Introduction
In the present day, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight may be regarded as masterpieces of Middle English literature and one of the most prominent and well-known Arthurian stories. It is a classic example of a chivalric romance based on English, Irish, and Welsh stories as long as French writing traditions. It was written in the 14th century.
However, its author remains unknown. It represents the shift from traditional beliefs in human perfection determined by the chivalric code to the perception of people’s weakness and the Lord’s almightiness.
Therefore, this work aims to assess how the poem is affected by a Christian worldview and how social changes are reflected in it, describe the interconnection between religious principles and the romance’s plot, and how a Christian perspective is represented through rich symbolism. According to the findings, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight constitutes multiple themes related to Christianity, including the Lord’s almightiness, forgiveness, and mercy, the necessity to face challenges to test faith, salvation, the freedom of choice, the imperfection of human nature, and sin that should be remembered for its avoidance in the future.
Summary
According to the plot, a gigantic Green Knight visits King Arthur’s hall at Christmas in the middle of the knights’ feasting. He proposes a challenge for them – any knight may cut his head with an axe but will face a return stroke after one year (Anonymous 11). Sir Gawain accepts these conditions and beheads a visitor who leaves with his severed head, ordering the knight to meet with him in the Green Chapel.
After one year, Gawain leaves Camelot to fulfill the agreement. Searching for the Green Chapel, he sees a castle and gets acquainted with the lord and his wife. The Lord proposes that the knight stays for several days and proposes a bargain to inform them about everything they see. The lord goes hunting every day while his wife tries to seduce Gawain and kisses him (Anonymous 44).
On the third day, she proposes to him a magic green girdle, which protects an individual who wears it. Gawain accepts the belt but hides it from the lord. When Gawain meets the Green Knight in the chapel, he expects to be beheaded. However, the Knight swings his axe twice and finally leaves a small cut on Gawain’s neck (Anonymous 74). Subsequently, he explains that he is the castle’s lord – he did not kill the man due to his honesty but injured him to remind him about his intention to hide the belt. Gawain repents his fault and returns to Camelot with the cloth.
Background
On the one hand, as a chivalric romance, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight follows a classic plot formula of its time. According to it, guided by his loyalty to the chivalric code, king, and Christian morality, a knight faces a challenge, travels to meet it, and returns home after learning a particular lesson (Kaske 24). Moreover, knighthood is based on faithfulness, courtesy, and heroic ideals, which are reflected in the character’s actions, words, and symbols (Kaske 31). On the other hand, art traditionally reflects the peculiarities of reality – therefore, for a comprehensive understanding of how the Christian view is reflected in romance, it is essential to assess how social norms, values, and beliefs of the 14th century were transmitted.
In general, the poem reflects social changes based on the transformation of worldviews affected by religions. According to Fyfe, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight addresses “the overarching significance of Britain’s development from a pagan heroic to a chivalric Christian culture” (81). In England, Christianity was introduced in 597, facing the resistance of different branches and institutions of polytheistic paganism (Goodson 1). However, “over the next seventy-five years, the burgeoning country quickly grew unified under the tenets of Catholicism, transforming many of the practices of their ancestors into Christian traditions” (Goodson 1). At the same time, the fusion of religions impacted literature in which new norms, principles, and beliefs were introduced to demonstrate their clash or co-existence with existing traditions.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the intersection of religions is presented through magic to explore Catholic beliefs. In the 14th century, Christianity was established as a solid, structured, and unified faith, and the romance is a religious story in which mysticism allows to present Christian lessons comprehensively (Goodson 1). Moreover, the poem reflects the message standard for both religions – people should follow God’s rule, or they will fail.
At the same time, the clash of the two systems of beliefs is represented in the poem through the failure of chivalric ideals and the insufficiency of the quest for perfection. According to Carrière, “many interpretations of the poem center upon the concern for pride in perfection which it displays” (27). Gawain’s beliefs in his perfection are supported by three circles of believers, including the knight himself, Arthur’s court, and people outside it, and they are addressed through the character’s thoughts, feelings, and actions (Carrière 28). However, the challenge introduced by the Green Knight for Gawain as a perfect courtier demonstrates the frailty of the chivalric code’s principles and ideas compared to Christian morality.
Moreover, the poem may be viewed as the confrontation of chivalry and Christianity as two different value systems. Strite states, “In the context of romance conventions, Gawain’s actions are perfectly appropriate: one knight makes a challenge, another accepts it” (4). At the same time, during his journey, the main character faces the necessity to make choices and follow the principles of the chivalric code at the same time. For instance, his behavior regarding his interactions with the lady of the castle represents the necessity to reject the woman’s attempts to seduce him and be courteous so as not to offend her simultaneously.
Therefore, it is possible to assume that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight address social and religious change. On the one hand, it refers to the transition from code-determined strict chivalric rules and rituals to the freedom of choice peculiar to Christianity (Tracy 31). On the other hand, people’s beliefs in their perfection are replaced by the perception of ideals’ frailty and human imperfection.
Reflection of Christian Values and Principles in the Poem through Symbols
First, Christianity is reflected in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight through the main characters, the knights, who identify as Christians. According to Carrière, “Gawain bears Mary’s image within his shield; he searches for a place where he may hear Mass; he receives the sacrament of Penance” (36). At the same time, the poem addresses several paramount concepts of Christianity through symbols, and God’s mercy and forgiveness for a human’s repentance that provides salvation are among them. Gawain’s journey reflects the way of a believer to the Lord, from beliefs in their perfection to understanding the weakness of human nature that results in sin and God’s almightiness. The transformation of an individual’s perceptions is determined by challenges and quests that test their sincere faith and reveal the significance of morality and honesty. In the poem, Gawain faces multiple struggles that finish in the Green Chapel, the house of God, where he feels shame after he realizes that his fault leads to dishonor.
In the poem, God is reflected through the Green Knight – its visit to Camelot symbolizes the apocalypses as the destruction of traditional principles and ideals in favor of new Christian morality. His agreement with Gawain resembles the Ten Commandments as “a form of agreement between man and the Father” (Goodson 1). As a believer and a courtier, Gawain is responsible in front of the Green Knight for his promise; however, during his journey, he receives an opportunity to perceive the significance of the Lord’s will and the significance of obedience.
Christmas plays a vital role in the poem as a symbol of God’s presence, His mercy, and people’s ability to admit their sins, repent, and strengthen their faith. First, the story begins at Christmas with the appearance of the Green Knight with green, gold, and red colors in his apparel that symbolize this holiday and ends in the Green Chapel at Christmas (Carrière 26). The clash of value systems may also be observed here: “Gawain’s response to the Green Knight’s challenge is in accord with the violent romance conventions of the poem, which are in opposition to the poem’s Christian ideals” (Strite 4).
At the same time, both holidays depict the transformation of believers when they stop underestimating the power of faith and the significance of repentance and the Lord’s mercy. Thus, at the beginning of the story, the knights of the Round Table do not pay particular attention to the religious significance of Christmas as they gather for gifts and games (Carrière 37). However, when all knights wear green belts when Gawain returns, it demonstrates their deep understanding of the necessity to obey God’s rules and remember sin to prevent its commitment.
The lady is another powerful symbol associated with people’s failure caused by seduction. In the poem, “she pressed that prince of price so close, I trow, that day, leaning so nigh her point, that need upon him lay to take her proffered love, or roughly say her nay— for courtesy his care, lest he be craven knight,” (Anonymous 59). With her attempts to attract and seduce Gawain through the manipulation of her sexuality and femininity, she symbolizes biblical temptresses and reflects the failure of Adam and Eve at the same time (Carrière 35; Goodson 1).
In the poem, this character emphasizes the significance of avoiding sinful temptations. As Gawain cannot resist her magic gift, his decision leads to the willingness to conceal it and violate his agreement with the lord. In the Green Chapel, he was injured by the Green Knight for his fault. Thus, reflecting Christian principles, the poem shows that people may be weak in front of seduction. However, their faults result in sinful thoughts and actions, and only sincere repentance may guarantee salvation and God’s mercy.
Finally, sin is reflected in a green belt given to Gawain by the lady. Being irresistible for the knight, a magic girdle symbolizes the imperfection of human beings, especially when they face the inevitability of suffering or death (Carrière 37). At the same time, it is closely connected with freedom of choice, another Christian principle. Moreover, this freedom reflected in Gawain’s behavior is associated with animals killed by the lord.
For instance, a deer is associated with purity and indecisiveness, a boar symbolizes persuasiveness, and a fox is notorious for trickiness (Kaske 29). The sequence of these creatures’ deaths reflects Gawain’s behavior and choices as he finally violates his bargain with the lord and keeps a belt secret. Subsequently, when the Green Knight expresses mercy and does not kill but injure the man for his fault, he repents it, seeing that his weakness leads to dishonorable decisions and actions.
Conclusion
To conclude, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight relates to Christianity through rich symbolism that addresses major religious principles and values. The poem may be regarded as a Christian one. However, the use of mysticism in the story contributes to the perception of the significance of unified faith and the Lord’s almightiness. Gawain’s journey symbolizes the path of a believer, from the rejection of searching for ideals to the understanding of people’s imperfections. Moreover, the poem reflects the principles of God’s mercy, forgiveness, repentance, salvation, and temptations that lead to sin.
Works Cited
Anonymous. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Jessie L. Weston, Middle English Series Cambridge, Ontario, 1999. Web.
Carrière, Jean Louise. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a Christmas Poem.” Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, 1970, pp. 25-42. Web.
Fyfe, Daniel. “Beowulf, Sir Gawain, and the Christian Influence in Old and Medieval English Poetry.” Philologica Canariensia, 1995, pp. 77-91. Web.
Goodson, Ellen T. “Mysticism and Christianity in Early English Literature: Comparing” Beowulf” and” Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”.” Inquiries Journal, vol. 2, no. 7, 2010, p. 1. Web.
Kaske, Robert E. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Medieval and Renaissance Studies, vol. 10, 1979, pp. 24-44. Web.
Strite, Sheri Ann. “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: To Behead or Not to Behead—That is a Question.” Philological Quarterly, vol. 70, no.1, 1991, pp. 1-12. Web.
Tracy, Larissa. “A Knight of God or the Goddess?: Rethinking Religious Syncretism in” Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”.” Arthuriana, vol. 17, no. 3, 2007, pp. 31-55. Web.