Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Sparknotes

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an epic Arthurian romance poem, being a part of the "Alliterative Revival". The author of this poem is unknown, often referred to as the Gawain poet. It was written at the end of the 14th century (ca. 1375-1400). The story is centered around a chivalry knight, Sir Gawain, and the mysterious knight that challenges him to a beheading game, The Green Knight. The challenge is that one will attempt to behead the other, and if it fails, then the return blow will happen in a year and a day. Sir Gawain is King Arthur's nephew and a knight of the Round Table. He is known to be the most virtuous of all the knights in Camelot. He prides himself on observing and adhering closely to the five knightly virtues: friendship,

His ability to be a virtuous knight was crucial to his self-image. With that, Sir Gawain's devotion to the pentangle conflicts with his sense of self. The day that Sir Gawain goes to find the Green Knight to continue the game, he gets suited in armor and goes to Mass. His shield carries the symbol of the pentangle. The poet explains the five points of the pentangle, but the one that Sir Gawain strives for is the 5th one, "The fifth set of five which I heard the knight followed/ included friendship and fraternity with the fellow men,/ purity and politeness that impressed at all times./ Five things which meant more to Gawain than most other men. "(Anonymous, 217). Eugenie R. Freed states that "It is first presented as a symbol of man's aspirations to perfection, but is shown ultimately to represent man's flawed nature. "(Freed, 126). In Freed's journal, he is explaining the history of the pentangle itself (adding to information that the poem gives the readers) and how it is bigger than thought. He explains how the pentangle was used in stories during the 14th century, becoming more popular within Ancient Greece and Babylonian

With religion being one of the only things that he personally holds dear besides chivalry, "The Virgin Mary is herself frequently invoked as a'shield against the fiend' or against temptation,14 and is called upon to help or to protect Gawain at crucial points in the narrative"(Freed, 128). Along with the pentangle, "trawthe" is the symbolic idea of it. "The poet's claim that the pentangle has the indisputable right to symbolize the concept of Trawthe"(Freed, 127). "Trawthe"/"trawe" goes hand and hand with the pentangle that Sir Gawain holds so dearly. Joseph E. Gallagher states "that "trawe" is defined in the description of the pentangle as Gawain's "afyaunce" to Christ, not to man"(Gallagher, 363). "Trawe" essentially means fidelity and "afyaunce" meaning trust, in a way both mean the same thing. However in the poem, the poet associates "trawe" with Gawain and the other characters and "afyaunce" with Christ and religion. Sir Gawain strives to maintain "trawe" with Bertilak since he hosts him, but is unable to commit