Violence In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

In 2003, the motion picture, Kill Bill Volume 1, debuted in theaters. Set to a backdrop of bloodshed and violence, the film offers 112 minutes of savagery, as the main character attempts to get back at every person who has wronged her in the past four years. Kill Bill is only one of the many films in which violence is the number one attraction. “Kill or be killed,” seems to be the overarching motto, as millions of moviegoers flock into theaters each weekend to watch as characters fight to the death. In contrast, violence portrayed on the silver screen is no longer acceptable outside of the theater. Groups such as “Black Lives Matter” protest the violence enacted against minorities at the hands of authority figures. Legal courts are designed

Society justifies violence only in simulation. Every member of society is required to follow a set of unwritten rules to satiate our desire for cruelty. Audiences are encouraged to partake in violence on screen as a spectator but never as the perpetrator. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a similar code for violence emerges. Set to the backdrop of chivalry and courteous interactions, medieval culture serves to mask the fantasy of violence in many ways. Throughout this paper we will examine three ways in which the characters in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight attempt to cover up the underlying theme of violence within the narrative. During Fitt 1 of the poem, we uncover the first method in which the characters attempt to mask the fantasy of violence. In order to ensure their thirst for bloodshed does not spiral out of control, there are certain rules that the court must adhere to. The Court of Camelot places violence in a strict binary with courtesy. In Nicholls essay, The Testing of Courtesy at Camelot and Hautdesert, the author argues that courtesy serves to mask the true desire for violence in King Arthur’s court. “ Politeness is a veneer over the violence latent in human affairs and courtesy…[it] acts as a restraining

He is described as a man, “None had seen...with sight in that hall so grand.” (197) Immediately he asks for the leader of the house to which he extends his request for a contest to King Arthur. The unnamed knight then reveals the rules of the game. Carl Martin, in his essay, The Cipher of Violence, elaborates. “ The Green Knight reveals here that while the typical warrior-noble engineers his aggrandizement through public displays of prowess… he is also bound by a strict code of behavior meant to restrain and refine his aggression.” (312) So too, the knights of the round table and the entire court of Camelot are bound to the same laws of courtesy. They can not demand bloodshed, however, in the guise of a game, it can be desired, even more so, required, for the sake of entertainment. After a few moments, Gawain accepts the challenge in the King’s stead, takes the ax and, “Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck.” (420) This is the moment the court has been waiting for. The instant when courtesy becomes a metaphor for violence. By treating this unnamed knight with all the courtesy they possess, they can now require him to die a noble death at the hands of one of their own, in the sight of all who dare to watch. “The blood gushed from the body, bright on the green/ Yet fell not the fellow, nor faltered a whit. (429 - 430) The Green Knight, though his head is severed from his body, remains alive and requires retribution.