Not only did the Norman Conquest imply a language …drago.intecca.uned.es/download/d3d3LmludGVjY2Eud… · Web viewliterature after 1066 was completely reoriented from a new continental

Change and Continuation

Not only did the Norman Conquest imply a language change: literature after 1066 was completely reoriented from a new continental standpoint1 - because the class that had sponsored Anglo-Saxon literature was

destroyed.

However, the Norman influence had started before the Conquest. - Moreover, the break with the past was not total.

In ecclesiastical history there was continuity from Bede to Ordericus Vitalis.

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regnum Britanniae (1130-38) linked2

Norman literature to British (pre-Saxon) tradition. According to these Celtic legends, the royal line of the British was started by Brutus, great grandson of Aeneas. It includes the stories of Lear and Cymbeline which so fascinated the

Elizabethans. It gives the story of Vortigern’s struggle against Hengist and Horsa. It also established most of the Arthurian Legends.

The Celtic-Norman interaction took place3 on other levels, too. - The Bretons who accompanied the Normans activity promoted the

Cornish language in the 11th and 12th Centuries and so prolonged its survival until the 18th Century.

The Arthurian traditions were combined with Provençal troubadour culture and the knightly values developed around the Crusades - to form an English variant on the ‘courtly love’ theme.

Arthurian mythology was so important to mediaeval hegemony in England that the Plantagenet’s toyed with4 the idea of renaming London ‘New Troy’.- of course, that would have been a bit like naming a ship ‘Titanic II’!

1 standpoint – perspective 2 to link – connect 3 to take place (take-took-taken) – occur 4 to toy with – consider

Beowulf & Gawain: Comparisons and Contrasts

It is improbable that the Gawain-poet knew Beowulf as the only copy of the Anglo-Saxon epic we have was rediscovered in the 18th Century. However, there are elements of continuity between the two works:- the most obvious is that the central hero’s name means ‘bear’ in each

case (Beowulf and Arthur).

While Anglo-Saxon heroics emphasized an allegiance to men and duty, - Middle English romance heroes are devoted more to a lady and to God.

Elements of Northern Ethos in Gawain

Heroic atmosphere of saga Stark (= desolado y no adornado) realism Harsh natural settings – threatening landscapes.

This is the northern European Waste Land, the Utgard of Norse mythology.

Combination of violent events, laconic understatement (= afirmación irónicamente comedida) and grim humour

Moral seriousness A similar conception of ‘fate’:

“How that destiné schulde that day dele hym his wyrde / At the grene chapel, when he the gome (= man) metes”.

Contains many Norse words that are rare or unheard of in the southern English of Chaucer. Many of these words and others refer to the harsher environment of the northwest. For example ‘crag’ (a Celtic word) [= risco] is not used by Chaucer (because there aren’t any crags in southern England).

The Hall & The Palace

The Hall/Palace is a place of warmth and community.- Nature outside its walls is hostile.

Both Grendel and the Green Knight could be seen as forces of hostile nature/the Devil threatening the community - though the Green Knight is evidently more sophisticated and subtle and- Nature as enemy is no longer confronted with force but with

manifestations of community.

Incidentally, the 14th Century saw another mini-Ice Age, which allowed5

the Black Death to be so devastating.

Barrows

The description of the Green Chapel in Gawain makes it sound like a barrow6: - it is “nobot an olde cave” (= just7 an old cave). - Why have tumuli reappeared in Beowulf, The Wife’s Lament and now

here?

Despite the Christian veneer8, it is a way of relating contemporary stories to the evident prehistory. - It helps the society to ‘belong’ to the land.

Possibly in the wilder regions of Britain (as J.L. Weston thinks in From Ritual to Romance) such ancient shrines of an earlier worship9 were still places of worship – certainly of veneration or fear – as late as the 14th

Century.

5 to allow – permit, enable 6 barrow – tumulus, burial mound 7 just – (in this case) no more than, only 8 veneer – (in this case) façade 9 worship – ritual veneration

The Arming

The arming of Beowulf (ll. 1446-64) and the arming of Gawain are both described in detail.This is a traditional motif of heroic poetry, found first in the Iliad (x4). - Also in Virgil’s Aeneid XII: 87-96).

St. Paul adapts the metaphor to moral arming for spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6: 13-17.

Gawain’s arms and armour are useless because he must submit to being decapitated voluntarily. - There is a possible parallel with Beowulf – his arms were useless against

Grendel: the warrior cannot use his conventional weapons against spiritual enemies.

The tradition of formal arming was coming to an end at the close of the 14th

Century. - Chaucer mocked it in Sir Thopas. - There is none in Malory’s Morte d’Arthur (c. 1470). - However, Spenser returned to it in The Faerie Queene (1590s)

The challenge for Gawain is that he must go against all knightly impulse and training – he must voluntarily bare his neck for execution.

Notice how Christ-like this sacrifice is. - This self-sacrifice could be compared to Beowulf at the end of the epic.

Gawain beats fairy-tale monsters – wolves, bulls, bears, boars, dragons, wodwos (= forest monsters or wild men) and giants – with almost comic ease and brevity.

His real test is emotional privation: - the loneliness and cold of a winter’s journey. He has to recognize his animal nature – he needs warmth and company and his will to survive – is more important than his honour.

At the same time, the ordinary domestic trials and ethical choices in the ‘exchange of winnings game’ are more demanding because they are more private and insidious.

This idea of the hero being tested in a thoroughly domestic – but no less heroic – setting10 would be revived by James Joyce in Ulysses.

10 setting – context

The Axe

Arthur has the axe hung on the wall as a trophy, but it is a sword of Damocles to Sir Gawain. There are similarities here, too, with the role of Grendel’s arm in Beowulf. - This Viking axe is a weapon of epic rather than11 romance.

The axe can also be interpreted as a ‘truth-bringer’. However, the axe could be seen as the favourite weapon of the Norsemen too. - The weapon that the Green Knight carries when he arrives at the Green

Chapel (not the same as Arthur’s trophy) is described as a ‘Danish axe’.

Boasting

Gawain describes himself as the least of Arthur’s knights in terms of both physical prowess and mental ability - very different from Beowulf’s boasting (Beot).

11 rather than – instead of, as opposed to, in contrast to

The Alliterative Renaissance?

It is now clear that the alliterative tradition survived in the 12th and 13th

Centuries, albeit12 largely13 in the oral tradition.

Almost all the poems we have are accidental survivors – we only have each of them in a single manuscript – the exception is Piers Plowman, which has been preserved in 47 manuscripts.

So, probably it was not a revival but a continuation. - Either, the tradition continued but was not written down or we have lost

the manuscripts. - Remember that in the first instance it was an oral tradition that could be

remembered and recited without the intermediary or writing and reading.

Also Laʒamon’s Brut (c. 1200) was in a modified version of the A-S alliterative meter – similar to the alliterative long line – (with occasional rhyme).- Laʒamon also used varied reiterative epithets to describe his protagonists,

much like Beowulf.

In any case, Sir Gawain reflects the influence of the Continental style: the subject matter is Arthurian and referring to courtly love, there is some rhyming (in the wheel) and the poem is divided into stanzas. Nearly 30% of the 2,650 words in the poem are of French origin.

The argument that the alliterative tradition never died is strengthened by the lines from Sir Gawain saying that the poet will tell his story,

Rightly, as it is written,A story swift and strongWith letters locked and linking,As scops have always sung.

The Gawain-poet places his poem within the oral tradition by addressing his audience and asking us to “lysten this laye” (= listen to this poem).

12 albeit – even if 13 largely – mostly, primarily

The Gawain-Poet & The Ricardian Renaissance

There was a flourishing of English literature in the late 14th Century – Chaucer, Gawain-Poet, Langland and Gower – unequalled until the 1590s.

Ricardian poetry often focused on confession and redemption - a theme aided, no doubt, by the ravages of the Black Death

What do G-P, Chaucer and Langland have in common?

Humour

G-P and Langland are both deeply devout, but both have a sardonic humour.

In contrast to Chaucer, G-P is not ironic or flippant (= frívolo) and does not tell secular comic tales.

Both Chaucer and Langland can be vulgar for humorous effect.

The description of the temptress in Sir Gawain and all she says and does is taken from the fabliaux tradition (= bawdy stories), while Gawain’s behaviour14 reflects the courtly love tradition. This creates just the right level of confusion and we don’t know if the temptress is serious or only playing (and Gawain doesn’t know either).Both Gawain and the temptress are experts in sophistically saying what they don’t mean. This is above all a game of words.

Courtliness

Neither G-P nor Langland is interested in romantic (i.e. courtly) love

However, G-P is very courtly.

Chaucer is also courtly but in a different way.

G-P is more attracted to courtly festivities than is Chaucer, who is dismissive about feasts and mocks15 Arthurianism.

14 behaviour – conduct 15 to mock – ridicule

Alliteration

G-P and Langland both write in alliterative verse.

Chaucer knew the alliterative style and used is occasionally – significantly for battle scenes (cf. The Knight’s Tale I, ll. 2605-13) and in his comic Sir Thopas.

Chaucer’s Parson ‘kan nat geeste, rum, ram, ruf, by lettre’ (= cannot recite “rum, ram, ruf”, letter by letter) because he is a ‘Southren’ man (The Parson’s Prologue, l. 43).

Chaucer and Langland reflect the satire and complaint typical of their age. - G-P, by contrast, focuses on praise.

Sir Gawain & The Green Knight

Romance

Romance reflects humanity’s vision of life as a quest16.

The protagonists of romance are male17

- the Breton lay Emaré is the exception that proves the rule.

The genre deals with18 young men and their passage to maturity- their emergence from a state of dependence on authoritative, parental

figures into autonomy and independence.

Romances recorded knightly adventures (“quests”) and honourable deeds19, occasionally with a subordinate element of love. - Their main20 focus was chivalry, although later romances show the impact of the idea of courtly love.

- These poems recorded the idealized version of the upper-class life: hunting, battles, defending ladies, feasting21, reading and playing chess.

The world of mediaeval romance was specifically created and designed to give the knight an opportunity to prove himself 22.

In the popular romances – and The Knight’s Tale – this is through jousting23 and battles. - However, in the more sophisticated romances, such as those of Chrétien

de Troyes and Sir Gawain, there is a more subtle kind of test.

It is one thing to charge off into a battle and kill or be killed; - it is quite another24 to voluntarily go in search of25 certain death to

protect the court’s honour.

16 quest – odyssey trying to find something 17 male – ♂, (in this case) men 18 to deal with (deal-dealt-dealt) – focus on, centre on 19 deed – accomplishment, feat, exploit, act20 main – primary, principal 21 feasting – banqueting 22 to prove oneself – demonstrate one’s valour 23 jousting – tournaments 24 it is quite another – it is a totally different thing 25 to go in search of – try to find

Northrop Frye26 saw romance as a cyclical movement that involves - descent into the night world, a place symbolic of death, alienation or

psychic paralysis- then a return to an idyllic world of restored life and reintegration.

To Frye romance differs from epic and tragedy in that heroism is most frequently understood in terms of suffering- often a male27 hero must voluntarily submit, allowing28 himself to be

acted upon.

Fredric Jameson29 identifies the needs of feudal nobility to define itself against what opposes it

- and yet recognize its resemblance to that opposition.

Homoeroticism and Courtly Love

Recent analysis has suggested a homo-social, if not homosexual, intent behind the typical love triangles in courtly love.- the competition between the lover-knight and the husband supersedes the

desire either has for the woman.

Is there a homoerotic element in the exchange-of-winnings game?

Petrarch borrowed from the courtly love convention and made unrequited love a standard aspect of the sonnet tradition.- in the Early Modern version an abject lover suffers at the hands of his

cruel lady who delights in torturing him (cf. Sidney).- elements of masochism.

26 The Secular Scripture: a Study of the Structure of Romance (1976)27 male – ♂28 to allow – permit 29 Magical Narratives: Romance as Genre (1975)

The Arthurian Tradition

The legend of King Arthur is of course in part a nationalistic militarized version of the central Christian story:- The leader with his 12 followers brings a new and superior value system. - He is eventually30 betrayed and killed- but he will return from the dead at Britain’s greatest hour of need.

This is of course combined with local pre-Christian tradition- for example, the practice that dates back to the Bronze Age of throwing

swords as offerings into lakes and rivers.

At the beginning of the story, Arthur refuses to eat at the New Year’s Eve feast until he has some strange news or until someone comes to challenge the court. - This is a standard Arthurian formula and the same occurs at the beginning

of the story of Sir Gawain’s Marriage.

30 eventually – (false friend) in the end

Characteristics of Romances:

- substantial narrative about high-born people- set far away or long ago (or both)- plot concerned with love or chivalry (or both)- there is an emphasis on the chivalric virtues of courage, grace, loyalty

and honour- the vast majority have happy endings (though the exceptions are some

of the most famous – e.g. Troilus & Criseyde and possibly Sir Gawain & The Green Knight

- not allegorical but often express some kind of inner meaning – the sentence – often related to the highest courtly or human ideals.

- There is often a tournament/jousting (but not in Sir Gawain).- They tend to be full of symbolism and include magic wielded by evil

people.- These ideas are likely to be31 compatible with Christianity but most

romances are primarily secular in focus.

However, most of this is as true for Beowulf as for Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The best thing is not to take nomenclature too seriously. - For instance32, epic poetry tends to concentrate on war (and this is not

true of Beowulf)- Both Beowulf and Sir Gawain can be seen as transitional works in the

continuum from epic to heroic elegy to mediaeval romance.

There is magic in Beowulf but the magic is not controlled and directed by some malevolent villain; it simply exists.

Indeed33, the only characteristic of mediaeval romance that Sir Gawain has and Beowulf doesn’t – and it’s a minor one – is the concealed identity of Sir Bertilak.

31 likely to be – usually, probably 32 for instance – for example 33 indeed – (emphatic) in fact

Women & Romance

Most lists of ‘Characteristics of Mediaeval Romances’ you find on the internet and elsewhere mention that “women are held in high regard”- this is an oversimplification since women tend to be idealized or

demonized. But this is true of Beowulf too: Wealhtheow is idealized, while Queen Modthryth is demonized.

- in any case in Sir Gawain the hero blames everything on women when the beheading34 game is over35.

- we have already been pointed in this direction by the references to Troy (Helen).

Beowulf is, in fact, less misogynist than Sir Gawain.

34 beheading – decapitation 35 to be over – have finished

The Gawain-Poet

Sir Gawain & the Green Knight is considered the greatest Arthurian romance in the English literary tradition. - The Gawain-poet is considered second only to Chaucer in terms of

Mediaeval English literature.

Nothing is known of him except that he wrote the poems in the Nero Cotton manuscript and that his dialect is that of the North Midlands; - he probably came from south Lancashire.

He was knowledgeable of court etiquette and may have read Bible commentaries in Hebrew. - He had a daughter who died (we know this from Pearl). - He uses a remarkably large vocabulary.

Sir Gawain & the Green Knight is bound with three other poems: Patience, Cleanness and Pearl. All of G-P’s poems involve the ultimate36 testing of the spirit’s ability to resist selfishness. Naturally, we all want

to be rich, to be idle, to give in to our own feelings, to feel sorry for ourselves, to be lecherous, to save our skins and to go with the crowd.

G-P urges us to resist these selfish desires.In the end the spirit wins a qualified victory in each poem.

Sir Gawain is tested for a combination of sexual desire, worldly self-regard and fear of death.

Sir Gawain & The Green Knight dates from some time between 1360 and c. 1400 (the date of the manuscript we have).

36 ultimate – (false friend) definitive

Structure

It is a midwinter festival poem. Notice that the two moments of action are centred on the Christmas festivities (Fits37 1 and 3-4). Fit 1: Camelot festivities interruptedFit 2: Gawain’s preparations to leave, his pentagram and his journey

through the wilderness.Fit 3: The winnings gameFit 4: The green chapel

Sources

The ‘Beheading38 Game’ comes from an 8th-century Irish legend relating to Cuchulain. The name of the lord of the castle, Sir Bertilak, probably comes from the Irish, bachlach, which means “a savage brute”. - Ultimately39, the Beheading Game may derive from pagan myths related

to the agricultural cycles of planting and harvesting crops- The direct source of the ‘beheading game’ is the 12th-century French

romance, La Livre de Caradoc.

The ‘exchange of winnings game/temptation’ is a common theme of mediaeval literature, for example in the Anglo-Norman Yder (c. 1200).

However, there is no other mediaeval combination of - the beheading game, - the exchange of winnings game and - temptation in an overall game of truth.

The poem places a Christian veneer40 over – or re-interpretation of – pre-Christian myth.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight also presents us with a version of translatio studii et imperii – a Latin phrase referring to the westward transfer of culture from one civilization (Classical Antiquity, in this case) to another (Medieval England).

37 probably from the Old Norse fit (= hem, dobladillo)38 beheading – decapitation 39 ultimately – (false friend) in the final analysis 40 veneer – (in this case) façade

The Significance of the Green Knight

What is the significance of green?

‘Green’ is used ► 44 times to describe the knight ► 5 times to describe the lady’s girdle► twice to describe grass ► once to describe spring and► once to describe the holly41

By contrast, it is used only 8 times in all the other three poems put together.

In 14th-century mediaeval literature green represented truth. (Notice that it did not have the modern connotation of ‘green with envy’).

The Green Knight seems to be a composite of: the Green Man, a pre-Christian fertility god still popular in British folk

celebrations today (and often represented in parish churches); the wild man – an archetype of the villein, the opposite of the

chivalrous knight; however, Gawain fights ‘wodwose’ (= wild men) before reaching Hautdesert. Wodwose were savage creatures, unclothed and covered with hair, who lived in the deep woods. The description of the GK is rather42 different.

the Green Knight also has elements of the traditional elf (he is described as ‘elfish’ in the poem), a dignified being in many ways superior to man.

This is a contrast between ‘nature’ and ‘sophistication’. The Green Knight represents ‘the Other’.

There could also be references to the Devil (who wore green – cf. The Friar’s Tale), to Cupid (a great hunter of animals and souls) and to shape-shifting Druids. - The Green Knight has some clearly pre-Christian attributes that are also

found in primitive folklore. - This is not surprising since the quest for the Grail is also steeped in43

paganism.

Huntsmen also traditionally wore green.

The Green Knight symbolizes the wildness, fertility, and death that characterize a primeval world.

41 a Celtic symbol of peace42 rather – (in this case) somewhat 43 steeped in – full of

Historical Green ‘Knights’

Two contemporaries could have been an inspiration:Amadeus, Count of Savoy (1334-83) was known as the Green Count because, from the age of 14, he only dressed in green.

There was a close connection between Savoy and England in the second half of the 14th Century.

A Green Squire, Simon Newton of Lichfield in the Midlands has also been identified.

Notice that Sir Gawain sets out on 2nd November, All Souls’ Day – an ominous choice. - All Souls’ Day was a Christian adoption from Celtic tradition (i.e.

Halloween) the day when the living and the dead could communicate.

The Green Knight explains that the whole44 episode was planned by Morgan Le Fay to try to frighten Guinevere to death in revenge for Guinevere having Christianized Arthur’s court. - Is this a satisfactory explanation?

Feminist critics focus on the relative power structures in the poem- Bercilak rules through Morgan’s power;- the aggressiveness of the lady towards Gawain;- the influence of the Virgin Mary.

Curiously, at the Green Knight’s first appearance he talks very much in the terminology of the law (notice especially his repeated references to ‘covenant’).- a year-and-a-day was the standard duration of a mediaeval contract.

However, in his final appearance he talks very much in the terminology of the Church (he ‘absolves’ Gawain of his sins45 by placing a penitence on him – wearing the green girdle).

44 whole – entire 45 sin – immoral act

To Kill A God

Earlier we saw how The Green Chapel was a barrow and how it helped the story ‘belong’ to the land.

Notice that this is a similar use of tradition and culture to that of Modernists such as T.S. Eliot. - The Wasteland (based on the Arthurian quest of ‘The Fisher King’) was

influenced by Weston’s book and by Sir James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (1890, 1915).

- Eliot and Joyce were building a new mythology out of the fragments of culture.

- The Green Knight’s ‘Rebirth’ after being decapitated fits perfectly into Frazer’s hypothesis about killing the god as a prerequisite to the resurrection of spring.

Notice that Sir Gawain is built around a year’s cycle. - The annual cycle is predictable but the end of the year is not.

The poem has both a linear and a circular structure: we are aware of46 - the recurring rhythm of the seasons (symbolically represented by the

endless knot of the pentangle) and - the evanescent beauty of this crucial year which may be Gawain’s last

(the finiteness of the girdle).

It is charted not only by the natural but also by the liturgical calendar: Christmas – Lent – Michaelmas – All Souls’ Day…

Notice that the seasons have been linked to the Four Ages of Man since the Secretum Secretorum, a didactic work supposedly composed by Aristotle for Alexander (and well known in the Middle Ages).

46 to be aware of – be conscious of

Tragedy & Comedy

The poem thus47 combines the great themes of comedy and tragedy (in their dramatic senses):- The roots48 of tragedy are found in the death of the individual;- The roots of comedy are found in the regeneration of the community.

Comedy is associated with ‘green nature’ (rejuvenation), - tragedy with ‘red nature’ (hunting; red in tooth and claw).

Notice that Gawain’s surcoat is red, as is the Lady’s dress when she first meets Gawain.

The poem is almost circular: it starts with a reference - to Troy, - to the founding of Britain and then - to Arthur’s court and Christmas and finishes (forgetting the final prayer) with the same elements in reverse order.

47 thus – in this way, therefore 48 roots – (in this case) origins

Gawain

Sir Gawain & the Green Knight is a complex poem about redemption.

The acceptance of the Green Knight’s challenge is not foolhardy49; - the generosity of the rules of the beheading game are unnerving – and the

appearance of the knight confirms suspicions that ordinary cannons of probability may not apply in this case.

- Gawain accepts to protect his king, knowing that ‘it is not a good idea’.

Notice that Gawain, as Arthur’s sister’s son, is the heir presumptive. - Theoretically, he stands most to gain from Arthur’s death. - His self-sacrifice is therefore the most potent symbol of community.

The Green Knight’s most damaging revelation to Gawain is that everything has been organised by Morgan, his aunt. - In Gawain’s veins runs as much blood of Morgan as of Arthur. - Gawain has as much potential to do evil as good. - He has to choose good; this is much more than simply being good.

Gawain’s failing is very slight50 and so the poem becomes a celebration of Christian knightly virtue. - Gawain has doubts and fears and makes little mistakes but, in the end,

these only serve to reinforce his virtue.

Whoever he deals with he is always courteous.

In this context, ‘courtesy’ implies that outward appearances reflect inner values. Chaucer mentions Gawain as proverbially courteous in The Squire’s Tale l. 95, ‘Gawayne with his olde curteisye’.

In other romances (especially the French ones) Sir Gawain is lecherous and treacherous. Is our Gawain pretending to be good as Benson argues?

In any case this could have given the seduction scenes more tension for the contemporary audience.

Notice that there were also special rules for a knight ‘on errand’, requiring him to avoid diverting amorous entanglements (= líos de faldas).

49 foolhardy – impulsive, impetuous 50 slight – minor, insignificant

The Hunts

In the mediaeval mindset, hunting kept men from sinning. - The knight who stayed in bed spends his time in the company of women

and is asking for trouble. cf. in Malory’s Morte Darthur Aggravayne persuades Arthur to go hunting so that Guinevere and Lancelot will meet in his absence and evidence of their affair can be discovered.

Hunting was seen as the emblem of worldly pleasure and secular enjoyment which contrasts with the miserable inevitability of death.

The hunt scenes are interlaced with the seduction scenes so that the former are a metaphor for the latter. - In the seduction Gawain’s challenge is to maintain courtesy without

losing his chastity. - This is much more difficult than in the Norman Yder story, in which the

hero resists his temptress by kicking her in the stomach!

Gawain’s three encounters with the temptress echo the hunts; the first day he is coy (= tímido) like a deer; the second day he is confrontational like a boar and the third he is cunning like a fox.

Notice that the deer is beheaded and it is the boar’s (decapitated) head that is brought as winnings – both are ominous of Gawain’s fate51. He accepts the girdle in a foxy (= duplicitous) hope that he can outwit the Green Knight through its magic powers.

In mediaeval symbolism - the deer represented the Flesh, - the boar represented the Devil and - the fox represented the World.

While the lord of the castle is out hunting the deer, Gawain reacts rather like a deer – first lying still in the hope of escaping the ‘huntress’, then nimbly escaping her pursuit.

deer are hunted for food, boar to prove the huntsman’s courage and mettle52, foxes to prove his intelligence.

At the Green Chapel the Green Knight charges out from a gap in the rock, just as the boar did.

51 fate – probable destiny 52 mettle – tenacity, fortitude

SYMBOLISM

Castles

Castles are warm, splendid and inviting (even Sir Bertilak’s – notice the prevalence of fire imagery). The castle in the forest can be read as a phantom castle, a castle of temptation or a reference to the castle of heaven (both are all white) – all stock mediaeval images. The castle appears in answer to Gawain’s prayer for somewhere to celebrate Christmas.

‘Hautdesert’ means moorland (haut = high, uplands), desert (= wild, uncultivated country). Such places have been associated with paganism since heathens53 (from ‘heaths’) were first called ‘heathens’. - Just think of wild Heathcliff on the Yorkshire Moors in Wuthering

Heights.

Arthur’s sumptuous gem-studded court can be seen as dangerously worldly.

53 heathen – pagan

Fast & Feast

Fasts54 and feasts55 are part of the larger cycle of life.- Fasting is self-denial, the controlling of a natural human instinct to eat.

The day before a major ecclesiastical feast such as Christmas Day was in theory kept as a fast (being part of the traditional vigil before the feast).

The feast is an expression of abundance and community. - The winter feast is an expression of abundance in the face of nature’s

hostility. - It is culture’s triumph over nature, an establishment of power, control,

civilization, hierarchy and social bonds.

The hall excludes the elements and consumes the products of nature. - It is warm and well-lit where the world outside is dark and cold.

Feasts are a break from routine, a break from work – they are exceptional.There is a marked emphasis on the achievement of orderliness in celebration; - material and social orderliness and hierarchy.

Feasts were entertained by enterludes and entremets and Arthur describes the entrance of the Green Knight as an entremet.

The Green Knights unceremonious rudeness56 and the challenge of the Beheading Game may be regarded as ‘carnivalesque’. - They are hostile but they release new energy in the hero. - The Green Knight’s entrance is subversive but it is also accepted and

refreshing.

54 fast – period in which one intentionally does not eat (think: ‘breakfast’)55 feast – banquet 56 rudeness – discourtesy

Winter Wasteland

Northern winter is cold, solitary and miserable. The wasteland is typical of Celtic approaches to the Otherworld. - The oak (Quercus), the hazel (Corylus avellana) and the hawthorn

(Crataegus monogyna) are all plants associated with Druidism, Devil-worship57 and witchcraft58.

Once Gawain has crossed the ‘water barrier’ he is in the Otherworld. - At the Green Chapel the Green Knight vaults over a stream – witches

couldn’t touch water.

Nature

Notice how the community’s relationship with nature has changed.- Winter is cold, etc. but within castles nature poses no threat.- The Green Knight only comes to Camelot because Arthur demands an

adventure.- The ‘monsters’ that Gawain encounters are summarily dispatched.- Bertilak hunts the wild animals as sport.

The Holly (Ilex aquifolium)

The holly that the Green Knight holds in one hand symbolizes: the peace of Christmas but perhaps also the vast natural world of forests survival in winter (holly is an evergreen tree) masculinity (compared to ivy which was considered feminine) and danger outside the culture and safety of the hall.

Holly is greenest when the groves are bare.

57 devil-worship – Satanism 58 witchcraft – black magic

The Girdle

The girdle or belt (or sash) is a symbol of worldliness – moneybags and keys were hung59 from belts. Notice that the belt is green and gold – the colours of the Green Knight. Unlike60 the ‘endeles knot’ of the pentangle, it can be tied and untied, variously arranged for various functions. It can: fasten or undo a lady’s garments, serve as baldric for a man’s sword, be a badge of shame or honour.

Notice that Gawain accepts the belt because supposedly it magically saves the wearer from a violent death. - He grasps at a last desperate hope of survival.

In one sense there is no reason why Gawain should not use magic against an adversary who himself proved capable of surviving decapitation.

Notice, however, that the girdle does not protect Gawain – his neck is nicked – and he does not really believe in the amulet – he flinches (= se estremece) at the first blow. - Gawain never trusts fully in the girdle. - After accepting it he spends a grim night thinking about what is going to

happen to him the next day (rather than61 sleeping soundly, confident that it will save him).

As a type of trial by combat (albeit a mental one), Gawain should trust that God will give victory to whoever has intrinsic justice on his side. - In this sense, the girdle is a distraction.

Incidentally, it was illegal to carry any form of magic charm in a tournament. - it was taken as seriously as taking performance-enhancing drugs in sport

today.

The belt is the counterpoint to Gawain’s shield, which represents his virtues. - The shield is very much the knight’s identity (his helmet’s visor covers

his face).

59 hung – suspended 60 unlike – in contrast to 61 rather than – instead of, as opposed to

The Pentangle

This is the first mention of the word (pentangel) in English.

The pentangle on Gawain’s shield is an emblem of knightly virtue, - the Hostess’s green girdle is an emblem of fault.

The ‘endeles knot’ (the pentangle) represents geometric stability and perfection and implicitly contrasts with the flux and contingency of human life, in which the end is rarely like the beginning.- Each line of the pentangle passes over one line and under one line, and

joins the other two lines at its ends

Five is a Boethian62 circular number – producing a figure ending in itself whenever it is squared.- To the Pythagoreans it was a symbol of health.- To the neo-Platonists and the Gnostics it was a symbol of perfection. - It is a sacred number and is basic to our system of arithmetic.- In orthodox Christian numerology 5 is the number of Man,

who sins by the five senses and is redeemed by the five wounds of Christ.

The ‘fiveness’ of the pentangle suits Gawain – who is faithful in five ways five times over:1. He is faultless in his five senses,2. He never fails in his five fingers,3. He places all his faith in the five wounds of Christ,4. He takes courage from the five joys of Mary in Jesus (the Annunciation,

Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption)5. And is pre-eminent in the five virtues of ‘fraunchyse’ (= nobility of

mind/friendship), fellowship/generosity, cleanness (or chastity), courtesy and pity/piety.

Absolute moral guidelines63 are necessary and reassuring. But life is full of complex problems and confusing choices, - like the mazy64 forests and treacherous castles of mediaeval romance.

A geometrical diagram may be perfect but a human being cannot be.

62 Boethian – referring to Boethius (Anicius Manlius Severinus, c. 480-528) Roman philosopher who wrote The Consolation of Philosophy

63 guideline – directive 64 mazy – labyrinthine

Gawain is trapped in a web of loyalties and obligations.

He must be loyal to his king and keep his word to the Green Knight; - he is obliged to his host Bertilak and to his host’s wife.

His society is ‘honour-driven’.

The pentangle shows that Gawain’s virtue is not a single quality; - it comprises of bravery65, tact, good manners and not least chastity.

65 bravery – valour, courage

Number Games

Importance of 3: three blows, three hunts, three seduction attempts.- The Temptation – based on wordplay – represents a third game.

Number games dominate the poem:It has 101 stanzas, exactly the same number as PearlThe description of the pentangle is exactly 50 lines long

There are parallel scenes between the two courts- two New Year’s celebrations- two scenes of a knight arming for battle- two beheading encounters- two symbolic objects are central to Gawain’s challenge (the pentangle and

the belt)

The 15 days of Arthur’s feast was traditional in Arthurian romance; - 15 is also an ancient magic number.

“Trawthe” (= profound integrity)

Gawain’s salvation comes for reasons that have nothing to do with the beheading game. His fate depended on his conduct in the Exchange of Winnings. - This initially seemed like a distraction or interlude on the main business

of the Adventure of the Green Chapel. - However, the critical challenge to Gawain’s “trawthe” (= integrity) lies in

his conduct at the castle.

We learn that in life there are unforeseen66 consequences for trifling67 and unregarded actions. - moral issues do not always present themselves as such. The greatest moral challenges can take the most unexpected forms.

The symbolism of the pentagram therefore is that all virtues are interconnected - the important thing is the unity of the hero’s moral experience.

Trawthe is a complex thing but it is no more complex than life itself.

Gawain’s quest is a journey of self-knowledge - the knight has to recognize his own nature, know himself.

Notice that the Green Knight excuses Gawain’s slip with the belt as the result of his “love of life”.

Gawain is mortified by his failings on the third day of the exchange of winnings game at the castle. - However, for Arthur and the Camelot court, this is an irrelevant private

matter, the important thing is the honour from beheading game.

66 unforeseen – unpredictable 67 trifling – trivial, insignificant

Purity & Patience

‘Purity’ and ‘Patience’ are the names of two other poems in the collection by the Gawain-poet. - However, ‘purity’ and ‘patience’ are also important themes in Sir Gawain

& the Green Knight.

Patience could refer to a knight’s loyalty to the ideals he serves and his loyal service to those above and below him in the social order. - The pentangle facing out from Gawain’s shield, is a symbol of ‘patience’

in this sense.

The virgin, facing inwards at Gawain from his shield, is a symbol of ‘purity’.

When the Green Knight arrives the court have just come from Mass and are about to take part in a gift-giving game - possibly a presage of the later exchange of winnings game.

The emphasis in the court is on gems and gold – it is dangerously worldly.

The court is essentially untested.

Gawain travels to Wales, to Holy Head, a place where a saint was beheaded. - By the way68, where have we seen beheading before?

68 by the way – incidentally

How Christ-like is Gawain?

As we have seen, Gawain’s voluntary offering of himself for sacrifice for his community is Christ-like.

Moreover, Gawain is tested in the wilderness like Christ.

Christ was tested for right reason, right passion and right desire.- Like any mortal Gawain doesn’t completely pass the test (he isn’t Christ).

But his faults can be forgiven and he is more worthy having been tested than he was untested.

Don’t forget the temptation of the guide - who urges Sir Gawain not to finish his journey to the Green Chapel. - Possible reference to the Temptation of Christ.

Bibliography

Companion to British Poetry before 1600 by Michelle M. Sauer (Facts on File, 2008)A Companion to the Gawain-Poet by Derek Brewer [D.S. Brewer, 2002]Medieval Literature by Carole Maddern [York Notes Companions, 2010]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Priscilla Martin [Wordsworth Classics, 1997]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Brian Stone [Penguin Classics, 1974]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [Coles Notes]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by John Gardner [Cliff Notes, 1994]Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.A. Burrow in Medieval Literature Part One: Chaucer and the Alliterative Tradition edited by Boris Ford [the New Pelican Guide to English Literature, 1983]

INTERNET- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [SparkNotes]- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [Shmoop]- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [LitCharts]- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight [GradeSaver]

1340-1400: Turbulent Times

1309-1377 The Papacy was captive of France in Avignon.1327 Edward II deposed and murdered by his wife and her lover.c. 1330 Birth of Chaucerc. 1332 Birth of Langland1337 The Hundred Years War begins1341 Petrarch crowned poet in Rome1346 Battle of Crécy.1348 The Black Death ravages England. Between a third and a half of the

population dies from it. Social breakdown. Papal schism and Church corruption led to the Church losing prestige.

1351 Boccaccio’s The Decameronc. 1352 Langland takes Minor Orders1356 Battle of Poitiers1358 The “Jacquerie” – French peasants’ revolt.1360 Treaty of Bretigny: Edward III was granted nearly half of France and a

ransom for the French king of 3 million écus.1361 Second major occurrence of the Plaguec. 1362 Langland moves to London with his wife Kitte and his daughter Kalote. The

Z Text of Piers Plowman (?)c. 1370 A Text of Piers Plowman1372 Castilian navy (French allies) destroys the English fleet off La Rochelle.c. 1374 English only controlled Bordeaux, Calais and a few strongholds in

Normandy and Brittany. c. 1375 Sir Gawain & The Green Knight1376 Pestilence1377 B Text of Piers Plowman1377 Edward III dies (65). The French captured the Isle of Wight.1378-1417 The Great Schism. Two competing Popes.1381 The Peasants’ Revolt – the most significant popular rebellion in English

history. Caused by: restrictions on the free movement of labour following the Black Death, failure at war, corruption and the Poll Tax.

1382 Wyclif translates the Bible1383 Peace with France (largely due to the failure of the Poll Tax).c. 1385 C Text written (?)1386-89 Richard II deprived on power1387 The Canterbury Tales. Death of Langland (?)c. 1392 C Text of Piers Plowman published (?)1399 Richard II deposed and murdered. A gay, childless king his reign was

dominated by factional fighting between noble factions. c. 1400 Death of Chaucer.