Everyone Has Faults

The moral of the story could be summed up as “honesty is the best policy.” The first half of the story lauds Gawain as a good man (line 632), though he considers himself the weakest and lowliest of Arthur’s knights (354). When the bravery of the whole court is challenged by the Green Knight, Gawain is the only one who stands up to respond (343-4). Therefore, is Gawain really as weak as he claims if he’s the only one to respond?

The rest of the story answers that question. Despite his bravery in taking on the challenge, he ultimately fails the test of honesty. In contrast to Lancelot, who has no qualms about cheating with Guinevere, Gawain denies Lady Bertilak’s advances. He calls himself “an unworthy creature” (1243) and won’t do anything more than kiss her when she asks. At first glance, this seems like the noble thing to do; he refuses to cheat. However, because he takes her gift of the green belt, he enters into a lie.

“You’re one of the finest fellows to set foot on the earth,” begins Bertilak, “But you have a small flaw, my friend; you lack some faithfulness” (1263, 6). The Green Knight himself plotted the whole scheme to test Gawain’s honesty and he failed. Gawain knows his own pride caused him to fail. He even shows his injury to the court as proof of his “cowardice and covetousness” because “a man can hide his hurt, but never hurl it away, / Since once it is attached, it will not disappear” (2508, 11-2). Thus, Gawain proves that even the bravest knight has his faults.