Stories.
A man waits among his peerage, eager to distinguish himself before his king. His opportunity arises in the form of a man of green, neither friend nor foe, but a tester of men from beyond the boundaries of the church. He is tall, his raiment one of fine embroidery despite his leafy personage. He offers a challenge to the hall, filled to the brim with puissant men whose bravery has been tried and found unyielding.
“Strike me! Take my axe – a bold and decisive weapon – and strike me once! But know that in one year hence, thine strike shall be returned in full.”
The knights of this hall are no stranger to supernatural happenings. And each man knows better than to be the first to accept such a challenge. Yet it is the king’s hall. And if no man will stand, it is the king who must accept. The crown, resplendent and beyond contention, rise with its wielder, but it is a man who has waited that answers;
“I will take thy challenge.”
In 14th century England, the world was expanding in ways people could not yet comprehend. Its people had endured the Black Plague, the Hundred Years War, and (depending upon the source) a weak or tyrannical monarch in Richard II, resulting in the Peasants Revolt of 1381. Such times have always provided fodder for creatives. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio; great works of literature that have continued through the centuries in many iterations.
It is my personal belief that stories continue in the public consciousness because they remain relatable. It’s not just about what was lauded by scholars, but what it means to the everyday reader who looks at the symbolism and verbiage from hundreds of years ago and still finds something familiar to keep them engaged.
So, we ask ourselves, what do we find relatable? What has maintained from this dense and enigmatic medieval tome that we can still look back and find something of ourselves to know in The Green Knight?
Our Story Begins…
The tale opens in Camelot on New Years Eve. King Arthur is in the mood for a rousing tale and bids his knights to entertain him. A truly huge man enters, green from head to toe, wearing no armor about himself but bearing in his hands an axe and a bough of holly. He deems all men in the hall too weak for a proper fight, but proposes a game instead. The Green Knight proposes that someone will strike him with his axe, however,r they please, with the understanding that the knight will receive the same blow in return one year from now.
“…then there burst in at the hall door, an awesome being, in height one of the tallest men in the world, from the neck to the waist so square and so thick was he, and his loins and his limbs so long and so great that half-giant I believed him to have been…At the hue of his noble face men wondered; he carried himself in hostile fashion and was entirely green.”
– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by W. A. Neilson
When no other knight rises, King Arthur is ready. But Gawain, his youngest knight and nephew, is eager to prove his muster before the famous king. The battle is set to begin, but when the Green Knight kneels and offers his neck to the sword, Gawain beheads him in a single blow! All sense of cheers and triumph die fast, when the decapitated guest stands, collects his severed and bloodied head, and reminds his rival that they are doomed to meet again…one year hence.
Having proved his bravery, Sir Gawain passes the next year quickly. When the time draws near, he takes his leave from Camelot and goes to meet the Green Knight. After many minor adventures and battles, Gawain becomes exhausted and in need of rest. He comes upon a castle that is inhabited by a handsome lord and his beautiful wife. They are thrilled to have such a famous guest and treat him splendidly. The Green Chapel, where Gawain is fated to become reacquainted with the mysterious knight, is only a short ride from here, so he is encouraged to rest until his appointment. During his stay, the lord of the castle proposes a game. He will go hunting on the verdant grounds and every day, he will bring back something for his guest. In return, his guest must give him whatever he gains during the day.
“Yet further,” quoth the hero, “let us make an agreement. Whateverso I win in the wood, it shall be yours, and whateverso fortune ye achieve exchange with me therefor. Sweet sir, swap we so, swear truly, whichever one of us gets the worse or the better.”
– Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by W. A. Neilson
Gawain agrees. But when the lord leaves to go hunting, the lady of the house enters and attempts to seduce Gawain. The knight remains loyal, however, permitting the lady nothing but a single kiss. When the lord of the house comes back and gifts his guest a fine deer, Gawain has no choice but to give the man what he has received. Twice more he rebukes the ladies’ advances, and when he refuses her a third time, she begs him to take her green and gold sash, which is enchanted for protection. In a moment of weakness, he accepts. Before he leaves, Gawain gives the lord three kisses, but keeps the sash a secret.
The next day, Gawain arrives at the Green Chapel for his appointment. He finds the Green Knight sharpening his axe. Gawain kneels to receive his blows. At the first swing, Gawain flinches, and the Green Knight chastises him for it. Gawain returns to his position, and the knight swings again, delivering but a blunt connection to test the man’s nerve. In anger, Gawain tells the knight to deliver the swing and finish their business. This time, the Green Knight swings in earnest…
And delivers a small nick upon Gawain’s neck.
When Gawain rises, he finds himself standing with no less than the lord of the castle who acted as his host. He reveals that this entire adventure has been the scheme of none other than Morgan le Fay, Arthur’s half sister and a sorceress who sought to strike fear into Arthur’s knights and potentially cause the death of Queen Guinevere. Gawain has passed all the tests, thought he was given a small wound as punishment for trying to conceal the enchanted scarf. The two part amicably and when Gawain returns to Camelot, he is forgiven for his minor failures and the Knights of the Round Table take to wearing a sash as reminder to remain honest.
To Err is Human
The Green Knight, also known as Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, is an Arthurian poem written sometime around 1375 by an unknown author who is often referred to as the Pearl Poet. The tale draws from Welsh, Irish, and English folklore as well as English and French codes of chivalry. It is one of the better-known Arthurian legends, despite the fact that the titular king is barely involved with the story beyond the initial challenge taking place in his hall. Many scholars lend credence to the theory that the story actually stems from much earlier, pagan roots and went through the same rebranding as much of the old ways as Christianity became the dominant religion through the region.
Because of this, our tales focuses primarily on the moral (more or less) exploits of its characters rather than their personal journey. Sir Gawain himself makes for an interesting character. He is a young man, the newest knight, eager to prove himself before his unanimously famous uncle, and ultimately, flawed. A decent enough man overall, devout but prone to the same lapses as any human being. Many such tales throughout the era focus on sinners more than saints, as it’s a little harder to relate to perfection. Each of Gawain’s encounters is meant to test his virtues as a knight and, in a more devious way, call into question the quality and validity of Arthur’s knights.
The overarching theme that crawls along the pages like ivy through brick is the constant balancing act of man and nature. The Green Knight stands in contrast to the world of iron and stone that Camelot embodies. He is the natural world (or in some interpretations the pagan world), unrestrained, invading the civility of a feast hall. We must remember that the wilderness was a threat to the average person, not merely in the forest that lies beyond the hedge, but in man’s own imperfect nature that values survival over the concept of sin. The Green Knight tests Gawain’s resolve to hold to his virtues even when his own instincts would deem otherwise.
His loyalty to his King is tested at the feast, where Gawain enters into the initial competition so that Arthur (who is aging) will not have to. Gawain is tested again in the lords manor, their complex agreement and the lady’s attempts at seduction putting to question how Gawain handles it when his knightly vows contradict one another. He maintains his vow of chastity but breaks his oath to his host. He honors his promise to the lady but in doing so, breaks his vow of courage.
Yet his failure to maintain perfect virtue becomes his defining characteristic. We see our hero go, not to his execution, but to his final test, where the Green Knight is to return the blow he received. In this final climactic moment, Gawain has his choices laid out before him and is judged rather forgivingly for his slights. The Green Knight does not even really blame him for the sash, as Gawain kept it out of concern for his own life rather than affection towards the lady. Even when he returns to Camelot to tell of his adventure, his fellow knights do not admonish him but take his tale to heart as a reminder of their own vows.
To me, the tale of Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight evokes a deep sense of antiquity in which the tales we tell carry truth if you only know how to read them. Gawain is no great hero in the vein of Herculese or Beowulf. Overshadowed by greater knights with a list of deeds longer than a lance and utterly eclipsed by his uncle, King Arthur, Gawain is a young man with everything to prove. And yet his victory is not flawless. He is easily provoked. He is lustful. He lies. He displays cowardice. But his flaws are what make him known now, over six hundred years later. They make him human, fated to forever seek balance between his aspirations of civility and his own innate nature.
Resources
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sir-Gawayne-and-the-Grene-Knight
https://www.thecollector.com/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight