Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Middle English romance poem written by
an anonymous West Midlands poet also credited with a lot of other poems written during
that time. The protagonist, Sir Gawain, survives two tests: a challenge, which he alone
without the assistance of King Arthur's knights accepts, to behead the fearsome Green
Knight and to let him retaliate a year later at the distant Green Chapel; and the temptation
to commit adultery with the wife of Lord Bercilak--in reality the Green Knight--in whose
castle he stays in en route to the chapel. This story is emblematic of life; how it issues
tests and challenges and the consequences rendered as a result of failing or succeeding
these challenges.
Sir Gawain is a very symbolic character; symbolic in the sense that he represents
innocence in life. He was not afraid to accept a challenge because it meant saving the
kingdom from the affects of anarchy as a result of not having a king.
English: Temptation of Sir Gawain by Lady Bercilak...
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
English: "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", from t...Sir Gawain
accepting the challenge from the Green Knight instantly represented one of the things
that knighthood represented, fearlessness. People accept those kind of challenges
everyday. This could possibly be where the term 'sticking your neck out' could have
come from. When people accept challenges, most do not want to accept the
consequences as a result of being unsuccessful. Gawain was not like this. When the year
passed he gallantly mounted his horse and set off for the Green Chapel. This showed that
Gawain was brave. This was preceded by the warning 'Beware, Gawain, that you not end
a betrayer of your bargain through fear.'
Along this journey Gawain faces peril and self-reluctance in the form of the
elements and the never-ending search for the chapel respectively. These feeling can be
characterized as the...