The opening scene of the Christmas celebration at Arthur's castle and the Christmas celebration at the castle Sir Gawain finds in Part 2 hold many similar parallels. In both scenes all of the men are described to be the boldest, the strongest, and the most valiant. In the first scene, Queen Guenevere is described as "The loveliest to see / Glanced round with eyes blue-grey; / That he had seen a fairer one / Truly no one could say" (81-84). And yet the woman Gawain meets in Part 2 is described as even more beautiful--even more fair. It seems that each grand location beholds the best nobles, the strongest knights, the most beautiful women, and the most thankful servants. How is it possible to have the most and the best of each person at each location? With each scene, it is described frequently how tremendous their population seems to be, and these are purposeful exaggerations. Possibly this is the perspective of each respective population, everyone believes their people are better than the rest! Or it is possibly the perspective of the narrator who is speaking in first person, maybe they just think everyone they see is the best at everything!
However, each scene is also emphasized in the excess and the grandeur of each castle's settings. The Christmas feast seems to be the grandest of the year, spanning out over days and finding comfortability in the finest luxuries. Greed and gluttony seem to be favored in both settings, and living in such excess seems to be almost a reward for how good the population is described to be. Maybe these descriptions of the nobles and knights justify the excess they desire to live in? The Green Knight's appearance in the first Christmas scene seems to be a necessary interruption to this lifestyle; he is magical and different than the norms the population is used to. Maybe his difference and shocking existence is necessary to their dignified and normalized state of being.
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