The significant poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’s authorship has yet to be determined, and the only known is its compositional period, the fourteenth century. It is a story that honors chivalry and keeping one’s word and is based on the exploits of Sir Gawain, the nephew of King Arthur. One of its main themes is the symbolic significance of specific components, evidenced by historical texts. Before Sir Gawain begins his search for the Green Chapel and puts on his armor, the plot moves steadily. After this episode, the poet stops talking about events but pays attention and a significant part of the text to the description of Gawain’s shield. With the help of a meaningful symbol, the pentagon, this description contains essential information about Gawain that cannot be communicated within the plot alone.
The author emphasizes the meaning of the shield’s symbolic and historical significance. According to the poet, the star with five ends was first created by King Solomon (Sir Gawain 5). He described the shield: “For it is a figure that in it five points holdeth, and each line overlaps and is linked with another ” (Sir Gawain 4). The first knight’s shield’s purpose is to provide defense during the fight. It was also used to distinguish a knight from another in combat, even when their faces were hidden by their helmets (Warner 127). ” This emblem likewise represents the five wounds of Christ and the five joys of Mary (Outhwaite 154). Additionally, it stands for the five characteristics that every knight needs to have. These traits include franchise, fellowship, cleanliness, courtesy, and charity.
In conclusion, the symbolic theme enables the readers to comprehend the true meaning of medieval poems like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The pentagon was a significant symbol utilized in ancient Babylon, later in Jewish culture, and ultimately in Christianity, to which the author is alluding in the poem. The rectangle connects all the qualities of the ideal knight and the eternal nature of truth.
Works Cited
Outhwaite, Patrick. “Sir Gawain’s Penitential Development from Attrition to Contrition.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 56, no. 2, The Pennsylvania State UP, 2021, pp. 153–170. Web.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Translated by Simon Armitage, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2021.
Warner, Lawrence. “Notes on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Chaucer Review, vol. 56, no. 2, The Pennsylvania State UP, Apr. 2021, pp. 125–152.