sir gawain and the green knight

The meaning of the Green Knight.

Green as symbol on wildness, nature. The holly branch vs. the giserme (ax). His challenge to Arthur's court. His identity with Bertilak. his axe is the opposite of the holly branch. he has two personas. the holly branch was associated with christ. the white flower is christs purity and the red berry was his blood. the holly's prickly leaves symbolized christ's thorns and how it doesn't die off.

Sir Gawain's testing at the Green Chapel.

His flinching before the ax. How to interpret his "failures."

sir gawain and his shieild. How Sir Gawain's shield identifies him

Inside: Mary Outside: The Pentangle (five-pointed star) 1. Five Senses and Five Fingers (warrior) 2. Five Wounds of Christ and Five Joys of Mary (Christian) 3. Five "virtues": beneficence, brotherly love, pure mind, manners, and compassion defining features of medieval knight. he's a warrior, religious and has social virtues that he displays. united by the star

3 codes tested

1. courage of warrior 2.chivalry/courtesy 3. christianity failure- knick on kneck

lines 640-69

first two are about his body second two are about religion. elements of the shield. fighting for his lady mary. she inspires him.

2178-96 sir gawain at the green chappell

he thinks of the chappell as the devils lair. thinks its evil. scary

lines 619-39

pentangle on outside of shield. symbol of who he is. summarizes him. all of it is connected you can't take one part of the shield away.

1770-76 gawain's dilemma

shes pushing him to accept a gift. she says have sex with me or be impolite

lines 20-36

text-story about arthur and how the court was strange and unusual. arthur is young and its set at christmas

the plot of romance: from here to there to back again

you go on a quest. here to there to back again. (starwars) home- not home-- home again (Adventure land) culture- nature- culture (blade runner) episodic plot. The story can be short or very long.

Sir Gawain's testing at Bertilak's castle

. The three days of "hunting." The problem of Sir Gawain's taking of the green girdle. His relationship with his host.

How Arthur's court is represented in the story.

: boys and games. Arthur's "wild" insistence on a marvel or a joust before dinner.

lines 85-106

Arthur wants something special. he wants to be amazed. or he wants someone to fight to the death

the heroes quest as a rite of passage. (Journey in romance)

External: here to there and back again- go to different place and time. holiday for example Internal: change in status/identity or reconfirmation of existing status (character transformed?) reconfirmation of culture's values. Internal- circumssion, from boy to man, marriage,

1105-14 sir gawain's pact with bertilak

agreement that whatever he wins in the woods. gawain must give what he gains.

camelot celebrates sir gawain as a hero 2513-30

all the knights want to wear a girdle as a sign of brotherhood.

lines 1-19

begging of time with trojan war when. aneas followers romulus, brutus and ticicus founded their new countries. brutus founded Britain romulus founded rome. people wanted to think this so they could say they were part of the roman empire. Brute was the great grandson of the roman hero aneas

307-22

challenging the court.. calls everyone out saying they are not living up to their billing

green knight as confessor 2389-2401

confesses his failings and he has no blemishes. green knight declares him pure. green knight is a priest. knows he failed but excuses him

sir gawain and the end of era

end of middle ages. knighthood didn't look as good as before.

lines 37-59

fight have tournaments and sing. also feast for days.

3rd test seduction 1719-49

fox was killed. once again tried to seduce him. revealing more of her body. they are hunting wild animals while she's hunting the wildness in him. she is testing his courage. she offers him a gift. test of his manners. test of religion.

green knights first two blows with axe 2259-94

gawain flinches with first blow. he mocks gawain. seonnd blow he pretends like hes gonna do it. doesnt flinch

second secude attempt

gawain is waiting for her. he knows he cant give in he will be dismemebered like the boar

gawaines shame and girdle 2429-38

gawain knows he failed, but still wears the girdle. the girdle is a sign of his shame its a reminder

the magical silk green girdle. 1846-69

he accepts girlde because hes scared. he thinks it will keep him safe from the green knight. she told him to not tell husband. manners have been tested and courage. he fails.

2295-2308

just cuts gawain. doesn't hurt him. he survives. gawain is reborn. he was almost dead before. responds with rage which fails again.

1818-45 lady's gift to sir gawain

offers a ring. he refuses once again. then offers girdle because she thinks the ring is too great. eventually takes girdle

What sort of final assessment the poem offers us about medieval knighthood.

poem gives 3 different endings sir gawain feels mortfified court rejoices green knight knows he failed, but spares him

sir gawain's failures and successes in poem

poem is about his failures more then success. a bunch of little sins. finnaly finds the green chappell

sir gawain prayer and the magical castle 748-70

prays to find a place for mass. when he is traveling. he was invited into the castle.

history of Romance came from rome to romance

rome------ Romantic Languages (French,Spanish,Italian,Portuguese) Romanz= French language in middle ages Romance (Language)----Romance (Genre) Le roman (France.), der Roman (German)= the novel

1208-40 lady attempts to seduce gawain. first try

she comes while he is sleeping. tries to say he is unworthy to defend himself with courtesy. must give kiss to host because of kiss he got.

lines 339-65

sir gawains courtesy. gawains wants to take over his superior leader and put the shame the rest in the room. he calls out the men who didn't volunteer to face the green knight. calls himself weak. tries not to embarrasses Arthur or the the knights

the green knights challeneg 279-300

the green knight insults the men in the room. says that he will give a gift if anyone dares to cut off his head. challeneges them and promises to

the knick on kneck 2309-30

the kneck is a symbol of pride. The green Knight wants to lower the pride of the court.

sir Gawain as a quest (romance) . How Sir Gawain both exemplifies and does not exemplify medieval romance?

the knight is the symbiotic figure in romances Sir Gawain was as model knight. His reputation in the Middle Ages; his display of tact at Arthur's court; his courtesy at Bertilak's court. 1. Medieval romance usually idealizes chivalry The concept of chivalry relates to the behavior of knights and their treatment of women. Knights were expected to show the highest level of respect for women including maintaining their chastity and showing a reverence toward them indicated of the Christian love for the Virgin Mary. They would should this reverence by dedicating their battles to a particular lady, perhaps representing her family colors in doing so. Gawain shows this for the Lady of the castle in that he denies her sexual advances without hurting her feelings, refuses her expensive gifts which he cannot repay and accepts her green scarf as he rides into battle. 2. Medieval romance idealizes the hero-knight and his noble deeds. The hero-knight is expected to show unparalleled loyalty for his king, honesty in all areas and bravery at the face of death. Gawain exhibits all three. First, he accepts the challenge of the Green Knight when nobody else will except for Arthur himself. This challenge involves basically traveling to the Green Knight's home to receive a blow to the neck - certain death. While at the Lord's home, he does not lie about his kisses with the wife, but instead returns them as promised to the Lord. Even when presented with a plan avoid certain death, he keeps his promise of meeting the Green Knight. Finally, he accepts not one, but three blows to fulfill his obligation to the Green Knight. Ultimately, Gawain shows his level of nobility by his level of self-hatred upon what he perceives as failure. He keeps the sash for personal reasons and does not give it to the Lord. This shows his fear for his own safety. Even though King Arthur, the knights and the Lord all forgive him for this, he still sees himself as a failure. In a way, this is how the work shows its comment upon how the level of behavior that knights are expected to uphold may be unrealistic

915-27 Bertilaks court admires gawain

the knights at the castle were amazed by his speech. they think gawain is his savior. sir gawain is a lech.

sir Gawain and the green knight The traditional quest lines 713-39

this was not what this story was about. he is on his quest through the mountains facing serpents and wolves and faces a cruel winter and nearly freezes to death. the author insists he is doing what he wants. everything in the story is already known. this passage is written in middle english. a lot of dialects. has a repetition of sounds. similar to old english poetry.

the time, place and characters of romance

time: flexible, uneven (adventure-time) Place:wild, disorderly,magical (adventureland) Characters: good vs evil heroes and helpers vs 1. antagonists (enemies, monsters, dragons etc. 2. tempters and temptresses the protagonist must prove that he is good and will often fail, but later redeem themself