Q Week 6: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 22 unread replies.22 replies. As with Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem about adventure, heroic deeds and a journey, and a kind of monster, the Green Knight/Sir Bertilak. As a character, Gawain differs from Beowulf in that he is not questing for adventure and looking to prove himself, but a chivalric knight looking to uphold the honor of the Court of King Arthur. Where Beowulf boasts of his accomplishments, Gawain is more reticent to brag, but quick to stand to the Green Knight's challenge. What else do you make of his character? As a poem, Sir Gawain is a classical chivalric romance, built on Old English traditions and influenced by Anglo-French literature. But the poem is written in Middle English (we have a modern translation), the language of the great Medieval poet Geoffrey Chaucer. The first few lines read in the original as: SIÞEN þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at Troye, Þe bor? brittened and brent to bronde? and askez, Þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wro?t Watz tried for his tricherie, þe trewest on erthe: Hit watz Ennias þe athel, and his highe kynde, Þat siþen depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicome Welne?e of al þe wele in þe west iles. I think most of us will find the modern translation much easier to read. The structure of the poem is simple enough with each major section organized around the challenges faced by Gawain at Camelot, the journey to the Green Knight's castle, and his trials there. What stands out to you in each section? The Green Knight is quite a character--what do you make of his appearance in the opening of the poem? How does he compare and contrast to Beowulf and Grendel? What makes Gawain accept his challenge? What do you make of the Green Knight's survival of the axe blow and Gilgamesh's reaction? Once the scene moves to Bertilak's castle, what do you make of Bertilak's three hunts/three challenges Gawain faces? How do they mirror each other? What details stand out to you in terms of Gawain's failure to give his gifts to Bertilak? What about Bertilak's lady--how does she tempt Gawain and what do you think of Gawain's responses? Is he properly chivalrous? What do you make of her as a character? Overall, how does the repetition of the three hunts mirror Beowulf's three challenges--why do you think these journeys come in three parts? (hint, think of the Holy Trinity--Gawain is a poem from a Christian, not pagan England). Gawain wears the green girdle as a sign of both success, and, we might say, shame--what do you think of this symbol for him?