Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1375-1400)

Things to Consider:

• Comparison to Beowulf story
  
• Story of King Arthur
• Honor and Heroic Code
• Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
• Role of Women
• alliteration, bob, and wheel
  

(See Set Two  and Set Three

• What is the Alliterative Revival?

• What is the significance of the pentangle? (See also ll. 623ff.)

• At what time of year does this story begin? Why is this setting significant?

• What kind of host is King Arthur? Explain.

• Describe the Green Knight.

• Describe the Knight's first words to the gathering.  Does he demonstrate proper manners? Explain.

• Explain the "Beheading Game."

• Describe the gathering's response to the Knight's challenge.
• Why does Arthur accept the Knight's challenge?

• 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?

• Explain what the Knight says about fighting.

• Why doesn't the Knight fall after being beheaded?

• 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).

• Explain the significance of the consideration of the change of the seasons.

• Explain: "If fate is kind/or cruel, man still must try" (564-65).

• 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.

• 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?

• What does the wife give Gawain on the third day? Why?
• Why does he agree to conceal it?

• 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?
  

• Explain the symbolism of the pentagram (625-39).
• How is Gawain "fully faithful in five ways five times over" (632)?

• Why does Gawain encounter so many "foul or fierce" foes (717)?

• 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.
  

• Explain lines 864-67.
• What does Gawain's "feast" involve? (cf. fn8)
  

271-72:

• Why does Gawain explain his errand to his host?

• Why does the host's wife enter Gawain's bedchamber while her husband is hunting?

• What does the wife give to Gawain before she departs?

• What pact do the host and Gawain make for the second day?

• Explain lines 1549-52.

• Why does the host's servant try to dissuade Gawain from approaching the Green Chapel?

• Describe the Green Chapel.

• Why does the Green Knight only scratch Gawain's neck?
• Why does Gawain become "so shocked and ashamed" (2370)?

• What, according to Gawain, does he have in common with Adam, Solomon, Samson, and David?

• Why is Gawain happy to keep the green garter?
• What is the host's name?