Quieted by their awe, the narrator says, “they’d seen some sights, but this was something special, a miracle or magic, or so they imagined” (239). By seeing his magical stature, skin, and clothing, Arthur’s court encountered a different world when the Green Knight entered the celebration. When Arthur begged for a tale “like the action-packed epics” (95), his court would have never guessed they would fall victim to the fairy world’s tendency of trickery.
Arthur’s, a king “honored above all” (26), reputation as a legendary king makes him vulnerable to a fault. When the Green Knight asks, “and who…is the governor of this gaggle?” (224), the Green Knight questions the strength of King Arthur’s kingship and court.. The Green Knight says, “Since courtesy, so it’s said, is championed here, I’m intrigued, and attracted to your door at this time” (263). For the Green Knight looks for the honorable men he has heard of, all he sees “are just bum-fluffed barins” (280). The great leader’s reputation has been questioned and dishonored; therefore, he becomes enraged by the Green Knight’s ludicrous assumptions: “Their leader saw red. Blood flowed to his fine-feature face and he raged inside” (316). Although the king finds the invitation to the beheading game “quite insane” (323), King Arthur agrees to the game: “No warrior worth his salt would be worried by your words, so in heaven’s good name hand over the axe and I’ll happily fulfill the favor you ask” (326). King Arthur and his court may not understand as the time, but the Green Knight has tricked them into the game. Using his knowledge of their reputation, the Green Knight often ridicules the knights’ courage, strength, and courtesy. By mocking the King’s most prized retinue, the Green Knight has persuaded and tricked …show more content…
Arthur into agreeing to the beheading game. By using trickery and jokes, the Green Knight demonstrates the elements of fairy world to Arthur’s court. Once Sir Gawain takes an ax to the Green Knight’s head, the court truly realizes the supernatural elements of the magical knight.
Standing by his King and word, Gawain “grips the axe and heaves it heavenwards, plats his left foot firmly on the floor in front, then swings it swiftly towards the bare skin” (421). With a smooth strike to the neck, Gawain beheads the Green Knight and “the handsome head tumbles onto the earth and king’s men kick it as is clatters past” (427). In victory, the court disrespects the knight by toying with his decapitated head. To the court’s surprise, the Green
Knight: Doesn’t shudder or stagger or sink But trudges towards them on those tree-truck legs And rummages around, reaches at their feet And cops hold of his head and hoisted it high, And strides to his steed, snatches the bridle, Steps into the stirrup and swings into the saddle Still gripping his head by a handful of hair. (430) The court may have thought they defeated the Green Knight, but to their surprise, the Green Knight’s decapitated head warns Sir Gawain: “be wise enough to keep your word” (448). A once confident court turns anxious when seeing the truly magical tendencies of the amputated Green Knight. Although the Green Knight uses elements of the fairy world to trick the court, Arthur’s court pledges liability in the knight’s beheading game. By his green and gilded nature elements, the Green Knight’s appearance hinted at his fairy elements. Using the reputation of Arthur’s court against the men, the Green Knight tricks the men into the challenge. Once Sir Gawain enters into the seemingly harmless competition, the court soon realizes the Green Knight uses his magical elements to remain in the game. By showing his mystical appearance, affinity of trickery, and magical supremacies, the Green Knight exposes the elements of fairy world to King Arthur’s court.
Sir Gawain steps in to take the challenge after King Arthur first agrees to participate himself. Sir Gawain wants to bring honor to Arthur and asks permission to take his place. Gawain knows that he is not the strongest, smartest knight but the loss of his life would not be as bad as if King Arthur loses his life. King Arthur agrees to let him enter this game and gives him a weapon to use against this Green Knight. King Arthur says to Sir Gawain, "Keep, cousin what you cut with this day, and if you rule it aright, then readily, I know you shall stand the stroke it will strike after." (372-374) Gawain, with his weapon in his hand, is now ready to take part in the game.
A mysterious knight shows up at the king’s castle and calls himself the Green Knight. The Green Knight then challenges one to play a game which he challenges the king to strike him with his axe if he will take a return hit in a year and a day. Sir Gawain steps forward to accept the challenge for his uncle King Arthur when nobody else in the castle would. He took the King’s role in the game to protect him from the Green Knight. He must learn to accept his responsibility as a knight, in accepting his fate.
The poet spends most of the next three stanzas describing the Green Knight in detail; first, we learn of his clothing, trimmed in fur and embroidery, all green and gold. Then we learn that the horse he rides, the saddle, and the stirrups are all green. The man's long hair matches that of the horse, and he has a great, thick beard, also green.
Of all the themes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the one which stood out the most to me was that of deception. With the Green Knight, the “evil” and Sir Gawain, the “good”, we see both forces partake in deceptive practices to achieve the desired outcome they sought. Throughout the poem, Sir Gawain’s moral compass was constantly being tested with deception being used to gage his level of loyalty, morality, and chivalry. The “game” that the Green Knight was hell bent on playing was not an honest one. He utilized a host of deceptions to gain the results that he sought after—there was little to no room for error with him. First, he presented a challenge in which he alone knew that he would not perish. When he asked for a volunteer to strike him with the ax, the Green Knight
He observes the progress of one’s journey and listens to people’s prayers. Similarly, the Green Knight secretly watches Sir Gawain through a disguise – Lord Bertilak. By disguising himself, the Green Knight could continue to test Sir Gawain’s faith by initiating another agreement. Unaware of the Green Knight’s presence, Sir Gawain is continually examined to discover the truth to his fidelity. Initially, Sir Gawain faces stressful and challenging experiences along his trek to the Green Chapel. Alone and enveloped by harsh winter’s cold, he “prays for God’s grace to save him” (Champion 418). Luckily, Sir Gawain’s prayers are heard when he uncovered Lord Bertilak’s castle amongst the woods. By humbly inviting Sir Gawain into the castle, pleas for safety and shelter from harsh conditions are answered, a depiction of God’s (the Green Knight’s) grace. Nonetheless, Sir Gawain’s hardships do not cease, but in fact, they continue to fall and weigh upon his shoulders. Once again, Sir Gawain partakes in another agreement, involving the exchanging of winnings. Human faith is yet again being tested, and once more fails to succeed. The affection of Lady Bertilak is arranged by the Green Knight himself as another test; however, Sir Gawain “fell short a little . . . and lacked fidelity” (Winny 4.2366). Fear of death encourages Sir Gawain to submit to greed. In order to continue living, he wears the Green Knight’s
The story begins during the New Year's feast in King Arthur's court. Then a green knight enters asking all of the knights in the court if they would like to play a game. The game is he will allow which ever knight that chooses to challenge him one swing with a battle ax to try and chop off his head, but in order to play the game, the accepting knight must meet the green knight one year later at the green chapel. The brave knight Sir Gawain accepts to the challenge of the green knight. Sir Gawain takes one swing and chops off the head of the green knight. Right after the green knight's head is chopped off he gets up immediately, picks up his head and leaves. Once a year passes, Gawain sets off on a journey to find the Green Chapel. He arrives at a castle in which a lord welcomes him to stay for several days (Gawain only needs to stay there for three). The next morning the lord makes an agreement to share everything he gets during these three days with Gawain, but Gawain must agree to do the same. During days one and two the lord's wife tries hitting on Gawain, but he only allows her to give him a few kisses. At these days Gawain shares what he got to the lord for what he has hunted those days. On the third day, Gawain finally accepts to take a magic girdle from the lord's wife, but he didn't share it with the lord. This magic girdle helped Gawain survive the three fatal swing's of the green giant's ax, only leaving him with a little nick. After Gawain survives these 3 swings at his neck, the green knight then reveals his identity and explains that he is Bercilak, the lord of the castle. He also said that the three blows were taken at him in regards to the three days of their agreement.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes its protagonist, the noble Gawain, through
To establish the knight as worthy, the author first shows Gawain’s loyalty to his king. The Green Knight challenges anyone in the hall to the beheading game and no one takes him up on it. Arthur, angered by the Green Knight’s taunting, is about to accept the challenge himself when Gawain steps in saying "would you grant me this grace" (Sir Gawain, l. 343), and takes the ax from Arthur. This is a very convenient way for the author to introduce Gawain and also to show Gawain’s loyalty to Arthur, but it seems almost too convenient. There i...
Dissimilar to King Arthur’s opulent and boyish description, the Green Knight appears earthly, like an overgrown lumberjack in a debutante ball. His very entrance to the narrative aims to shatter Camelot’s superficial relationship with earthly trials. While Arthur seeks pleasure in hearing tales “of some fair feat” (92), the Green Knight undermines all formality known to be chivalrous challenging the king to a life risking game. With a “broad neck to buttocks” (137), (opposed to Arthur’s’ court depicted in the ever regal color red,) the Knight is clothed in green, the color of nature. He appears with no armor other then his faith, merely a utilitarian woodsman’s ax. While Green Knight is described like an animal who is said to have “wagged his beard” (306) yet understands the cyclical nature of life and truth of mans futility, it is only after Sir Gawain proclaims his lack of strength (though he says it at that point as a matter of chivalry) that he is able to ...
As this mythical poem begins readers are quickly introduced to the pinnacle of this “pyramid of power”, the king and queen. King Arthur and his “full beauteous” wife Queen Guinevere were “set in the midst, placed on the rich dais adorned all about” (Neilson 3). During this time, royal monarchs often hosted large illustrious gatherings in order to display their wealth, prestige and power. This display of rank is evident when the all powerful “King Arthur and the other knights watch approvingly as Sir Gawain advances” to take the place of his cherished king and accept the Green Knights challenge (Swanson 1). Randy Schiff further clarifies the difference between kings and knights in medieval times when he states, “ Displaying his mastery of courtly deference, Gawain in “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” publicly defines himself through kinship, telling Arthur that he is praiseworthy only “for as much” as Arthur is his “em” (uncle)”(1). In the fourteenth century feudal system the top ranking social class position belong to the king and the queen.
Individuals in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. 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. The greatest part of these studies have involved the middle-English text Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
The Green Knight begins to mock the court; and then boldly, King Arthur accepts his challenge. Sir Gawain realizes that this should not be the king’s responsibility for there are others present worthy of the challenge including him. Symbolically, this scene can be seen as a Christian standing up for what he believes in. Gawain says, “I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest;/ And the loss of my life would be least of any; (354-355). Here, Gawain humbles himself before his lord, just as a Christian should in prayer to God.
Weiss, Victoria L. "Gawain's First Failure: The Beheading Scene in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"" Penn State University Press 10.4 (1976): 361-66. JSTOR. Web. 11 Sept. 2013
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight fit in with the concept of a romance; it has all the elements that would make one consider the text as so. The tale holds adventure, magic, a quest and an unexpected reality check that even those who are considered “perfect” are also just humans. The author used this story as a way of revealing faults in some of the aspects of knighthood through the use of intertwining chivalric duty with natural human acts; thus showing to be perfectly chivalrous would be inhuman.
The narrative artistry of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight can be attributed to the fundamental elements of chivalric life and the exploration of classic mythological elements that allows the narrative to bridge the gap between Christianity and Paganism, and allow its readers to find their own spiritual interpretation with in the text.