In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight the three crimes that Sir Gawain is guilty of is: cowardice, covetousness and treachery. The events that lead him to commit those crimes is when he accepts the green girdle that Lady Bertilak gives him as “lover’s token” and also mentions to him that it will protect and make the wearer invincible. For Sir Gawain, the green girdle represents his survival but also failure. The reason it also represents failure is because he fails to exchange the green girdle with Bertilak as the terms of their agreement indicated. Both men agreed that they were going to do an “Exchange of Winnings” and exchange what they received during the time that Sir Gawain was at Bertilak’s home and Bertilak was out hunting. By Sir Gawain
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When the Green Knight approaches King Arthur’s court, his green appearance immediately symbolizes him as supernatural and his magical capability to survive the beheading seems to somehow be associated with his greenness. As mentioned in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year. Sir Gawain then accepts the offer and beheads him in one blow, only to see the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, put it back on; and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. (l 415-50). What also makes the Green Knight significant is that his green color symbolizes the natural world. For example, in the poem it describes the seasons, weather and hunting. With those descriptions, the color green appears to be a symbol of nature. Another reason why the Green Knight is significant it because he shows a lot of masculine traits. The Green Knight is a handsome, muscular, giant man with a beard big as a bush and a great green horse that is thick (l 135-85). This idea is supported by Carl Grey Martin, he mentions, “Superficially, the Green Knight is fantastic, manifesting qualities alien to the courtly community. He is giant-like and otherwise superhuman…” (311). This demonstrates that the Green Knight has qualities that have never been seen before and that he is superhuman and seems to be unafraid by anything that comes his
When the Green Knight approaches King Arthur’s court, his green appearance immediately symbolizes him as supernatural and his magical capability to survive the beheading seems to somehow be associated with his greenness. As mentioned in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight offers to allow anyone to strike him with his axe if the challenger will take a return blow in a year. Sir Gawain then accepts the offer and beheads him in one blow, only to see the Green Knight stand up, pick up his head, put it back on; and remind Gawain to meet him at the appointed time. (l 415-50). What also makes the Green Knight significant is that his green color symbolizes the natural world. For example, in the poem it describes the seasons, weather and hunting. With those descriptions, the color green appears to be a symbol of nature. Another reason why the Green Knight is significant it because he shows a lot of masculine traits. The Green Knight is a handsome, muscular, giant man with a beard big as a bush and a great green horse that is thick (l 135-85). This idea is supported by Carl Grey Martin, he mentions, “Superficially, the Green Knight is fantastic, manifesting qualities alien to the courtly community. He is giant-like and otherwise superhuman…” (311). This demonstrates that the Green Knight has qualities that have never been seen before and that he is superhuman and seems to be unafraid by anything that comes his