Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Symbolism Essay

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Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight



Symbolism is a literary technique used in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to liven up the story and give a deeper significance to the plot. Almost anything in the poem can be interpreted as a symbol in one way or another. The Green Knight, the green sash, and Sir Gawain's shield are three of the most prominent symbols presented to us in this author's tale.





The Green Knight, this poem's antagonist, serves as a symbol himself. He is not only portrayed as evil, but a mixture of the familiar and foreign, nature and synthetic, and divine and damned origin. His large stature can …show more content…

The green sash is a smaller symbol in the story, yet serves quite a large purpose. The green color signifies Gawain's cowardice, and the fact that he was going to encounter the green knight the next day. The sash, supposedly able to keep him alive, was not the reason his life was spared, for the whole story was a test. The host's wife untied it from around her waist and tied it around his, and he accepted it. This sexual innuendo and symbol of courtly love ended up causing his downfall. He ended up keeping the sash as a reminder of this "year and a day," and the test he was given. All of the other knights of the Round Table also started wearing green sashes in order to remind them of the lesson learned by …show more content…

Sir Gawain's shield is another symbol with multiple meanings, offering him both physical and moral protection. There is a pentangle on the outside, with the Virgin Mary on the inside. The virgin is close to his heart, symbolizing his belief in God and trust in Him. This relationship with God is the source of his inner strength. While his faith is something he keeps to himself, he displays the pentangle and its chivalric code to the world. Each point stood for: his flawless five senses, five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, the Five Joys, and the virtues of free-giving, friendliness, chastity, chivalry, and piety. The pentangle is a star interlaced, with no beginning and no end, so that anywhere you start, the beginning gives way to the end and the end ultimately becomes the beginning again. In that in a year and a day, winter had given way to spring, then summer, then fall, then back to winter, and his promise was due. By the time Gawain thought it was all over and the Green Knight would take his life, it was actually the beginning of his life, but with a whole new

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