Yo The Lord's Wife is Trying to Seduce Our Mans

Pardon the title, I wanted it to be catching. But through out most of the 3rd fitt, I was overwhelmed by how much the Lord's wife was trying to seduce Sir Gawain while her husband was away. Honestly, I really was under the impression that cheating was very much so frowned upon during this time as much as it still is still today.  But the Lord's wife seems to think otherwise. Since this is very prevalent in this section of the poem, I thought that a meme would suffice how the Lord's wife is feeling/acting. I hope you find this as fitting as I did.


source: https://me.me/i/let-me-seduce-you-9698199

But Why?

"Morgan the goddess/ Therefore is her name;/ No one, however haughty/ Or proud she cannot tame." (2452-2455)

From the beginning of the book, the motive of the Green Knight had been a mystery, but these four lines give it away. It is not his plan to get his head cut off. Instead, it is Morgan le Fay's as a way to bring down the court of King Arthur, her half-brother. Through this quest she had put Gawain through she successfully took the king and his court down a few pegs and showed them they were not entirely what they had believed themselves to be.

Millennials Need To Learn From Sir Gawain .-.

"'... But I shall look at it often as a sign of my failing,/ And when I ride in triumph, recall with remorse/ The corruption and frailty of perverse flesh,/ How quick it is to pick up blotches of sin./ And so when pride in my knightly valour stirs me,/ A glance at this girdle will humble my heart.'" (IV 2433-2438).

This quote seems to bring the whole journey together. It is honorable that Sir Gawain is willing to literally wear his sin. He is able to take ownership of his failures and turn it into something that will help him and future knights stay true to all of their values. I respect Sir Gawain for owning up to his wrong-doings and taking the consequences as they come.

Magic or Religion?

“For it is my belt you are wearing, that same woven girdle, my own wife gave it to you, I know well in truth. I know all about your kisses, and your courteous manners, and my wife’s wooing of you: I arranged it myself. I sent her to test you.”(2358-2362)

The appearance of religion- Christianity is shown a lot throughout this story. For example- Christmas is celebrated, going to mass is important to Gawain, he has Mary on his shield, Gawain prays to the Lord, goes to confession, This particular quote I chose seems similar to the Bible story of the devil tempting Adam and Eve. Forgiveness and reconciling differences is a very important part of this story too, which is also seen in the Bible. In this story and in the Bible, a sinner is forced to be burdened with something. Gawain has the scare, Adam and Eve became ashamed to be naked once they sinned.

This is significant because this story is full of magic and religion- and distinguishing the difference between the two can be interpreted differently for everyone. Both religion and magic can be seen in this story and impact the actions of every character.

The Interaction Between Magic and Religion

Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, there is an interaction between magic and religion. The Green Knight is the magical figure that comes from no where and challenges someone to strike him a blow that he will return a year and a day from that date. Gawain is the religious knight that prays because he does not want to spend Christmas Eve alone and he wishes to attend church. Once Gawain has spent his time within the castle, that appeared out of no where, he starts getting dressed to meet with the Green Knight. "While he dressed himself in his noblest clothes-/ His coat with its finely embroidered badge/ Set upon his velvet, with stones of magical power/ Inlaid and clasped round it, with embroidered seams/ And richly lined on the inside with beautiful furs" (2025-29). Why, for the religious man, to have stones of magical power instead of a crucifix as a part of his attire for meeting a magical green man? Religion and magic are quite different from each other. Religion is structured and organized. Magic, on the other hand, what rules are there to follow? A green man can get his head cut off and survive and a castle can appear out of no where. Both of these instances seem more magical than some religious miracle. Magic and religion start off as two apposing ends; a magical Green Knight and a religious knight in red. The ideas of magic and religion end up becoming entwined within Sir Gawain. Gawain is a man of religion, by continuing to pray, and becomes one of magic, by wearing magical stones for his meeting with a magical green man.  

Throw Everything You Thought You Knew Out the Window

“First I threatened you playfully with a pretence, / And avoided giving you a gash, doing so rightly / Because of the agreement we made on the first night, / When you faithfully and truly kept your pledged word, / Gave me all your winnings as an honest man should” (Lines 2345-2349).

When the Green Knight, or Bertilak of Hautdesert as we later know him, says this to Gawain, it was the moment that I realized the Green Knight was Lord Bertilak from the castle that Gawain stayed in on his journey. This moment is important because it took everything I thought I understood about the poem and turned it upside down, therefore capturing my attention. It also left me wondering: how did he do that? Is this… magic?

Morality or Intuition?

While reading Parts 3 and 4, I couldn't help but keep thinking about how odd it was that a lady in the castle that had conveniently been so welcoming to Sir Gawain, goes into his room every morning and announces that he may do whatever he wants to her. Of course, since he is a noble and gentlemanly knight, he simply only talks with her and only kisses her when she makes the move to, but I found this situation to be really kind of ironic considering the fact that he and the lord of the castle had just had sex with a lot of women after he arrives. Despite going to mass and confession every day, he had no reservations about having sex with random women before, so what changed?
Why is his sense of morality suddenly different? Did he have some sort of feeling that he shouldn't sleep with this woman (since we later find out that she is the Green Knight's wife)?

Why spend so much time on butchering?

I'm just curious to why there was a whole entire page dedicated to describing the hunters butchering the deer they killed? I am not used to this amount of description for minor parts of a story but it was just gross. I know that there's been a theme for a lot of description, like I understand that it may be necessary to describe the Green Knight because he's a pretty big deal in the story and its nice to get a good amount of imagery. Or to describe Gawain's shield since it shows his religious character, but why take so much time talking about butchering the deer they just killed? I feel that the main goal was to creep readers out or want them to know how to properly butcher a deer. I just did not feel the deer butchering scene help enhance the understanding of the plot, but I could've easily missed something that made it completely necessary to be so descriptive about it.

The Lords wife, what`s up with her?

SO...we all see how the Lord Bertilak's wife acts around Gawain: she`s got an idea in her head and it`s like she`s set on a mission. I guess I`m suspicious of what she really wants. Does she really just want to "hang out" with Gawain for the clout since he`s a knight on the round table...or is there something else going on between her and her husband? I think it says a lot about the commitment of a married couple during this time. I think men had so much power it`s almost like the lord`s wife is just a tool to him that he can use when he pleases (or leave alone with a stranger in the castle all day). What do you think her motive is when she goes into the knights chamber? Purely sexual maybe...or something deeper?

Why It Gotta Be Green???

The Green Knight is very, well, green! There isn't much more about him so far that we know about the guy. But, what we do have so far from is that he's super GREEN. Why though? Why is the Green Knight green? What is so significant about the color green when he comes to the Christmas/New Years kickback of King Arthur and his Round Table buddies? Is there symbolism with the color green? What are they? We shall discuss ;).

Gawain: Devoid of all vice

From a creative writing standpoint, I was annoyed with the redundancy of other characters loving Sir Gawain so, so much. I was able to discern his character for myself in the beginning when he declared, “I am the weakest of [the knights], I know, and the dullest-minded, / So my death would be least loss” (Lines 354-5). I figured he was excessively humble, but he was willing to take one for the team, so I mentally gave him a thumbs up. And then we get to Fitt 2, and Gawain is “reputed as virtuous […]/ Devoid of all vice” (Lines 634-5). I’m pretty sure that nobody is free of all vice, so I was already a little peeved at this point. Then, when Gawain gets to the other castle, everyone thinks he’s the greatest person ever! The writer states, “And all the men in the castle were overjoyed/ To make the acquaintance quickly then/ Of the man to whom all excellence and valor belongs” (Lines 910-2) and later the lord exclaims, “Indeed, Sir, as long as I live I shall be the better/ Because Gawain was my guest at God’s own feast” (Lines 1035-6). Mr. Writer-Man, we get it. We get you’re point. Everyone loves this guy. As a minor note, that’s super unrealistic, and it bothers me that nobody hates him. But more importantly, why beat your audience over the head with the constant reminders about how great your character is! Especially, especially, when Gawain’s actions don’t exactly reflect this reputation. We know some “great pleasure” happened in “private” (SEX) (probably), which is definitely not what a man of his religion is supposed to be doing. In short, the writer broke the “show, don’t tell” law, so we should consider arresting him.