![]() ![]() Yet-have they? Gawain does indeed impart the lesson he has learned to his fellow knights, but do the other knights really understand it? The Gawain Poet recounts that, following Gawain’s story and his transmission of his lesson, “the whole of the court” decided to adopt the symbol of the bright green belt “as they laugh in lovely accord” (2514), implying by their laughter that they do not actually take Gawain’s lesson seriously, viewing the whole episode instead as a great joke. And thus order is restored and chivalry and the courtly culture which values it have triumphed. Gawain is absolved of his sin in the acknowledgement of it and in his lesson to his fellows-a lesson they heed and decide to honor through the adoption of bright green belts as reminders of their duty forever after. He returns to Camelot a man chastened and matured, ready to impart his lesson to his fellow knights, thus saving them from falling prey to the same errors he did. “I am found to be flawed and false, / through treachery and untruth I have totally failed” (2382-3) laments Gawain, immediately resolving to “bear the blame” (2386) and determining to wear the girdle evermore as a “symbol of sin” (2506) and a reminder to himself never to forsake the code of chivalry and succumb to the temptations of “cowardice and covetousness” (2508). But the tale does not end here rather Bertilak as the Green Knight teaches Gawain to see his fault and seek to repair it. Thus, it appears that when he succumbs to temptation in accepting the lady’s girdle, not only has Gawain failed, but the code and culture he represents have as well. Gawain himself is thus a symbol of all that aristocratic culture values and aspires to be. In the tale, the Gawain Poet presents the reader with a Gawain “as good as the purest gold” (633), a paragon of chivalry and prowess, whose virtue and purity are symbolized both in his connection to the Virgin Mary and in his association with the “endless knot” (630) of the pentangle, which represents his unending, infallible allegiance to the five main tenets of chivalry: friendship, fraternity, purity, politeness, and courtesy. As such, the text can be read as a celebration of the triumph of the chivalric code and the society it defines, presenting Gawain’s story as a quasi-parable about the importance of adhering to the values of chivalry. ![]() In the tale, Sir Gawain’s adherence to his values and to the code of chivalry is repeatedly tested and, in the end, he emerges a veritable paragon of knightly virtue-despite having succumbed briefly to temptation. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight takes as its subject the struggle between temptation and virtue. An Endless Knot: Contradiction of Chivalric Values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knightįrom the British Library’s MS Cotton Nero A.x folio of The Pearl. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |