Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
1. When was it supposedly written?
2. Who is the author?
3. Poet’s style? Sophisticated, cultured. How does it resemble Chaucer?
The Two Plots of the Tale
1. The beheading contest: What is it? Who is in it? What is the outcome?
2. The temptation: How? Who?
Who was Gawain?
· His parents were King Lot of Orkney and King Arthur’s sister, Morgan le Fay.
· The symbol of his coat of arms is a pentangle which is a symbol of truth.
· Gawain’s strengths: truth, soldierly courage, loyalty, humility
· Gawain’s weaknesses: desire, susceptibility to passion, lying and fear
Characteristics of the Romance
1. contains supernatural elements and/or mystery
2. old, archaic quality; story is set in the distant past
3. contains a simple plot
4. young knight, embarks on a perilous quest, sometimes encounters and slays a dragon, may marry the beautiful princess
Homework Answers
p. 146
1. To exchange one blow with another with the two-bladed ax. The Green Knight will suffer the first blow; in return, the challenger who strikes him must agree to withstand one blow from the Green Knight a year hence.
2. Sir Gawain agrees to meet the Green Knight at the Green Chapel, on the next New Year’s Day. .
3. Sir Gawain’s conflict pits his loyalty to his host against the temptations offered by the host’s wife, who seems eager to seduce Gawain.
4. He is silent about the magic sash that the lady has given him.
5. At the first stroke of the ax, Sir Gawain flinches slightly and the Green Knight holds back. At the second stroke, Sir Gawain stands boldly, but the Green Knight stops again and holds back his ax. On the third stroke, the ax nicks the name of Gawain’s neck and wounds him slightly. The Green Knight then forgives Sir Gawain’s lapses from the code of chivalry and gives him a gold-embroidered green girdle.
In class, answer questions 8, 12 and 13.
Quiz on Gawain on December 8