Sir Gawain And The Green Knight: A Literary Analysis

Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we see, as with many medieval stories, a wide array of symbolism from the clothes he wears to the plants he walks by. One of the most important parts of the story centers around the hunting trips that the lord of the castle, the Green Knight, goes on. While he is out hunting each morning, he sends his wife to seduce Gawain to test the reputation of Arthur’s court. By alternating the stories of the hunt and those of the bedroom, the poet emphasizes the connections between the two. Just as the Green Knight is hunting, his wife is as well. Every day that the lord goes hunting, he hunts a new animal, each with a significant symbolic meaning. The animals that fall prey to the Green Knight each morning

Foxes are sly, cunning creatures known for their cleverness and knack for deception. They are usually seen as vermin in the hunt as they have no real value once captured; the real value is the chase they offer (Medieval Bestiary, Fox). Throughout literature and mythology, foxes have been used as a symbol of treachery and dishonesty. Both the lady and Gawain relate to the fox in this regard. The lady comes into the room on the third morning dressed in a low-cut gown with precious jewels decorating her hair; a true “foxy lady”. Gawain takes notice of how beautiful she looks and is the closest he has come to falling under her spell, but he realizes that he cannot continue to play her games any longer and tells her that he is not interested in taking a lover (Winny, 1759-1791). Upon seeing he will not take any more of her sexual advances, she tempts him in three other ways during her visit. First, she asks him to give her a gift to remember him by, but Gawain tells her that he has brought nothing of value to give to her. By doing this, Gawain stays true to the courtesy his religion and knighthood expect of him, and avoids showing disrespect to the lord of the castle. Then the lady offers Gawain a beautiful red and gold ring as a token of her love, but he declines it by making note of its preciousness and shows that he is not interested in material things. Finally, the lady offers him her green belt because it is seemingly of lesser value, and at first he declines this as well. Once she begins talking about its powers, however, Gawain begins to change his mind. She explains to him that “As long as it is tightly fastened about him / There is no man on earth who can strike him down, / For he cannot be killed by any trick in the world” (Winny, 1852-1854). When she was only offering Gawain a material possession, he was able to easily push it away, but once it transformed into a chance at his life, he could not refuse it. By