Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Source: Burrows, J.A. A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1966.

Sir Gawain The Character  Courageous and brave  Flawless example of Christian chivalry  Flawed everyman

Sir Gawain Element of Romance  Set in a remote place and time  Incorporates the marvelous and miracles  Hero is superior to other men and his environment  May involve “Testing Plot”

Sir Gawain Testing Plot  Tester is unrealistic and remote  Test is extreme  Hero follows the higher of conflicting virtues  Tester relents and allows hero to fulfill lower virtue

Sir Gawain Departs from Romance  Calendar time/ real places  Hero is one of us, not superior  Tester is split: Morgan and Bercilak  Gawain fails the test because he is human and sinful  Mixture of romance and realism

Sir Gawain Main Characters  Arthur: King of Camelot  Sir Gawain: Representative, not elect  Green Knight: Ambiguous nature Green body-supernatural Green and gold equipment-courtly youth Holly bob-life and peace Axe-war

Sir Gawain The Game  Governed by rules  Tests important knightly virtues  Involves seemingly inevitable death

Sir Gawain Code of Chivalry  Posses faith in God  Loyal to people, principles, and promises  Without deceit  Upright and Virtuous

Sir Gawain The Five Virtues  Generosity  Companionableness  Courtesy  Pure mind  Compassion

Sir Gawain Recognition  The Green Knight  The exchange game was the real test

Sir Gawain Confession  Shame and mortification  Statement of Sin: Gawain admits cowardice, covetousness, and untruth  Request for penance

Sir Gawain Condemnation  Gawain did sin  Sin was from love of life, not malice  Problem of shifting blame to women

Sir Gawain Thematic Points  Openness and ambiguity  Combination of romance and realism  Gawain is human/sinful

Sir Gawain Sir Gawain’s “human experience”  Social living  Alienation  Self-discovery  Desolation  Recovery and Restoration