While he is at the castle, and the lord is out hunting, the mistress of the castle, who is in true knights-in-shining armor spirit astoundingly beautiful, spends her time trying to tempt Gawain into having an affair with her. However Gawain is keeping aloofly noble, wittingly refusing her advances. However, one is struck by the number of times Gawain swears featly to people: King Arthur, the knight of the Green Chapel, the lord of the castle and his wife (who is not mentioned by name either). This makes it seem like Gawain will be tied in knots when the interests of those parties conflict. Gawain tells the lady, "But I'm proud of the price you would pay from your purse,/ and will swear to serve you as my sovereign forever./ Let Christ now know Gawain is your knight" (1277-1279). The consonance in this quote foreshadows what may be a major theme in the poem: money. Since it seems like the main conflict is humans fighting against nature, the "p"s in "price,""pay" and "purse" all have to do with money, and show how human greed for money causes them to disregard the enviornment.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (post 3)
The first half of the third section of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begins with Gawain still staying with the mysterious lord who has granted him shelter. The lord and Gawain have made a pact where they give each other whatever they have gained at the end of the day. The lord continues to go hunting, and every day he brings back massive piles of game for Gawain. In fact, the poet goes to extra pains to emphasize the effort the lord (who is never mentioned by name) goes to hunt. The poet writes, "So as the morning was lifting its lamp to the land/ his lordship and his huntsmen were high on horseback" (1137-1138). This use of personification shows how early the lord is going out to hunt. Even though deer are more active during the dawn hours than they are in the hot afternoon, the lord would have to get up especially early to go to mass, eat and prepare to ride out. The lord also seems suspicious because while he does this, Gawain essentially spends his days sleeping and eating at the castle.
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3 comments:
Gawain seems like a very shallow man and thinks that life can just be simply laid out in front of him. Having the lord hunt for him? Now that's a little pathetic; Gawain is the knight, he should be the one going out and hunting for the lord. And I can just imagine how proud Gawain truly is inside that the gorgeous mistress wants to have an affair with him, even though he refuses. I might not have read enough, but my impression of Gawain is that he is a very unsophisticated knight.
I like how you include poetic devices like personification to etablish scenery and such. I wonder what Sir Gawain would do if the lord did not go out and hunt. Great work finding themes and poetic devices!
I have to agree with Brenden on this one, Gawain doesn't seem to be a very respectable knight. He sits around all day letting the lord go hunting for him, and he doesn't even try to fulfill his side of the promise, which was to give whatever he gained from the fight with the green knight to the lord. Even though he turned down the mistress of the house, it doesn't seem that he turned her down because of morals
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