Virtue In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight's Pentangle

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain is described as a perfect embodiment of Solomon’s Pentangle. Before Sir Gawain rides off to receive the Green Knight’s blow, he has the Pentangle painted onto his shield. All five points of the pentangle on Sir GAwain’s shield symbolize a virtue of a perfect knight. They are the Five sense/ witts, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, the five joys of Mary, and the 5 virtues. The five virtues are generosity, sociability, courtesy, compassion/piety and purity. Many critics believe that, there is not a constant relationship between the five points of the pentagon, and the virtue attributed to them. The five joys of Mary, for example, represents Courage, while the fifth group stands for the

During Sir Gawain’s three day ordeal with Bertilak’s wife, she attempts to corrupt him, and test how virtuous he truly was. When Gawain arrives he swears an oath, with the Castle lord, Bertilak, that the two will trade what they earned the next day. Gawain is told to stay in the castle, to rest and recuperate, while Lord Bertilak and his men go out hunting. Lord Bertilak and his men go hunting three days, and each hunt lasts all day long. During these three days of hunting, Gawain is accosted by Lady Bertilak, who has secretly been setup to tempt Sir. Gawain. QUOTE. Gawain, in the aspect of Chastity, passes his tests,

Lady Bertilak tried to play on Gawain’s pride, by saying that she wants to be taught how to love. Gawain wanted to remain chaste, and not dishonor his host by committing adultery. But Gawain also wants to remain, a valiant knight, that is looked up too. So Gawain is forced to tread carefully, and thwart Lady Bertilak’s advances, but also not shame her by openly rejecting her. During the third day of one sided wooing, Gawain had to expertly use courtesy to reject Lady Bertilak, but not act like a boor. The other extreme would be to fall into sin, and betray the lord of the manor. If he was to openly reject her, he would destroy her reputation, and his own as a courteous