1

Major Themes

1- The Viability of Chivalric Values

Perhaps the most significant of these human constructions is chivalric code which forms such an
essential part of medieval literature and of Gawain's belief system. Gawain is the very embodiment of
chivalric values, yet his encounter with the seductive Lady Bertilak forces a crisis in the chivalric value
system: should he honor the requests of the noble lady or remain faithful to his lord? Upon his return to
Camelot, King Arthur does not even detect the moral crisis within Gawain. And most unexpectedly, the
"test" of Gawain's chivalric values have been in fact a game engineered by Morgan le Fay for a less-than-
noble purpose. Disillusioned, the once-idealistic Gawain finds that the code of chivalry which once
formed his moral core has now been shaken.

2-Faith in God

In contrast to the questionable nature of the chivalric code, the poet upholds Christian faith as the
ultimate, saving grace for humanity. Ever pious, Gawain continuously finds guidance in God: from the
image of the Virgin Mary on the inside of his shield to his prayers while journeying alone, to his narrow
escape from the adulterous temptations of Lady Bertilak. It is, in a sense, faith in God which enables
mankind to negotiate between the dangers of human society and the dangers of the natural world. To
affirm this, the poem concludes with a supplication to Jesus Christ, the Savior.

3- Celtic Pagan Sources and Christian overlay

Despite its Christian message, the poem has strong roots in Celtic pagan myth. There are many elements
common to pre-Christian Celtic mythology, such as the waiting period of twelve months and a day, the
Beheading Game, and the Temptation Game. The Green Knight himself is a strongly pagan character,
similar to the Green Man or Wild Man of the Woods who symbolizes fertility in folklore. Gawain's
journey can even be seen as the hero's archetypical encounter with the Otherworld, an essential theme
in pagan belief. The Pentangle is often a pagan symbol; thus Gawain' s shield, with the Pentangle on one
side and the Virgin Mary on the other, comes to represent the dual pagan/Christian nature of the poem.

Analysis of Major Characters

1- Gawain
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Gawain is one of the greatest of King Arthur's knights, famed for both his bravery and his courtesy.
While the other knights remain tongue-tied with fear, Gawain alone volunteers to take Arthur's place in
the beheading game proposed by the Green Knight, thus becoming a representative both of King Arthur
and of the ideal Arthurian knight. The poet presents Gawain as a paragon of virtue, praising his chastity,
generosity, kindness, and Christian faith. Gawain dreads the encounter with the Green Knight in which
he expects to lose his life, but he carries through with their agreement anyway, demonstrating his honor
and his courage.

However, by taking the silk belt and keeping it secret, Gawain proves himself to be less than perfect.
When finally confronted with his failing, Gawain accepts responsibility for his actions and shows
remorse, indicating that he grown spiritually and morally. Many readers feel that Gawain is too hard on
himself in wearing the belt as a reminder of his guilt, and that the standard of perfection he wants to
uphold is simply unattainable. Despite having failed in one crucial area, Gawain remains an appealing
figure, embodying everything that is most attractive about the chivalric ideal.

Gawain's overriding quality throughout the poem is what the Gawain-poet calls "trawthe," or truth.
Truth in this sense includes many things: honesty, faith, loyalty, uprightness, purity. Gawain condemns
himself for untruth at the end of the poem, but Gawain's imperfections make him a more interesting
character than the perfect model of virtue he first appears to be. He is brave, yet he fears death. He is
chaste, yet he is attracted to his beautiful hostess. He is courteous toward women, yet he repeats a
standard piece of misogynistic rhetoric. He is loyal and honorable, yet he deceives his host and tries to
gain an advantage in his match with the Green Knight.

The characters of medieval literature are often flat; mere types who serve a specific function within the
plot or personify a single quality. However, the poet adds many subtle touches that give depth to
Gawain's character. Besides his interesting imperfections, he displays a surprising range of emotions. His
anger and defensiveness when he realizes his fault, his fearful imaginings as he approaches the Green
Chapel, and his obvious attraction to his hostess hint that his character has an inner life, not merely a
stock role to play.

2- The Green Knight

The Green Knight is not named in the poem, and he says only that men know him as the "Knight of the
Green Chapel." His strange color and his marvelous ability to live without his head mark him as an
otherworldly creature. In other ways, however, he could simply be an especially bold knight. He is
enormously tall and strong, almost a giant, and his vigor and maturity are indicated by his bushy hair
and beard. He is brash and rude in his challenge to the court, calling them mere children and telling
them that if he had come to fight, no one could stand against him. He says he comes to the court in
peace, asking only for a game, and yet he carries a fearsome weapon, a huge axe.

When Gawain meets the knight again at the Green Chapel, he is again fearsome, but also playful,
tweaking Gawain by drawing out the final blow, alternately mocking him for cowardice and praising him
 3
for bravery. When it finally becomes clear that he does not intend to kill Gawain, the Green Knight
seems more mischievous than frightening. He has indeed been playing a game with Gawain, but a
different game than the one Gawain imagined.

The pattern of the romance leads to the expectation that the Green Knight is a villain, an evil monster.
However, when the story ends, Gawain and the Green Knight part as friends. Far from having been
defeated, the Green Knight retains the advantage throughout the story, and the poet leaves him to go
his ways, his mysteries unexplained and his ambiguities unresolved.

3- Bertilak (or Bercilak) of Hautdesert

Gawain's unnamed host at Castle Hautdesert is finally identified as Bertilak, who is also the Green
Knight. As Gawain's host, Bertilak is warm, hospitable, and fun loving. He welcomes Gawain with
generosity, supplying him with rich clothes, a fine feast, and the company of his lovely wife. He shares
many qualities with the Green Knight: his energy and vitality, his physical might, his bushy beard, and his
love of games. He plays a hooding game with his courtiers, and he also proposes a game with Gawain,
the exchange of winnings.

Besides being a gracious host, the lord of Hautdesert is also an excellent hunter. He leaves each day at
dawn, pursuing his prey with enthusiasm before finally returning home at sunset. This pattern gives him
some of the qualities of a primitive sun god, perhaps reinforcing his identity with the Green Knight. The
hunt also takes him into the world of nature, another association of the Green Knight. The lord displays
not only great vigor during the hunt, but also great bravery. For example, he attacks a dangerous wild
boar on foot, armed only with a sword.

Some critics have suggested that Bertilak and the Green Knight are not really the same person, and that
Bertilak's final explanation of events should not be accepted at face value. Given the ambiguous nature
of the Green Knight, it may be true that the Green Knight is not simply a role that Bertilak puts on,
thanks to Morgan's magic, when it is convenient. Perhaps Bertilak himself is not entirely a mundane
creature, given the sudden and mysterious appearance of his fantastically beautiful castle in the midst of
the wilderness.

4- The Lady of Hautdesert

Bertilak's wife, the Lady of Castle Hautdesert, is never named in the poem, although she has an
important role in the action. To Gawain's eyes, she is even more beautiful than Guenevere, which makes
her impossibly beautiful, because Guenevere is supposed to be the most beautiful woman in the world.
Not only beautiful, but charming and persuasive, she is a formidable challenge for Gawain. She
persistently tries to seduce him, insisting that he live up to his reputation as the most courteous knight
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and teach her the ways of courtly love. From Gawain's perspective, she is a temptress, but she is later
shown to be a faithful wife, because she and Bertilak conspire to test Gawain. She is clearly in command
during all of their conversations, and in a reversal of the usual patterns of courtly love, she is the one
initiating the relationship. Her wit and skill at wordplay shine in these exchanges, but Gawain is equally
skillful in evading her requests. Although she cannot make Gawain her lover, she finally manages to
entice him into a breach of faith with her offer of her green silk belt. The lady shows considerable
resourcefulness in finding the chink in Gawain's armor.

Several critics have suggested that the Lady and Morgan are ultimately two aspects of the same
character, rather like Bertilak and the Green Knight. The question of which character is the "real" one
may not be answerable in either case.

5- The Guide

The guide who leads Gawain from Hautdesert to the Green Chapel provides one last opportunity for
Gawain to give in to temptation. The temptation offered is at least partially parallel to the one that
Gawain has already succumbed to, an appeal to Gawain's fear for his life. However, the guide's
temptation is more directly related to Gawain's honor and reputation, and in this case, Gawain acts
honorably, resolving to accept his fate despite his fears. The guide's knowledge of the Green Knight and
the Green Chapel is peculiar, because no one besides Bertilak seems to have heard of the Green Chapel.
The guide is either in on Bertilak's conspiracy against Gawain or is, perhaps, even another form of the
shape-shifting Bertilak himself.

6- Morgan le Fay

Morgan appears at Castle Hautdesert as an old woman in the company of the Lady of the castle. The
poet's description of the beautiful young woman and the ugly old one reflects standard medieval
rhetoric. Morgan has a position of honor at Hautdesert, sitting at the high table, but her relationship to
Bertilak and his lady is unclear. Bertilak calls her "Morgan the Goddess," reflecting an extremely old
mythic tradition, in which Morgan may be a survival of a Celtic goddess. In Arthurian legend, she was an
enchantress and the lover of Merlin. She is Arthur's half-sister, but in most Arthurian tales she is the
enemy of Camelot. According to Bertilak, his appearance at Camelot as the Green Knight was
engineered by Morgan to frighten Guenevere to death. A Freudian interpretation might view Morgan as
a distant and threatening mother figure. A feminist reading of Morgan might emphasize her role as the
unseen mover of the entire action of plot. Her appearance as an ugly hag could be related to the
mythical archetype of the wise crone, part of the triad of maid-mother-crone, a feminine representation
of the cycles of life. Morgan is Gawain's aunt.

7- King Arthur
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Arthur is the legendary King of the Britons. The poet emphasizes the youthfulness of both the king and
his courtiers, but there may be an element of criticism in this characterization, perhaps pointing to
Arthur's immaturity. Arthur proves to be bolder and braver than his court when faced with the Green
Knight's challenge. While his knights are silent, he steps forward and takes the axe, and he is prepared
to chop off the Green Knight's head until Gawain asks to be given the task. Arthur is Gawain's uncle and
Morgan's half-brother.

8- Queen Guenevere

Guenevere appears only briefly, at the Christmas feast in Camelot. As dictated by Arthurian convention,
she is an ideal beauty. According to Bertilak, Morgan le Fay's desire to frighten Guenevere to death was
the motivation for the Green Knight's challenge to the court. However, there is no indication that
Guenevere was any more frightened by the event than anyone else.

More Themes

Nature vs. Human Society

This is the central conflict which Gawain must deal with in his quest. He is forced to confront the forces
of Nature both external and internal -- in the form of the Green Knight, the winter landscape, his own
sexual desire, and ultimately, his own fear of death. Throughout, Gawain counters this with his own
faith in God and in chivalric values. But in the end his natural fear of death overcomes his sense of
human morality, causing him to accept the green girdle. And when Gawain returns to human society at
the end of the poem, it is with a sense of unease, having realized the power of Nature in comparison to
his human beliefs. Throughout the poem, we see natural settings and impulses constantly opposed to
those of human society and civility. And while humans shy away from their inevitable death, it is Nature
which can continue to restore and regenerate itself, as seen in the indestructible Green Knight and the
passing and resurrection of the year.

The Futility of Human Constructions

The poem is full of detailed descriptions of human constructs, like armor, clothing, food, architecture,
even the cutting of hunted deer. There is a ritualistic, overly technical sense to these descriptions, where
the poet seems to be hinting at the superficiality of these human constructs and questioning their
purpose. For example, the concept of Courtly Love is one such elaborate human construction, but in Fitt
III, it is essentially parodied in the conversations between Gawain and Lady Bertilak. And Gawain's
sumptuous armor, no matter how well-forged or polished, will be of little use to him when he receives
 6
the exchange stroke from the Green Knight. In comparison to the powerful descriptions of natural
forces, these human constructions appear silly, excessive, and ultimately futile.
The Viability of Chivalric Values

Perhaps the most significant of these human constructions is chivalric code which forms such an
essential part of medieval literature and of Gawain's belief system. Gawain is the very embodiment of
chivalric values, yet his encounter with the seductive Lady Bertilak forces a crisis in the chivalric value
system: should he honor the requests of the noble lady or remain faithful to his lord? Upon his return to
Camelot, King Arthur does not even detect the moral crisis within Gawain. And most unexpectedly, the
"test" of Gawain's chivalric values have been in fact a game engineered by Morgan le Fay for a less-than-
noble purpose. Disillusioned, the once-idealistic Gawain finds that the code of chivalry which once
formed his moral core has now been shaken. Faith in God

In contrast to the questionable nature of the chivalric code, the poet upholds Christian faith as the
ultimate, saving grace for humanity. Ever pious, Gawain continuously finds guidance in God: from the
image of the Virgin Mary on the inside of his shield to his prayers while journeying alone, to his narrow
escape from the adulterous temptations of Lady Bertilak. It is, in a sense, faith in God which enables
mankind to negotiate between the dangers of human society and the dangers of the natural world. To
affirm this, the poem concludes with a supplication to Jesus Christ, the Savior.
Celtic Pagan Sources and Christian overlay

Despite its Christian message, the poem has strong roots in Celtic pagan myth. There are many elements
common to pre-Christian Celtic mythology, such as the waiting period of twelve months and a day, the
Beheading Game, and the Temptation Game. The Green Knight himself is a strongly pagan character,
similar to the Green Man or Wild Man of the Woods who symbolizes fertility in folklore. Gawain's
journey can even be seen as the hero's archetypical encounter with the Otherworld, an essential theme
in pagan belief. The Pentangle is often a pagan symbol; thus Gawain' s shield, with the Pentangle on one
side and the Virgin Mary on the other, comes to represent the dual pagan/Christian nature of the poem.
Questioning the Romance

The poem contains many conventions of the medieval romance tradition, but in many ways it does not
celebrate the genre. Many elements verge on parody; others seem deliberately excessive. The
conversation between the seductive Lady Bertilak and the diplomatic Gawain satirizes the language of
Courtly Love, the descriptions of armor and clothing can be over-the-top, and the poem does not
conclude with the resolution of the typical romance. Instead, there is a sense of unease, as the poet
concludes what seems to be a subtle questioning of the romance genre.
The Fall of Man and Loss of Innocence

Biblical parallels can be found in the appearance of Bertilak's castle (Paradise) and the role of his wife as
temptress (Eve). Accordingly, Gawain loses his moral innocence when his value system is shattered by
the end of the poem. Such an allegory emphasizes once more the poet's Christian message, and the
relationship between mankind and the divine.
 7
PENTACLE or PENTAGRAM (FIVE-POINTED STAR pointing up): A standard symbol for witches,
freemasons, and many other pagan or occult groups. To witches, it represent the four basic elements
(wind, water, earth and fire) plus a pantheistic spiritual being such as Gaia or Mother Earth. The
pentagram is also "used for protection. to banish energy, or to bring it to you, depending on how it's
drawn," wrote a Wiccan visitor.

PENTAGRAM (FIVE-POINTED STAR pointing down): Used in occult rituals to direct forces or energies.
Often represents satanism, the horned god or various expressions of contemporary occultism, especially
when a goat-head is superimposed on the inverted pentagram

Symbolism and Medieval Literature

One of the most characteristic features of medieval literature is the richness and variety of the symbols
it uses. Sometimes, these symbols are easy to recognize and interpret. Gawain's pentangle emblem is an
obvious symbol, and the poet actually steps forward to explain its significance for the audience, bringing
the narrative to a screeching halt in order to do so. Other symbols have meanings that will still be
familiar even to modern readers. It is not particularly difficult to see how the fox may symbolize cunning
and treachery, or how the deer may stand for fear or shyness. But in other cases, the meaning is not so
easy to pin down: What about Gawain's armor, or the birds that decorate both knights' garments?
Readers may not even feel certain that a particular item is symbolic at all.

Part of the difficulty in interpreting medieval literature comes from the fact that modern readers are
unfamiliar with the cultural and intellectual background that a medieval audience would have brought
to their understanding of a symbol. Some of this background has simply been lost to history, and
scholars may have only scattered clues to help them understand a symbolic reference. Furthermore, a
single symbol could easily have several contradictory meanings. A lion, for example, may represent
Christ, St. Mark, or the devil, depending on the context in which it appears.

A more important part of the difficulty is caused by medieval ways of thinking about symbolism.
Medieval thinkers believed that everything in the physical and natural world reflected the mind of God,
the creator, and that by reading the significance of these symbols, human beings could come closer to
understanding God. Thus, the entire world was filled with symbolic meaning. Moreover, medieval
intellectual tradition did not limit a symbol to one meaning; instead, medieval thinkers derived multiple
and sometimes quite diverse meanings for the symbols they found. An illustration of this intellectual
habit can be found in the medieval method of interpreting the Bible, called exegesis. Medieval exegesis
assumed at least four levels of meaning: literal, allegorical, tropological (or moral), and anagogical (or
spiritual). At the literal level, a Biblical story is a simple presentation of facts. At the allegorical level,
events and people become metaphorical representations: When Joshua blows his horn and the walls of
Jericho collapse, for example, the story is an allegory of the Last Judgment, when the trumpet will sound
and the world will come to an end. At the tropological level, a story teaches a lesson or gives a moral. At
the anagogical level, a story conveys ultimate mystical or spiritual truths. Any Biblical text may have one
or all of these levels of meaning operating at the same time.
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Many modern critics have been determined to read all medieval literary works as straightforward
allegories, in which everything is a symbol and every symbol has an easily identifiable meaning. Some
medieval literature does fall neatly into this category. The Romance of the Rose is the most famous of
medieval allegories, and even the Gawain-poet's Pearl is strongly allegorical. But Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight stubbornly resists being reduced to such a simple formula. In fact, one of Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight's most prominent features is its ambiguity. This ambiguity reflects one of its most
important messages: Things are not always as they seem, and only human pride leads us to imagine that
we can understand and control everything around us. The poet presents a beautiful but flawed world, in
which good and bad are always mixed together, impossible to separate completely. In this world, "bliss
and blunder, wrack and wonder" coexist, each taking their places in the turning cycles of life and of
history. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's symbolic richness — a sometimes frustrating richness — is a
representation in miniature of this diverse and mixed world. Even if readers cannot ultimately pin down
every one of its varied symbols, the hunt for them is no less rewarding.

Read more: http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/Sir-Gawain-and-the-Green-Knight-

Critical-Essays-Symbolism-and-Medieval-Literature.id-173,pageNum-87.html#ixzz0xss6PZbD

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

The Nature of Chivalry

The world of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is governed by well-defined codes of behavior. The code
of chivalry, in particular, shapes the values and actions of Sir Gawain and other characters in the poem.
The ideals of chivalry derive from the Christian concept of morality, and the proponents of chivalry seek
to promote spiritual ideals in a spiritually fallen world.

The ideals of Christian morality and knightly chivalry are brought together in Gawain’s symbolic shield.
The pentangle represents the five virtues of knights: friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety.
Gawain’s adherence to these virtues is tested throughout the poem, but the poem examines more than
Gawain’s personal virtue; it asks whether heavenly virtue can operate in a fallen world. What is really
being tested in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight might be the chivalric system itself, symbolized by
Camelot.

Arthur’s court depends heavily on the code of chivalry, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight gently
criticizes the fact that chivalry values appearance and symbols over truth. Arthur is introduced to us as
the “most courteous of all,” indicating that people are ranked in this court according to their mastery of
a certain code of behavior and good manners. When the Green Knight challenges the court, he mocks
them for being so afraid of mere words, suggesting that words and appearances hold too much power
over the company. The members of the court never reveal their true feelings, instead choosing to seem
beautiful, courteous, and fair-spoken.
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On his quest for the Green Chapel, Gawain travels from Camelot into the wilderness. In the forest,
Gawain must abandon the codes of chivalry and admit that his animal nature requires him to seek
physical comfort in order to survive. Once he prays for help, he is rewarded by the appearance of a
castle. The inhabitants of Bertilak’s castle teach Gawain about a kind of chivalry that is more firmly
based in truth and reality than that of Arthur’s court. These people are connected to nature, as their
hunting and even the way the servants greet Gawain by kneeling on the “naked earth” symbolize (818).
As opposed to the courtiers at Camelot, who celebrate in Part 1 with no understanding of how removed
they are from the natural world, Bertilak’s courtiers joke self-consciously about how excessively lavish
their feast is (889–890).

The poem does not by any means suggest that the codes of chivalry be abandoned. Gawain’s adherence
to them is what keeps him from sleeping with his host’s wife. The lesson Gawain learns as a result of the
Green Knight’s challenge is that, at a basic level, he is just a physical being who is concerned above all
else with his own life. Chivalry provides a valuable set of ideals toward which to strive, but a person
must above all remain conscious of his or her own mortality and weakness. Gawain’s time in the
wilderness, his flinching at the Green Knight’s axe, and his acceptance of the lady’s offering of the green
girdle teach him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human
and capable of error.

The Letter of the Law

Though the Green Knight refers to his challenge as a “game,” he uses the language of the law to bind
Gawain into an agreement with him. He repeatedly uses the word “covenant,” meaning a set of laws, a
word that evokes the two covenants represented by the Old and the New Testaments. The Old
Testament details the covenant made between God and the people of Israel through Abraham, but the
New Testament replaces the old covenant with a new covenant between Christ and his followers. In 2
Corinthians 3:6, Paul writes that Christ has “a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life.” The “letter” to which Paul refers here is the legal system of the Old Testament.
From this statement comes the Christian belief that the literal enforcement of the law is less important
than serving its spirit, a spirit tempered by mercy.

Throughout most of the poem, the covenant between Gawain and the Green Knight evokes the literal
kind of legal enforcement that medieval Europeans might have associated with the Old Testament. The
Green Knight at first seems concerned solely with the letter of the law. Even though he has tricked
Gawain into their covenant, he expects Gawain to follow through on the agreement. And Gawain,
though he knows that following the letter of the law means death, is determined to see his agreement
through to the end because he sees this as his knightly duty.

At the poem’s end, the covenant takes on a new meaning and resembles the less literal, more merciful
New Testament covenant between Christ and his Church. In a decidedly Christian gesture, the Green
Knight, who is actually Gawain’s host, Bertilak, absolves Gawain because Gawain has confessed his
faults. To remind Gawain of his weakness, the Green Knight gives him a penance, in the form of the
wound on his neck and the girdle. The Green Knight punishes Gawain for breaking his covenant to share
all his winnings with his host, but he does not follow to the letter his covenant to decapitate Gawain.
 10
Instead of chopping Gawain’s head off, Bertilak calls it his right to spare Gawain and only nicks his
neck.

Ultimately, Gawain clings to the letter of the law. He cannot accept his sin and absolve himself of it the
way Bertilak has, and he continues to do penance by wearing the girdle for the rest of his life. The Green
Knight transforms his literal covenant by offering Gawain justice tempered with mercy, but the letter of
the law still threatens in the story’s background, and in Gawain’s own psyche.

Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the
text’s major themes.

The Seasons

At the beginning of Parts 2 and 4, the poet describes the changing of the seasons. The seasonal imagery
in Part 2 precedes Gawain’s departure from Camelot, and in Part 4 his departure from the host’s castle.
In both cases, the changing seasons correspond to Gawain’s changing psychological state, from
cheerfulness (pleasant weather) to bleakness (the winter). But the five changing seasons also
correspond to the five ages of man (birth/infancy, youth, adulthood, middle age, and old age/death), as
well as to the cycles of fertility and decay that govern all creatures in the natural world. The emphasis on
the cyclical nature of the seasons contrasts with and provides a different understanding of the passage
of time from the more linear narrative of history that frames the poem.

Games

When the poem opens, Arthur’s court is engaged in feast-time customs, and Arthur almost seems to
elicit the Green Knight’s entrance by requesting that someone tell him a tale. When the Green Knight
first enters, the courtiers think that his appearance signals a game of some sort. The Green Knight’s
challenge, the host’s later challenge, and the wordplay that takes place between Gawain and the lady
are all presented as games. The relationship between games and tests is explored because games are
forms of social behavior, while tests provide a measure of an individual’s inner worth.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Pentangle

According to the Gawain-poet, King Solomon originally designed the five-pointed star as his own magic
seal. A symbol of truth, the star has five points that link and lock with each other, forming what is called
the endless knot. Each line of the pentangle passes over one line and under one line, and joins the other
two lines at its ends. The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which Gawain aspires: to be faultless in his
five senses; never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the
cross; to be strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity,
 11
Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and
chastity. The side of the shield facing Gawain contains an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that
Gawain never loses heart.

The Green Girdle

The meaning of the host’s wife’s girdle changes over the course of the narrative. It is made out of green
silk and embroidered with gold thread, colors that link it to the Green Knight. She claims it possesses the
power to keep its wearer from harm, but we find out in Part 4 that the girdle has no magical properties.
After the Green Knight reveals his identity as the host, Gawain curses the girdle as representing
cowardice and an excessive love of mortal life. He wears it from then on as a badge of his sinfulness. To
show their support, Arthur and his followers wear green silk baldrics that look just like Gawain’s girdle.

The Pentangle (619-65)

1. "Fiue wyttez" (five senses): may indicate that Gawain did not sin through sensual indulgence, but cf.
"fyue wyttez" in 2193 (st. 88), where wyttez have most to do with intelligence, ability to understand a
situation, etc.

2. "Fyue fyngres" (five fingers): no special significance is apparent here; may signify manual competence
or physical strength. Some critics refer to the use in some devotional manuals of the image of the five-
fingered hand.

3. "Fyue woundez" (Five Wounds of Christ): a typical subject of meditation; here Gawain's fealty
(Borroff) or faith (Tolkien, Vantuono) is said to depend on them. The original afyaunce vpon folde 'trust
upon earth/in the world' may be understood as "trustworthiness" if we see the outward-directed virtue
as reflecting something inside Gawain.

4. "Fyue joyez" (Five Joys of Mary): a variable list, but usually Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection,
Ascension, Assumption; here Gawain's force (Borroff) or valour (Tolkien) or bravery (Vantuono) is said to
derive from them (forsnes 'fortitude' in the original).

5. The "fyft fyue" are the social virtues (for which see the next section).

Gawain's "Fyft Fyue" (640-55)

Middle English Tolkien Boroff Vantuono
fraunchyse 'generosity' free-giving beneficence boundless generosity
fela3schyp friendliness brotherly love charity
clannes [ Note 1 ] chastity pure mind cleanness
cortaysye [ Note 2 ] chivalry (pure) manners courtesy
pité [ Note 3 ] piety compassion pity

Then they showed forth the shield, that shone all red,
 12
With the pentangle portrayed in purest gold.
And why the pentangle is proper to that peerless prince
I intend now to tell, though detain me it must.
(Sir Gawain and the G. K. 2.619-623).

Long before the narrator of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight placed the pentangle on the shield of “that
peerless prince,” it was an object of importance, and has enjoyed a place in the philosophical and
theological forums of many cultures. The earliest found depiction of the pentangle, located on a piece of
pottery found in the ruins of the ancient city of Ur, dates back to around 900 BCE, placing it well within
the early Babylonian period (Stone, 135). The Pythagoreans where fascinated by its mathematical and
geometrical implications and spent much of the 3rd 4th and 5th centuries BCE trying to unlock its
mysteries. In fact, most all Greek geometry, mathematics, and architecture are based on the perfect
harmony found in the pentangle. The neo-Platonists and the Gnostics could not resist the call of the
pentangle, and tied many of their studies and mysteries to this eminent symbol. However, the pentangle
gained its most prominent state in the Middle Ages when Christianly and Islam adopted this symbol as a
major part of their religions, both using it as a symbol of harmony, virtue, and idealism (Hulbert, 722).

The regular pentangle is formed from a regular pentagon, either by drawing its diagonals or by
extending each edge until it meets other edges that are not its immediate neighbors. The edges of the
regular pentangle divide each other so that the ratio of the larger part to the smaller part is equal to the
ratio of the whole line to the larger part (Cundy & Rollett, 68-77). This ratio, (1 + square root of 5/2), was
named by the Pythagoreans as the ‘golden section’ and is commonly represented by the Greek symbol
Phi. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the narrator employs the pentangle to illustrate the central
conflict within the story, which is Gawain’s inner fight, rather than his ordeal with the Green Knight.
Each of the five points of the pentangle represents a set of Gawain’s virtues: his five senses, for he is
“faultless in his five senses;” his five fingers “Nor found ever to fail in his five fingers;” his fidelity, “his
fealty … fixed upon the five wounds that Christ got on the cross;” his force, “founded on the five joys /
That the high Queen of heaven had in her child;” and the five knightly virtues: friendship, generosity,
courtesy, chastity, and piety (lns. 640-54).

During his stay at the host’s castle, each of his five five-fold virtues represented in the five points of the
pentangle fail him. Gawain’s physical abilities (his five senses and his five fingers) begin to fail him in line
900 when the “wine goes to his head” and continue to fail as he spends the majority of his time in bed
or lounging around the castle. Although Gawain frequently calls on Jesus and Mary for aid in the
wilderness, once inside the court, his piety fades to the background, and his fidelity to the five wounds
of Christ and five joys of Mary slips into obscurity. Then with his physical and spiritual virtues wavering,
Gawain’s five knightly virtues also fall under careful inspection and begin to falter.

This portrayal Gawain’s quest in terms of the pentangle successfully compares the perfectly balanced
knightly ideals represented in the pentangle itself, to the reality of Gawain’s life and actions that we see
while he is in the castle. Even Gawain, “the greatest knight of all” falls short of the pentanglean ideal,
reminding the reader that no one can reach perfection. However, instead of becoming bitter at our
shortcomings and failures, we should learn from our mistakes. A message, not only particularly
important to a culture in which the leaders did all they could in order to gain personally, often using the
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chivalric codes only when by doing so would serve their own purposes, but also to anyone in any age
who meets with the disappointment of not “measuring up” to the pentangles in their lives.

Cundy, H.M. & Rollett, A.P. Mathematical Models Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
Green, Richard Hamilton. “Gawain’s Shield and the Quest for Perfection.”; Sir Gawain and Pearl: Critical
Essays. Ed. Robert J. Blanch. London: Indiana University Press, 1966.
Hulbert, J.R. “Sir Gawayn and the Grene Knyzt.”; Modern Philology 13.12 (1916): 689-730. Stone, B. Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight. London: Penguin Books, 1959.