Gawain questions Fit 4

Fit 4 Questions

1) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight can be viewed as a journey from life to death and back to life. Discuss how this works.

2) Sir Gawain is reborn both physically and spiritually at the end of the book how?

3) Whose Point of View are we suppose to exact at the end of the book? Why?

4) Is Gawain ruined as a knight or will we see great deeds from him again?

5) In your opinion who is really in control?

1. This journey from life to death and back to life can be seen in Gawain’s journey to the Castle. The journey starts in Camelot, traveling through the wilderness and in the castle, and ends with Gawain’s rebirth in Camelot. Camelot is a joyous place filled with happiness and games. It’s filled with life. He leaves this pleasant place however into the wilderness, which is cold and unforgiving like death. He goes to the castle and in his adventures he spiritually dies. You often see Gawain put his faith in God and Mary, for example his shield has the pentangle on one side and Mary on the other. The Christian ideas of reward from God after death can be seen in the answering of Gawain’s desperate prayers. He prays for a place to celebrate Christmas mass and the castle suddenly appears. ("in the midst of the woods, he saw a moated castle" ln. 763). The journey of rebirth is seen after he fails with the green knight and looses his pure spirit by using the Girdle. He returns home, and with no one caring of his cowardly actions, he is reborn.
2. Near the end of the story the Green Knight spears his life. It was originally a set up however but this can be seen as Gawain’s physical rebirth, with only a minor flesh wound instead of death. Gawain knows he chose the cowardly path by accepting the Green Girdle that would save him against the Green Knight, and he feels embarrassed and ruined as a honorable knight because of it. He is reborn after he fails to maintain his faith in god. When he returns home however, the people ignore his previous desires to live and so in a way he is given a second chance, or is spiritually reborn.
3. I think, at least in the end of the story, was someone in Camelot. It’s arguable that the point of view is taken by Gawain, however I find it unlikely that someone so embarrassed would write it so the people of Camelot were that tolerant of his cowardly act. The people of Camelot however see everything as game, with less concequences in life. They make his quest seem like a big game, and that it doesn’t even matter if he failed or not. This can be seen in this line, “Right then, that lords and ladies of the Round Table and all in their Brotherhood should wear a baldric bound cross-wise round them, a band of green…..be honored evermore.” (Line 2564)
4. Sir Gawain is most definitely ruined as a knight. He is mentally destroyed and spiritually lost and unstable. He will never be able to forget the dishonor that he has brought on himself and his king and people. With this Gawains first major adventure for fame and glory, he has failed his first task and with less confidence he will have less inspiration to try again. “But I shall see it always, as a sign of my fault wherever I ride, remembering with remorse, in times of pride how feeble is the fles, how petty and perverse.” He’s talking of the Girdle which he will always where to remind him of his failure. He will never live down what he has done. Gawain sias him self, “What’s done is done and cannot be undone.”
5. I think even though the Young Lady and Bertilak play large roles in the game, the Old Lady, or Morgan le Fay, is in control and is responsible for the sequence of the story. She is in charge and decides to play the game in the beginning.