Sure enough, The Green knight changes his mind. On his final stroke, his axe barely grazes the side of Gawain's neck. Then he explains to Gawain what has happened. He and the lord who hosted Gawain are one and the same (he learned magic from a powerful sorceress). He explains that the "magical belt" Gawain is wearing was made by his wife, and was not magical at all. He instructed his wife to woo Gawain to test his virtues, and to give him the belt as a message to him not to kill Gawain if Gawain proved good enough. As it is, the Green Knight can only find one imperfection in Gawain. The Knight (who reveals his name to be Morgan le Fay) tells Gawain, "But a little thing more--it was loyalty that you lacked:/ not because you're wicked, or a womanizer, or worse,/ but you loved your own life; so I blame you less" (2366-2368). This quote is very true: no matter how virtuous, kind-hearted and compassionate humans may be, we are all basically self-centered creatures whose primal instinct is survival. If we take the Green Knight to symbolize nature, this quote helps support the theme that humans will fight against nature unless nature cooperates. This is a sad thing, because nature hardly ever cooperates exactly with human plans and this causes us to destroy the enviornmnet. In the end, Gawain rides off to Camelot and arrives safely back to the court of Arthur (though without a woman, becuase he is now convinced that women bring about the downfall of men).
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (post 6)
The entire climax and resolution is packed into the last fifteen pages of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Susipcious characters are explained, and Gawain's virtues and faults are brought fully into the light. The Green Knight has already attempted to chop Gawain's head off once, but as Gawain flinched both agree that it is only fair that he has another chance. This time, the Knight hesitates before Gawain's neck. After Gawain asks him why he does not strike, and calls him a coward for not being able to take another man's life, the green knight replies, "... since you speak so grandly/ there'll be no more shilly-shallying, I shall shatter you/ right now" (2302-2304). The sh sounds in "shilly-shallying" and "shall shatter" so the anger of the Green Knight. However, it also seems like he is less sure of his resolve to chop off Gawain's head, because sh is not a particularly hard or angry sound. This sound makes it seem like he's being a bit tricky and is not really angry at all.
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3 comments:
It sounds like you chose a really interesting book, Emily! I thought the point you made at the end of your post was really good because it is true that people do thing mainly about themselves when it comes to survival, and the only way to survive is to fight against nature.
I really, really love the way you see the themes is this book. The difference between humans and nature and the fact that no one is perfect. The constant theme of humans trying to go against nature, which ultimately results in extinction of both, is something many people don't see. I think the fact that the green knight doesn't kill Gawain also shows that although nature can be scary and something we might fight against, like right now by burning down forests or just by flushing a toilet, it also shows us that nature isn't out to get us. Nature doesn't exist for us to cut it down, we exists because it exists, and we need to understand that today too.
You did a really good job of picking characters and relating them to larger themes. By relating the Green Knight to nature, you really show how ultimately, people will fight through almost anything in order to survive.
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