Death In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

Sex and Death in Oroonoko and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

“The goal of all life is death” – Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle (1920)

It is a commonly known fact that human beings cannot avoid paying attention to two things: sex and death (Weinschenk). It is these two things are what connect us all, as a species, regardless of gender or race or time period. In every piece of literature, film, art, music, or theatre, there is either sex or death; the inextricable link and inescapable fact of the giving and taking of life. This circle of life and death has been referenced by many philosophers and critics over the years, most famously Freud, who developed the theory of Eros and the death drive (later referred to as Thanatos, to

Lady Bertilak’s most powerful scenes are during her attempted seduction of Sir Gawain, where her mental prowess is fully evidenced through her manipulation of the traditional codes of courtly love to get what she wants; in this situation, Sir Gawain. “The co-occurrence of three seduction scenes with three hunting scenes” is often referenced by critics, who suggest there has to be some correlation between the two. Whilst J. D. Burnley goes on to note that the result of this comparison is “Widely acknowledged to be unsatisfactory”, I feel it is important to point out that of the three animals – the fox, the boar, and the deer, it is the deer, the meek herbivore, that is commonly and most applicably compared to Sir Gawain, whilst the more aggressive, assertive animals are easily compared to Lady Bertilak. Gawain’s “Deer-like actions” (Bates, 5) often come in contrast to both Lady Bertilak’s more boorish, aggressive statements and her fox-like manipulations of Gawain. Both are evidenced when she pointedly states “A good man like Gawain…Could never have lingered so long with a lady without craving a kiss, as

In the original text, Imoinda is never physically described in the same manner as her husband: Imoinda’s descriptions mainly centre on how she makes Oroonoko feel, rather than how she looks, with the bulk of her introductory depiction coming in the form of the short phrase “The beauty of this fair Queen of Night”. The references to her “Fair” and “Queen”-like presence makes the reader fully aware of the weight placed upon Imoinda’s femininity. This femininity is referenced frequently throughout, even when she is murdered by her husband: she is referred to as “Lovely” and “His wife”, placing her solidly in the feminine sphere to her dying moments. In Western culture, feminine elements such as submission are highly prized and even sexualised as part of the feminine mystique, and Imoinda’s submissive end at the hands of her husband – a relationship the text takes care to note is a possessive one, with the husband owning the wife – fully emphasises this weight placed upon femaleness. However, the most pervasive element of Imoinda’s position as a sexual woman is her pregnancy, the clearest piece of evidence of her sexual past. The creation of life is an inherently feminine thing, and the creation of life was one of very few things that women were respected for during the text’s time of writing. Due to this, the fact that it is Imoinda, not Oroonoko, who is “Pleading for death [faster] than he