Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The most immediately striking feature of the Green Knight is his color; not only is he dressed head to toe in green, but his skin, hair, and horse are all “that same green / so bright” (173-174). Because of its association with plant life, the color ties the Knight to the natural world in ways that have both positive and negative connotations. On the one hand, as Gawain’s ordeal in the wilderness make clear, nature can be inhospitable and dangerous; the Green Knight’s intrusion into the highly civilized world of Camelot is, therefore, an unwelcome reminder of humans’ vulnerability to predators, the elements, starvation, and other aspects of nature that can be a threat to survival. The ax the Green Knight carries in one hand is also green, underscoring nature’s lethal potential.

At the same time, the abundance of nature, coupled with its ability to regenerate seasonally, makes the color green a powerful symbol of life and vitality. Similarly, the Knight’s appearance in the dead of winter hints at the coming of spring, while his ability to survive his own beheading provides a literal example of life triumphing over death. The holly branch the Knight carries further underscores this point; once a pagan symbol of life, holly ultimately became a Christian symbol associated with the birth of Jesus and humanity’s salvation.

The dual meaning of the color green carries throughout the rest of the work, particularly in the symbolism surrounding Lady Bertilak’s girdle. Gawain’s decision to wear the green belt as a badge of shame flows from nature’s negative connotations; in the steps he takes to preserve his own life, Gawain succumbs to an animal-like fear of death and thus reveals himself to be part of the natural world. However, this reminder of human frailty also serves an important role in Gawain’s character development, and functions as a symbolic rebirth from which he emerges “as pure and as bright / As [he] had lived free of fault since first [he was] born” (2393-2394). In this way, the poem as a whole adopts the color green’s association with seasonal patterns of renewal to underscore Christian ideas about spiritual death and resurrection.

Other significant colors in Sir Gawain include gold and red. Gold evokes wealth, prosperity, and culture by association; the golden embroidery on the Green Knight’s clothing is an early indication that he isn’t as uncivilized as he might appear. Gold’s preciousness also makes it a symbol of rare moral worth, as when the poet likens Gawain to “gold unalloyed, / Devoid of all villainy, with virtues adorned / in sight” (633-635). In this context, the green girdle takes on even greater significance as a blemish on Gawain’s otherwise golden armor and character. Red, meanwhile, is similar to green in its association with the natural or physical; as the color of blood, it calls to mind mortality, sexuality, and any emotion intense enough to result in a noticeable flush on the skin. In particular, red comes to function as a visible emblem of Gawain’s weakness, as it’s the color of both the neck wound given to him by the Green Knight and of his embarrassed blush while recounting the story back at Camelot: “The blood burns in his cheeks / For shame at what must be shown” (2503-2504)

As in many fairy tales, legends, and myths, numbers play an important role in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The most explicit example involves Sir Gawain’s shield, which is emblazoned with a five-pointed star—a religiously significant number for Christians, in that it represents both the number of Christ’s wounds and the five joys of Mary. As the poet goes on to explain, the sigil is particularly appropriate for Gawain, who is “ever faithful five-fold in five-fold fashion” (632): his five senses are acute, so he never “fail[s] in his five fingers” (641), and he is mindful of the number’s two Christian meanings while he embodies five knightly ideals. The shield—and the number—thus emphasize Gawain’s near-perfection, and in particular the way in which he marries chivalry to Christian virtue.

The other number that bears particular significance in Sir Gawain is the number three: Lady Bertilak attempts to seduce Gawain over three successive mornings, she kisses him three times during their final meeting, and the Green Knight swings his ax at Gawain three times after Lord Bertilak goes hunting three days in a row. Three is an even more important number than five in Christianity, largely because of the Christian notion of the Holy Trinity. The number three is also one of the most common numbers in mythology and folklore of all kinds, likely because of its narrative usefulness; it is the smallest possible number that can both establish and break a pattern. The number three is involved in this way as Gawain succumbs to temptation on the third day, symbolically underscoring the imperfection of even the most virtuous men.

Lord Bertilak’s three hunting excursions serve an important symbolic role in Sir Gawain. The hunts, which take place over three successive days, become steadily more difficult as Bertilak progresses from the pursuit of deer, to boar, to fox. Juxtaposed as they are with Lady Bertilak’s attempts to seduce Gawain, the poet’s descriptions of the hunt therefore mirror the increasing difficulty Gawain has extricating himself from the lady’s advances; in particular, the “wiliness” of the fox—its ability to confuse and throw off its pursuers—echoes the way in which Lady Bertilak achieves her aims through distraction and misdirection on her third attempt to seduce Gawain.

At the same time, a parallel also exists between the hunted animals and Gawain, whom the poet repeatedly describes as pursued or besieged by Lady Bertilak: “[T]hat high-born beauty so hemmed him about, / Made so plain her meaning, the man must needs / Either take her tendered love or distastefully refuse” (1770-1772). In this respect, the hunts foreshadow Gawain’s eventual discovery of his own animal nature—specifically, his instinct for survival. 

The plot of Sir Gawain centers around two agreements framed as trades: the “Christmas game” of beheading that the Green Knight proposes and the exchange of daily winnings to which Lord Bertilak and Gawain agree. The similarity of the terms of each agreement provides a clue to Lord Bertilak’s true identity, but the motif of exchange also has broader significance. In particular, the idea that, as the Green Knight puts it, “[t]rue men pay what they owe” underscores what the most basic tenet of chivalry (2354): the allegiance owed to one’s lord, typically in return for some sort of patronage. The strict terms of the exchange also speak to the rigidly ordered and hierarchical society Sir Gawain portrays. Within the walls of Camelot, conventions surround even the nobles’ seemingly spontaneous exchange of Christmas gifts: “[They] [c]alled them out clearly, claimed them by hand, / Bickered long and busily about those gifts./ Ladies laughed aloud, though losers they were” (67-69). As the losers’ laughter makes clear, the arguments over gifts are a kind of pantomime marking a custom with its own rules and etiquette.

Like the orderliness of civilization more broadly, the conventions of exchange break down as Gawain ventures outside of Arthur’s realm. Initially, the breakdown is the result of Gawain’s own actions: in failing to turn over the girdle Lady Bertilak gives him, he violates the terms of his agreement with her husband. Ordinarily, this breach of contract would incur a punishment of equal weight; in fact, the Green Knight implies that Gawain’s misdeed is punishable by death when he says he has “resign[ed]” the “rest of [his] rights” (2342) by merely scratching Gawain. The Green Knight’s show of mercy therefore constitutes a different kind of gift more akin to the Christian concept of grace than to anything in secular feudal society: one that Gawain receives without having “earned” it through his actions.