The Theme Of Otherness In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

In literature the theme of “otherness” is considered to be something bad. The reason for such a belief is because “otherness” represents a character whose personal qualities go against the standards of society. In The tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and in Marie de France’s lai Lanval, the Green Knight and the Fairy Queen are two characters whose appearance, isolation, and values act in accordance with “otherness”. While the characters are the epitome of “otherness”, how they represent the theme conflicts with the ideas of what an “other” character is with what it is supposed to be.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight is described as an unusual yet fascinating sight in Arthur’s court. To start, the Green Knight is …show more content…
By putting Sir Gawain to the test, the Green Knight shows that Sir Gawain is not as honorable as he is considered to be. He also gives Sir Gawain the scar on his neck as a reminder of dishonor for not returning the green girdle and makes him keep the girdle as a symbol of his shame. While, there is sympathy for what Sir Gawain did, his actions showed that the values of chivalry and honor are not as ideal as they are considered to be. How the Green Knight affects the way Sir Gawain is viewed also questions just how the knights of the Round table live up to their reputations and how the culture that dominates those ideas within the poem affects the ideas of …show more content…
When Lanval breaks the sacred oath he becomes a “damsel in distress” and the Fairy Queen takes on the role of being Lanval’s “knight”. According to Marie de France, the Fairy Queen demonstrates chivalry as a knight would by coming at the last minute to “rescue” Lanval: “They were about to give their judgement / when through the city came riding / a girl came riding on horseback” (De France 547-549). The Fairy Queen is also portrayed as a symbol of loyalty and justice, which is proven in the end of the story. The Fairy Queen’s handmaidens appear twice before the Fairy Queen possibly as a way for her to test Lanval and see if he was still as loyal to her as before. When Lanval denies the handmaidens, the Fairy Queen to return the loyalty by breaking her oath of never seeing him again in order to save him. In the King Arthur’s court, the Fairy Queen asserts her power of sexual appeal to keep the court entranced from continuing the trial. By doing so she immediately demands the freedom of Lanval by justifying that he is her beloved and that what actually happened between Lanval and Queen Guinevere was twisted so that Lanval would die out of unfair