In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is described as a perfect embodiment of Solomon’s Pentangle. Before Sir Gawain rides off to receive the Green Knight’s blow, he has the Pentangle painted onto his shield. All five points of the pentangle on Sir Gawain’s shield symbolize a virtue of a perfect knight. They are the Five senses/wits, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of Mary, and the 5 virtues; generosity, sociability, courtesy, piety and purity. Many critics believe that, there is not a constant relationship between the five points of the pentagon, and the virtue attributed to them. The five joys of Mary, for example, represents Courage, while the fifth group stands for the five virtues of Knighthood. Second
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The first instance of this failing is during the beheading scene, in the very beginning. “ A number of critics tend to read the Green Knight’s challenge for someone to exchange blows with him as if he were asking someone to chop his head off … (others) present the stranger’s challenge as an exchange of blows rather than an invitation to chop off his head.”(Victoria L. Weiss). Gawain does not use the five wits he is known for, and wonder why the stranger would put himself at such a disadvantage. By allowing Gawain the first blow, the Green knight is at a severe disadvantage, where he will most likely die. That is unless he is protected by magic, or has a death wish, which Gawain would have realized, if he had not been so impulsive. No one puts them in a life-threatening position, unless they have a way out. But courtesy got the better of Gawain, and instead of Arthur falling into the Green knight’s trap, his vassal, Gawain did. Gawain was also to impulsive when he accepted the girdle from Lady Bertilak. Seeing as Gawain was about to die, he should have been a little wary of the “magic girdle”. It should seem a little a strange to Gawain, that the one thing he needs, would cause his to break his oath with Bertilak, which has been Lady Bertilak’s goal the entire three days. If Sir Gawain was not on “death row”, he would have seen through Lady …show more content…
Hollis said that Gawain's first reaction to his own failings, corresponded to the action of a morality play. The vice in a morality play, are character, outside of the actual character, that tempt the protagonist. (p.268) Sir Gawain’s first reaction to his failings, was to try and find someone or something to blame. It is human nature to shift blame onto something else, to retain a good image. The first thing Gawain says caused his failings, were the exterior forces, cowardice, and covetous. Gawain believed that these two horrible vices were not apart of himself, but outside forces tempting him. After Gawain realizes how weak his argument is, “and, like Adam before him, confronted with irrefutable evidence of his fault, he swings from the extremes of shame to the extremes of self-justification.” (Hollis. Pg.269) Gawain blames Lady Bertilak for all the problems that afflict Sir Gawain. Gawain found another way to save his integrity, one that shifted the blame away from himself. Even when Gawain returns to Arthur’s court, he explains cowardice and covetous as exterior forces that he picked up, when he accepted the girdle. He is a perfect knight, who has caught the disease of sin. Gawain never accepts the fact that he is not perfect, and that covetous and cowardice were part of
The first instance of this failing is during the beheading scene, in the very beginning. “ A number of critics tend to read the Green Knight’s challenge for someone to exchange blows with him as if he were asking someone to chop his head off … (others) present the stranger’s challenge as an exchange of blows rather than an invitation to chop off his head.”(Victoria L. Weiss). Gawain does not use the five wits he is known for, and wonder why the stranger would put himself at such a disadvantage. By allowing Gawain the first blow, the Green knight is at a severe disadvantage, where he will most likely die. That is unless he is protected by magic, or has a death wish, which Gawain would have realized, if he had not been so impulsive. No one puts them in a life-threatening position, unless they have a way out. But courtesy got the better of Gawain, and instead of Arthur falling into the Green knight’s trap, his vassal, Gawain did. Gawain was also to impulsive when he accepted the girdle from Lady Bertilak. Seeing as Gawain was about to die, he should have been a little wary of the “magic girdle”. It should seem a little a strange to Gawain, that the one thing he needs, would cause his to break his oath with Bertilak, which has been Lady Bertilak’s goal the entire three days. If Sir Gawain was not on “death row”, he would have seen through Lady …show more content…
Hollis said that Gawain's first reaction to his own failings, corresponded to the action of a morality play. The vice in a morality play, are character, outside of the actual character, that tempt the protagonist. (p.268) Sir Gawain’s first reaction to his failings, was to try and find someone or something to blame. It is human nature to shift blame onto something else, to retain a good image. The first thing Gawain says caused his failings, were the exterior forces, cowardice, and covetous. Gawain believed that these two horrible vices were not apart of himself, but outside forces tempting him. After Gawain realizes how weak his argument is, “and, like Adam before him, confronted with irrefutable evidence of his fault, he swings from the extremes of shame to the extremes of self-justification.” (Hollis. Pg.269) Gawain blames Lady Bertilak for all the problems that afflict Sir Gawain. Gawain found another way to save his integrity, one that shifted the blame away from himself. Even when Gawain returns to Arthur’s court, he explains cowardice and covetous as exterior forces that he picked up, when he accepted the girdle. He is a perfect knight, who has caught the disease of sin. Gawain never accepts the fact that he is not perfect, and that covetous and cowardice were part of