Sir Gawain And The Green Knight
Discussion Questions
Virtue
In this tale, Gawain is offered up as the most virtuous of the Arthurian
knights. What examples support that impression from the very beginning and
on throughout the story?
Courtly Love
Gawain's behavior toward Bertilak's wife -- and thus Bertilak as well --
represents textbook-perfect courtly love behavior; he behaves exactly as he
should. So, how does he behave? Generalizing off of this behavior,
what does this tell us about courtly love and how kings, queens and knights were
supposed to behave?
Of Stags, Boars and Foxes
How does Bertilak spend his days while Gawain is flirting with his wife?
How might this contrast be interpreted as part of the Pagan critique of
courtly love and/or Arthurian Knights like Gawain?
From Talisman to Emblem
What, according to the Green Knight, is the true nature of Gawain's failure? How
does Gawain respond to this criticism?
Pagan Incursion
How might The Green Knight and Morgan le Faye be interpreted as a
Celtic/Druidic/Pagan etc. (pre-Christian) incursion into the Roman-tic and
Christianized Arthurian culture? In other words, a) what clues tell us
that it is a pagan incursion and b) what, exactly, does this incursion
seem to mean in thematic terms: what sort of critique do the Green Knight and Le
Faye deliver to Gawain (and thus the Arthurian culture)?
Failure
Plot spoiler: both Gawain and Perceval fail, to a degree, to, at least
superficially, fulfill with honor the object of their quest. The "Talisman
to Emblem" question, above, relates both to Gawain's failure but his response
points toward a more profound psychological or spiritual fulfillment. So
a) summarize how both knights seemingly fail in their quests and b) how this
failure is then turned toward spiritual growth and then c) how this
failure/growth relates to Christianity. Finally, relate this failure to
Achilles. For what it's worth, this is probably the hardest set of
questions this semester.