Even though I liked Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I am confused about the significance of it. Even more so, I do not understand why the knight Gawain befriends is the Green Knight. I figured he was the Green Knight or at least not a real friend to Gawain because the game he proposed seemed sketchy. I was trying to understand the game and how it went along with the three huntings and the three temptings of the knight's wife, and all that I could come up with is how with each animal the temptations of the wife get more intense. The first game the knight kills are deer, which for the most part are innocent and harmless. And the first tempting of the wife seems harmless enough because she just wants to get to know Gawain more. But the next day, the knight and his men chase after a boar, and as most people know, boars can be savage beasts. And as we read, the wife just wants a little bit more of Gawain. She wants him to sleep with her, all the while testing him to see if he actually would. The last animal the knight brings home, is a fox which I think is very significant. Foxes are thought to be very cunning and wise and sneaky animals which seems to mirror the knight Gawain has befriended. The wife tricks Gawain into taking the gift she has given him, the girdle, and tells him not to tell her husband. This is the sin that Gawain gets caught in. So when he goes to the Green Knight's lair, in all honesty, he seems to be forgiven a lot easier than I would have thought. So all in all, I do not get the whole point of the Green Knight in the first place (again). Was the point just to see who was worthiest out of all of King Arthur's knights?
I commented on Wendy's and Ethan's!
I like the point you made about the fox being significant. I didnt pick up on that the first time I read. I think the story really shows how important it is to be honest and to be honorable in all you do, not just the big things. Gawain got the big things right. He faced the knight, but his small lie was his real downfall.
ReplyDeleteI like how you picked up on such small subtleties. I also think that Hannah has a point as with how a small little lie caused Gawain's downfall, as even though he braved many challenges, a chain is only as strong as the weakest link.
ReplyDeleteI like how you related the animals to the wife's temptations. Well, the point of the poem, I think, is to show what true honor is.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your perspective on this and took note of the different potential symbols of the animals that are correlated with the actions in the story. I agree with what they said in the comments above - I think that a point of the Green Knight is to test their honor.
ReplyDelete