Sir Gawain Feudalism

The Death Drive in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The acronym “YOLO” or, “you only live once,” is a termed coined by the music artist Drake that encourages its hearers to live on the edge and experience all life has to offer, even if it may mean the end of life itself. Though this term has become popular in recent years, engaging in risky activities has been a fascination of humanity for generations. During the medieval days of literature, depictions of blood, gore and near-death experiences were celebrated by both author and reader alike. D. Vance Smith writes, “the ‘chivalric economy’ is one in which death and enjoyment, surplus and void, possession and relinquishment, are dangerously convertible.” (Miller, p. 221) Both psychoanalysts Sigmund

Taking the scenes described above in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the actions that both Lady Bertilik and Sir Gawain convey are actually the opposite course of action each fantasizes about. Using the example of rape culture, Zizek writes, “Men who actually perform rapes do not fantasize about raping women -- ….they fantasize about...finding a loving partner; rape is rather a violent passage d l’acte emerging from their incapacity to find such a partner in real life.” (Zizek, p. 702) If we take this approach to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, what occurs in the bedroom is the complete opposite of what both wish to do. Lady Bertalik, who fantasizes about being a noble and submissive wife to Hautdesert, agrees to this twisted game of flirtation at the supposed suggestion of her husband. She plays the character who is the complete opposite of who she fantasizes of being-- a faithful wife. Sir Gawain who is described as devoutly religious and at least on the journey, celibate, is also sucked into this game of flirtation. He imagines the opposite of having a lady in his bedroom. Sir Gawain fantasizes resisting temptation and as a result, in Zizek’s argument, comes dangerously close to succumbing to what he imagines withstanding. If we look at the death-drive from this perspective, the death-drive becomes the “life-drive.” We fantasize about living so much that we actually wind up striving to die. Either way both Miller and Zizek offer new perspectives on the death drive and provide the explanation for “YOLO” that Lacan and Freud refused to