Middle English Literature ep. 2: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The poem opens with a mythological account of Britain's founding. After the fall of Troy, we are told, various heroes left to build cities. One of them was Brutus who founded Britain. The author introduces Britain's greatest leader, the legendary King Arthur.

The story begins at Christmastime at King Arthur's court in Camelot. The knights of the Round Table join Arthur in the holiday celebrations.

When the evening's feast is about to be served, Arthur introduces a new game: he refuses to eat his dinner until he has heard a marvelous story.

While the lords and ladies feast, with Arthur's nephew Gawain and Guinevere sitting together in the place of privilege at the high table, Arthur continues to wait for his story.

As if in answer to Arthur's request, an unknown knight suddenly enters the hall on horseback. The gigantic knight has a beautiful face and figure. Every piece of his elaborate costume is green. His horse is huge and green.

The Green Knight refuses to tell a story, but claims he came in peace.

Instead, he wants to play a game in which someone will strike him with his own axe, on the understanding that he gets to return the blow in exactly a year and a day.

Arthur blushes and steps forth defend his court, but just as he begins to swing the giant axe at the Green Knight, Gawain stands up and requests that he be allowed to take the challenge himself. The king agree. Gawain lifts the axe, and in one stroke he severs the Green Knight's head. Blood spurts from the wound, and the head rolls around the room.

However, the Green Knight does not fall from his horse. He reaches down, picks up the head, and holds it before him, pointing it toward the high table. The head speaks, reiterating the terms of Gawain's promise. The Green Knight rides out of the hall.

Part 2

In late autumn, on the Day of All Saints, the knights of Camelot prepare to send a mournful Gawain off on his quest for the Green Chapel.

Worried but resigned, Gawain calls for his armor, which the poet describes in great detail. After dressing, Gawain says goodbye to his friends and leaves the court.

He encounters various foes—wolves and dragons, bulls and bears, boars and giants—but always prevails over his enemies. He sleeps in his armor and has frequent nightmares. As the winter grows colder, he nearly freezes to death.

Finally, on Christmas Eve, the desperate Gawain prays to the Virgin Mary that he might find a place to attend Christmas Mass. He repents his sins, crosses himself three times, and, when he looks up, he sees a beautiful castle. Surrounded by a green park.

full of thanks to God for saving him, approaches the drawbridge. Gawain salutes, and a guardian allows him to enter.

The lord appears to be middle-aged, with a thick, gray-black beard and solid, sturdy legs. Though the host's fiery face and stocky figure make him appear fierce, his speech reveals him to be gracious and gentle. The lord takes Gawain to a rich chamber, where he feeds Gawain and introduces Gawain to two women. The host's wife is young, beautiful, and elegantly dressed, her firm neck and bosom exposed. The other, an old woman, is wrinkled, stocky, hairy, black-browed, and covered entirely in clothing

Christmas morning and the two days following it pass in a similar manner, but Gawain begins to feel the weight of his quest pressing on him. With only three days remaining before his engagement with the Green Knight, Gawain refuses his host's offer of a longer stay, explaining that he must search for the Green Chapel or else be judged a failure. The host tells Gawain he can send him to the Green Chapel easily—it is only two miles away. Gawain thanks the host and accepts the invitation to stay the three more days.

The host proposes a game of sorts: during the day, he wants Gawain to stay at court and linger in bed and around the castle, spending time with the two ladies. Meanwhile, the host will go out hunting with his men. At the end of each of the three days, the two men will exchange whatever they have won. Happy to play along, Gawain accepts.

Gawain lingers in bed until daybreak.

While still half asleep, he hears the door open quietly, he sees the host's wife creeping toward his bed. Gawain lies back down, pretending to be asleep. the lady climbs inside the bed curtains and sits beside Gawain. Gawain stretches and pretends to wake up. 

the lady tells Gawain that she would have chosen him for her husband if she could have. Gawain responds that her own husband is the better man. Until mid-morning, the lady continues to lavish Gawain with admiration.

When the lady gets up to leave, she laughs and then accuses her captive knight of not being the real Gawain. Alarmed and worried that he has failed in his courtesy, Gawain asks her to explain what she means. She responds that the real Gawain would never let a lady leave his chamber without taking a kiss. Gawain allows one kiss, and then the lady leaves. He dresses immediately and goes to hear Mass, then spends the afternoon with the host's wife and the old woman.

Meanwhile, the lord has been hunting deer with his men all day. The host greets Gawain and gives him the venison he won during the hunt that day. Gawain thanks him and in return gives him the kiss he won from the lady. The host jokingly asks where Gawain won such a prize, and Gawain points out that they agreed to exchange winnings, not to tell where or how they were acquired.

The next two days follow a similar pattern. On the second day, the lord hunts a wild boar, risking his life as he wrestles it to the ground and stabs it with his sword. At the castle, the lady continues to teasingly challenge Gawain's reputation, pressuring him into allowing her two kisses. That night, the host brings home the boar's head on a stick and exchanges it with Gawain for the two kisses.

On the third day the host hunts a fox, and Gawain, awakened by the lady from horrible nightmares about the Green Knight, receives three kisses from the lady during the course of their conversation. However, while they banter, the lady asks Gawain for a love token.

Gawain refuses to fulfill her request, claiming he has nothing to give, so the lady offers him a ring, which he also refuses. She then offers him her green girdle, which she claims has magical properties: it possesses the ability to keep the man who wears it safe from death. Tempted by the possibility of protecting his life, Gawain accepts the girdle.

Part 4

Before the sun comes up, he rises and prepares to depart, putting on his armor and ordering servants to saddle his horse. Despite Gawain's anxiety, his armor shines as brightly as it did when he left Camelot. He does not forget to tie the lady's girdle around his waist. The girdle's green color stands out against the red cloth of Gawain's surcoat

Accompanied by a guide, Gawain crosses the drawbridge and rides back out into the wilderness, up to the heights of the neighboring snowy hills. There, the guide turns to Gawain and proposes a solution to his impending problem: if Gawain leaves now without facing the knight, the guide promises not to tell anyone. No one survives an encounter with the Green Knight, the guide informs Gawain, so continuing the quest is the suicide. Gawain thanks the guide for his concern, but he refuses to be a coward. The guide wishes Gawain well and leaves at a breakneck pace, 

He spots a kind of a cave, fringed with tall grass, and realizes it must be the Green Chapel. 

Suddenly certain that the place belongs to the devil, Gawain curses the chapel and is proceeding toward the cave with his lance in hand when he hears the horrifying sound of a weapon being sharpened

Gawain calls out to the lord of the place, stating that he has come to fulfill his agreement. The Green Knight replies, telling Gawain to stay put, and continues to sharpen his weapon. The Green Knight emerges from around a crag, carrying a Danish axe. He welcomes Gawain warmly and compliments him on his punctuality, then tells him he will repay him for his own beheading a year ago.

The Green Knight lifts the axe high and drops it. When the Green Knight sees Gawain flinch he stops his blade, mocking Gawain and questioning his reputation. Gawain tells him he will not flinch again, and the Green Knight lifts the axe a second time. Gawain doesn't flinch as the axe comes down, and the Green Knight holds the blade again, this time congratulating Gawain's courage. He then threatens Gawain, saying that the next blow will strike him. Angry, Gawain tells the knight to hurry up and strike, and the knight lifts his axe one last time. He brings it down hard, but causes Gawain no harm other than a slight cut on his neck. He feinted the first two times, in accordance with their contract on the first two days, when Gawain gave him the gifts he had received from the lady. The nick from the third blow was punishment for Gawain's behavior on the third day, when he failed to tell the truth about the green girdle.

This speech reveals that the Green Knight is the host of the castle where Gawain was staying. He again congratulates Gawain on his bravery, calling him the worthiest of Arthur's knights and excusing his transgression on the third day. Gawain responds by untying the girdle and cursing it, and asking to regain the host's trust if possible.

Gawain thanks the Green Knight and sends his best wishes to the lady and the old woman, then complains about the deceitfulness of women, who have brought about the downfalls of great men such as Adam, Solomon, Samson, and David. He accepts the girdle, though, and asks that the Green Knight tell him his true name. The knight agrees and reveals himself as Bertilak de Hautdesert, servant of Morgan le Faye, who is the old woman in the castle. Le Faye is also Gawain's aunt and Arthur's half sister, as well as Merlin's mistress

On his journey back to Arthur's castle, Gawain's wound heals, but he continues to wear the green girdle on his right shoulder. When he enters the court, he meets a gleeful reception and tells the story of his encounter with Bertilak. He explains that he intends to wear the green girdle forever as a sign of his failure and sin. Arthur and the court try to comfort Gawain, and they decide that they will all wear belts of green silk as a sign of respect and unity.