I remember the first time I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I was especially intrigued because I had only known the story of King Arthur’s sword and his Knights of the Round Table as classic stories beforehand. To read an extension of it was comparable to reading Wicked, the story derived from the Wizard of Oz, because it’s strange to see such a popular and familiar story from a different perspective in a new setting.
Although the beginning of the story focused a great deal on the festivities of Camelot and focused heavily on the image of people drinking, dancing, celebrating, and having an enjoyable time overall, there was something off about it; the description wasn’t exactly painting it in a positive and elegant light. The people were described as naive and unaware in their almost child-like ways of not having any other care in the world. Maybe this was a way for the author to foreshadow the coming of the Green Knight. They also placed emphasis on describing Queen Guinevere and her striking beauty, but she didn’t end up playing a major role in the correspondence between King Arthur and the Green Knight. I wonder why that was.
Throughout the story, another question that lingered in my mind was the underlying reason for the Green Knight’s actions in seeking out King Arthur’s knights and challenging them to his game. I wondered if, like us, the Green Knight was simply curious about the prestige that surrounded King Arthur’s court in Camelot, and therefore wanted them to prove their worth. He wanted to see the bravery for himself or perhaps even prove it wrong, if given the chance.
- Why is the Green Knight green and gold? What is the significance of these two particular colors?
- What is the Green Knight and why is he immune to death?
- What is the Green Knight’s ultimate purpose in using the game to test King Arthur’s knights? What is the end goal in proving them to be as righteous and courageous as they are rumored to be?
- Why was there a heavy focus on Queen Guinevere’s appearance and beauty?
The detailed description of Queen Guinevere was curious to me but I got that after reading last Fitt. She was one of cause of those tests that are given to Knights of Round Table. For the color of Green knight, I think that green represents nature and gold represents perfection. Still, I am not sure with the significance of colors. I guess that colors infer that Green knight is super natural being. And that is the reason why he is immune to death.
And the third question is answered in Fitt 4. The Green knight was sent by a sister of King Arthur. She did not like knights of Round Table and felt jealousy on Queen Guinevere. She wanted that the queen is died by shock after seeing that the Green knight is still alive after beheaded. So this is the reason why the author focused on the queen’s appearance and beauty.
I think the color green has a large significance in the story. The Green Knight that appears before the King is not wielding traditional weapons, but instead carries a holly branch and an axe made of wood. He is symbol of nature in every sense. The Green Knight’s test of Sir Gawain makes him aware of his survival instinct. The color green is also connected to the place where the Green Knight commands Sir Gawain to meet him. The Green Chapel is the most wild, natural places in the story. All green things in this poem seem to have a connection with nature. The Green Knight is nature and that is why he is immune to death. He himself is a representation of nature, and this is why he cannot die.
The colors green and gold must represent the reconciliation of nature and chivalry in man; a man who still retains his natural animal instincts, but who can still be a gentlemen in society. The Green Knight was an ogre-like creature who was sent to test Arthur’s men in order to see who had the strongest will and courage to endure the calamity of fear in the face of death. Arthur knew full well that with a weak foundation his castle would crumble in due time, but that if he could find or rather create strong knights, he would be able to maintain a strong infrastructure in his kingdom that would be durable enough to withstand time. The significance of Queen Guinevere in the first fitt of the story was to kind of foreshadow the test Gawain would have to endure later on. Her grace and beauty motivated Gawain and others must have seen that, for that reason it would seem that the lord knew how to test Gawain by sending his wife to seduce him over and over again in later fitts of the story.