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| The Green Knight |
Introduction
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is a medieval tale of a chivalrous knight who must undergo tests that challenge his valor, his honor, and everything he believes in. Today, Sir Gawain is one of the most recognized knights of Arthur's round table along with Galahad, Percival, and Lancelot. This is the story that started it all for this humble knight, now an iconic symbol of faith and chivalrous conduct.
Part I
Our story begins in Camelot where we meet the Knight of the Green Chapel (Green Knight). He has successfully crashed the young King Arthur's Christmas party and has issued a "game" or sorts. Arthur may be the most courteous of them all, but that is no excuse for having horrible castle security.
The Game is simple, easy, and creepy :) The Knight will reward the challenger an axe of sorts made entirely of nature ~ ...all you need to do is take one swing at him (with a weapon)! Then a year and a day from now you will allow the Green Knight to take a swing at you ;) Seems pretty sweet as it looks like a win situation hands down. Of course, no one dares take the challenge; so Arthur, to keep his good honor, attempts to deal the swing. Unfortunately he is still young and is unable to life the axe above the giant of a man the Green Knight is, so the novice knight Sir Gawain, Arthur's nephew, of our story does it in his stead.
DOWN comes the AXE and OFF went the Green Knights head....YAY!!!! Story is over \o/ ... ... Nope, then we wouldn't have much of a story, would we? After being decapitated the Green Knight simply picks up his head and rides off into the dance. Here ends part 1.
The Green Knight exemplifies the constant war of the unknown and social order. He is a wild man that charges into Arthur's court and disrupts the peace and order! The Green Knight wears full green clothes begot from the wilderness, green tinted skin, wildly unruly hair, red burning eyes, and is barefoot. He is the wilds or the natural wilderness sent to challenge the created society of mankind. Just as Grendel is to the mead hall, the forest is to Gilgamesh's walls, and Ravana was to Rama.
The Game is simple, easy, and creepy :) The Knight will reward the challenger an axe of sorts made entirely of nature ~ ...all you need to do is take one swing at him (with a weapon)! Then a year and a day from now you will allow the Green Knight to take a swing at you ;) Seems pretty sweet as it looks like a win situation hands down. Of course, no one dares take the challenge; so Arthur, to keep his good honor, attempts to deal the swing. Unfortunately he is still young and is unable to life the axe above the giant of a man the Green Knight is, so the novice knight Sir Gawain, Arthur's nephew, of our story does it in his stead.
DOWN comes the AXE and OFF went the Green Knights head....YAY!!!! Story is over \o/ ... ... Nope, then we wouldn't have much of a story, would we? After being decapitated the Green Knight simply picks up his head and rides off into the dance. Here ends part 1.
The Green Knight exemplifies the constant war of the unknown and social order. He is a wild man that charges into Arthur's court and disrupts the peace and order! The Green Knight wears full green clothes begot from the wilderness, green tinted skin, wildly unruly hair, red burning eyes, and is barefoot. He is the wilds or the natural wilderness sent to challenge the created society of mankind. Just as Grendel is to the mead hall, the forest is to Gilgamesh's walls, and Ravana was to Rama.
Part II
We skip to a few weeks or so before a year and the day are up. Sir Gawain is now a more renowned and battle hardened knight. So like any honorable chivalrous knight he sets off on a journey to find the Green Knight's chapel and possibly his own death. Not many people can say they are the epitome of chivalry unless they willingly set off on a quest to die, and that is why I salute him o7.
A large part of this section is the arming of the hero and a rather large description of the Pentaganle on Sir Gawain's shield.
The Pentangle is a mixed celtic and catholic symbol. It is made with the unending knot and is said to branch out into more pentagles into eternity. Each of the points represents something as well, and they are the 5 senses, 5 fingers, 5 wounds of Christ, 5 joys Mary had of Jesus, and 5 virtues of Knighthood.
Towards the end Christmas is soon approaching and Gawain is in search of shelter to pray like a good knight should, and that is where he find the castle of Lord Bertilak...
Discussion
Would you consider the Green Knight a super villain? Gawain a super hero?
Post Script Don't question Gawain's motives for taking Arthur's place !? He is simply the first one who stood up ;)
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I would have loved to have seen your answers to the questions you raise. That's kinda what the purpose is to these blogs, for us to see your thoughts. But I'll take a stab. I don't think Gawain is a superhero, perhaps simply for the reason that he manifests no real superpowers. I do think he has a lot of the markers that indicate a superhero as we discussed in class on Monday.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I wouldn't call the Green Knight a supervillain in this piece, but I do think there is one.
Ah, I will be sure to do that this week. I was going to wait for someone to reply to start it off.
ReplyDeleteI would agree Gawain in this story is not a superhero, but I would further say he is not in his other chronicles as well. Knights in general...will tend to stay in the domain of super hero rather than superhero. The humility factor in chivalry stops them from being too powerful and makes them more human.
The Green Knight seems to be more of the TEST itself rather than any form of villain. It should be more apparent when we talk about it next class.
I really enjoyed reading this blog because a lot of your personality shines through it and makes it interesting to read. I like how you incorporated the arming of the hero scene. The fact that his shield is decorated with the Pentangle, which holds deep meaning within the story, strongly reminded me of Achilles' shield, and how they spent forever on describing it's details. Although they did not spend as much time in this story describing it, I think that the symbol on the shield shows how important Catholicism is in the story.
ReplyDelete