Discussion Questions (See Set Two and Set Three ): 247:
What is the Alliterative Revival?
247-48:
What is the significance of the pentangle? (See also ll.
623ff.)
Part One:
250:
At what time of year does this story
begin? Why is this setting significant?
251-52:
What kind of host is King Arthur?
Explain.
253:
Describe the Green Knight.
254:
Describe the Knight's first words to the
gathering. Does he demonstrate proper manners? Explain.
255-56:
Explain the "Beheading Game."
256:
Describe the gathering's response to the Knight's challenge.
Why does Arthur accept the Knight's challenge?
257:
Why does Gawain ask to accept the
challenge in Arthur's stead?
Other Discussion Questions:
250:
Why is Aeneas being introduced at the beginning? How is he
being portrayed?
255:
Explain what the Knight says about fighting.
258:
Why doesn't the Knight fall after being beheaded?
259:
Explain Arthur's words to Guenevere: "Dear lady, don't be
daunted by this deed today,/it's in keeping that such
strangeness should occur at Christmas" (470-71).
Part Two:
Discussion Questions: 260-61:
Explain the significance of the consideration of the change of
the seasons.
261:
Explain:
"If fate is kind/or cruel, man still must try" (564-65).
264:
Explain: "A pity, by Christ,/if a lord
so noble should lose his life" (674-75).
Does Gawain indeed demonstrate "headstrong pride" (681)?
Explain.
269-70:
Describe the women who approach Gawain.
273:
What bargain does Gawain's host make with him?
Part Three: 281:
Why is
the wife upset that Gawain
has not tried to woo her?
285:
Who is Reynard?
288:
What
does the wife give Gawain
on the third day? Why?
Why does he agree to conceal
it?
Other Discussion Questions:
261-62:
How does the description of Gawain's attire and arms (568-622)
compare with that of the Green Knight's (151-220)?
Who is Gringolet?
263:
Explain the symbolism of the pentagram (625-39).
How is Gawain "fully faithful in five ways five times over"
(632)?
265:
Why does Gawain encounter so many "foul or fierce" foes (717)?
266:
Where does Gawain find shelter on Christmas Eve? How does his
arrival compare with the arrival of the Green Knight at Camelot?
Has God really answered his prayer? Explain.
268:
Explain lines 864-67.
What does Gawain's "feast" involve? (cf. fn8)
271-72:
Why does Gawain explain his errand to his host?
274:
Why does the host's wife
enter Gawain's bedchamber while her husband is hunting?
277:
What does the wife give to Gawain before she departs?
279:
What pact do the host and Gawain make for the second day?
282:
Explain lines 1549-52.
Part Four:
Discussion Questions:
293:
Why does the host's servant
try to dissuade Gawain
from approaching the Green Chapel?
294-95:
Describe
the Green Chapel.
298:
Why
does the Green Knight only scratch Gawain's neck?
Why
does Gawain become
"so shocked and ashamed" (2370)?
299-300:
What,
according to Gawain,
does he have in common with Adam, Solomon, Samson, and
David?