Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Virtues Analysis

David N. Beauregard sets out to explain two of the most famous allegorical symbols in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight while taking into account the medieval point of view in his “Moral Theology in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Pentangle, the Green Knight, and the Perfection of Virtue.” Beauregard uses medieval theologians and authors to put the romance into context and then proceeds to assess the pentangle and Green Knight in terms of medieval moral theology. He pulls from the medieval definition of perfection to state that the two symbols help “define perfection in terms of the virtues” (146). One of the symbols is highlight the connectedness of the virtues and the other highlights the perfect act of virtue.

To kick things off, Beauregard cites St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, where Aquinas analyzes the differences between imperfect and perfect virtue and then connects the two. Beauregard highlights the importance of prudence as the most vital virtue to have in order to obtain true moral virtue. He emphasizes that it is possible to analyze virtues on their own, but by doing this they will be imperfect and go without praise. To explain the virtues better, Beauregard pulls from Dante’s Il Convivio to define the five virtues as “temperance,

fortitude, loving-kindness, courtesy, and loyalty” (147).
In order to tie the past theologians with the romance of Sir Gawain, Beauregard claims that the perfect interconnectedness of the five virtues is used in the symbol of the pentangle. He tackles the issue of which virtues are allegedly represented by the pentangle and suggests that the fortitude and courage of Aquinas’s theory is represented by three opposites: fear versus daring, aggression versus endurance, and moderation versus restraint. With this in mind, Beauregard claims that the fact that it was considered a fault when Sir Gawain flinched before the axe struck him is more understandable, but the Green Knight’s criticism of him is still strange.
Beauregard broadens the idea of the Green Knight’s critiques by calling his criticism of Arthur’s court to attention. By contrasting the reactions of the court and the reaction of Sir Gawain, he is able to highlight the ideals of what the pentacle is symbolizing. In addition to the connectedness of the virtues, he suggests that the pentangle also represents an inverse connectedness. The green girdle is used as an example of a vise being the cause of another vise, of cowardice leading to deceit. Beauregard argues that the interconnectedness of the vices means that the Pearl Poet was familiar with the ideas of moral theology at the time.
Beauregard then shifts his focus to the Green Knight and his symbolization of knightly virtue of Christian and Thomistic lines.

He states that the Green Knight is a representation of martyrdom and the virtue of fortitude. He uses St. Thomas’s argument that virtue has two modes, one of endurance of evil and one of attacking evil. Beauregard argues that “martyrdom is a form of endurance and an act of the greatest perfection” (151) and that it is a personal battle between the persecutor, Sir Gawain, and the martyr, the Green Knight. He says that in the tale the Green Knight is used in order to bring out the strengths in Gawain and the weaknesses of fear in Arthur’s court and the overly daring nature of

Arthur.
When the beheading games begin, Beauregard says that Sir Gawain embodies the secondary act of fortitude, attack, and is able to conduct himself perfectly while the Green Knight acts as the primary act of endurance. When Sir Gawain swings the axe, the Green Knight has the perfect self-control that a martyr would have when facing death. When the Green Knight swings the axe at the end, Beauregard argues that it is revealed that Sir Gawain is more courageous when it comes to the attack than when it comes to endurance. Beauregard sums up this segment of his argument by stating where the four virtues of fortitude are embodied in the tale. He claims that the court represents fear, Arthur represents daring, the Green Knight represents the primary act of endurance, and Sir Gawain represents the secondary act of attack.
Beauregard furthers his claim that the Green Knight is a martyr by saying that he is a Christ figure. He draws the conclusion that there is a parallel between the five knightly virtues represented by the pentangle and Christ’s wounds. Then he goes on to analyze the three symbolic pieces of the knight’s appearance: the holly branch, the axe, and the green of his wardrobe. Beauregard takes the poet’s interpretation of the holly at face value and agrees that it is a sign of peace, but furthers the claim to say that it is “preservation of life through the dead season” (155). The axe, he argues, is meant to be a passive instrument of martyrdom and not the aggressive symbol that it might be misinterpreted to mean. Finally, Beauregard reveals that the green color represents eternal life and cites Joseph Eagen who says it is the regeneration of youth, faith, hope, and love. Beauregard also notes that the gold signifies integrity, perfection, and divinity amongst other things. He claims that all of this added up means that the Green Knight is a Christ figure.
Beauregard also uses an argument based in fear to support the theory that the knight is a Christ figure. The knight came into the court (relatively) unarmed, but yet he drove fear into the eyes of the court, much like God does. Beauregard used a Christmas sermon of St. Bernard to back up his claim that the Lord struck fear into the eyes of onlookers without weapons of any reason for fear. He connects the point back to virtues by saying that Green Knight is used to bring out a sign of an interior deficiency in the court and when the knight tells Gawain to seek him out, he is really saying to seek out God on his quest. Beauregard discredits those who say that the Green Knight’s red eyes were meant to be menacing by saying that the fear that they produced was to test the court to see if they were worthy, much like God does. The knight provokes Arthur and the court in order to bring out their true nature of fear and timidity. Beauregard argues that this doesn’t make the knight less like Christ because God was known to tempt his followers so he could know whom they were loyal to.
Beauregard wraps up his argument by going back to the idea that the poet responsible for the romance was both in touch and working with the historical context and the ideals of virtue at the time. He argued that the poet was not as concerned with the idea of fortitude being an aggressive virtue as he was with it being a “virtue of endurance and martyrdom” (159). He concludes by stating that the secret of the poet’s optimism and humor was his religious vision that behind the Green Knight (Christ) was a kind and gentle person.