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Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Deceit Analysis

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Deceitful people can be taken as harmful and evil or wise and necessary. Sometimes it takes a little tragedy or harmful situation to make a person realize a change is needed. Deceitful people have reasoning behind their ways, and it is usually so the other person learns something about him or herself they would have never seen without being hurt. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we see a heavy example of deceit for a reason. Lord Bertilak’s reasons for deceiving Sir Gawain exhibit fruitful ideals distributed throughout the text. Sometimes deceit is needed in order to see a person’s true virtues. Lord Bertilak wants to test his chastity and compassion. He sends his wife to tempt Sir Gawain in order to see if Sir Gawain will uphold chastity. …show more content…

Sir Gawain describes the older lady [Morgan the Fay] as “rough and wrinkled” and “awful to see” (85). Gawain does not fully acknowledge her as well as he acknowledges Lady Bertilak. Sir Gawain “saluted the old one, but the pleasanter woman he wrapped in his arms for a courteous kiss and chivalric words” (86). Compassion is defined as sympathy for the misfortunes of others. Sir Gawain does the opposite of compassion. He does not look upon the older women with kindness; instead, he treats her as if she is irrelevant or not as important as Lady Bertilak. As a knight he is to uphold compassion towards all people along with companionship, courtesy, chastity, and charity. Lord Bertilak wants to see if Gawain truly values the code of chivalry. One of the virtues of the code of chivalry is the idea of courtly love. Lady Bertilak tempts him further by saying, “Courtly virtue lining his heart, he’d never have stayed so long with a lady and left her unkissed” (98). To uphold chivalry is to uphold courtly love. Gawain does not want to kiss another man’s wife, but he wants to uphold chivalry which calls him

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Bertilak has one motive, that being to make Sir Gawain no longer look as if he is a Goddess, but as a failure. Lady Bertilak is very successful in deceiving Sir Gawain as part of Bertilak’s plan, leading to Bertilak's main motive being achieved, which is making Sir Gawain feel as if he is not as great as everyone thinks he is, and that really he is just a failure and sinner. At the end of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green knight meet to challenge each other when Bertilak reveals himself as the green knight “Because of our other agreement, in my castle; You kept it faithfully, performed like an honest Man, gave me everything you got. Except that you kissed my wife: I swung For that reason-but you gave me back her kisses” ( Page 128). Bertilak reviles himself, which conveys to Sir Gawain that he had been deceived the whole time, especially when Lady Bertilak acted as if no one would know and that they were completely alone the entire time she wanted to have relations with him.

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Sir Gawain shows loyalty and humility when he makes the decision of honoring the promise he made with the Green Knight. This humility drives him to set off to pursue the Green Knight to honor the pact they agreed on. On his arrival at the Green chapel, he calls the Green Knight who emerges to greet him and to fulfill the terms of the contract (Cathell). Sir Gawain presents his neck voluntarily to the Green Knight who feigns two blows (Cooke 4). This is a commitment and a sign of piety that Gawain manifests.

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Gawain is courteous to no end, even asking for permission to “abandon [his] bench and stand by [Arthur]” (Pearl Poet l. 344) so he may risk his own life instead of his kings to abide by the Green Knights game. He even humbly states that he “[is] the weakest” (l. 354) and that it would be the least lost of he was to parish which is untrue. Gawain is also extremely courteous when he is denying the wife’s attempts to seduce him saying he is “a knight unworthy” (l.1245). He plays a game of wits as he must not offend her advances but at the same time must not let the wife win the “game” because then he would have to lay with her and that would be uncourteous to his host, Lord Bertilak. The only time Gawain faults in his courteousness is when he refuses to acknowledge the agreement he made with Lord Bertilak which was “whatever [Lord Bertilak] win[s] in the wood shall at once be [Gawain’s] and whatever gain [Gawain] may get [he] shall give in exchange” (ll. 1107-08).

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The lady is later able to receive another kiss from Sir Gawain and many more to come, using the same idea that kisses justifies one’s courteous manners. Because of the justification, Sir Gawain fully surrenders to her, stating “I am at your call and command to kiss when you please. You may receive as you desire, and cease as you think in place” (Page 81). Lady Bertalik finally deceives Sir Gawain into accepting the girdle gift from her, now claiming that if he wore it “…he could not be killed by any cunning of hand” (Page 95). Because Lady Bertalik is clever enough to convince Sir Gawain of such actions with her automatic justifications, she is skillfully controlling his mind and

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The lord’s wife perpetually seeks to undermine Gawain’s reputation, however gawain resists her sexual indulgence and stays within his chivalrous code, saying to the lady, “But threateners are ill thought of and do not thrive in my country, Nor do gifts thrive when given without goodwill” (lines

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Sir Gawain’s lack of appeasement towards the lady’s attempts at temptation cause her to emasculate him, claiming, “Gawain could never be your name…A good man like Gawain, so greatly regarded, the embodiment of courtliness to the bone of his being, could never have lingered so long with a lady without craving a kiss” (1293-1300). The lady butchers Sir Gawain, fragmenting him like Lord Bertilak does to the deer: “then the shoulder blades were severed with sharp knives and slotted through the slut so the hide stayed

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