Gawain and Medieval Loki

In Gawain and the Green Knight, there are scenes that seem to run parallel to each other, but in different locations in the story.  These are the scenes where Bertilak is out hunting for animals, and Gawain is back at the castle, trying to remain loyal and not do anything foolish with Bertilak’s lady.  The events in these scenes run parallel in multiple ways that follow the plot and show very in-depth features.  Each animal that Bertilak hunts is representative to the way his lady attempts to seduce Gawain back at the castle.  The deer is rather easy to kill, representing the woman not trying too hard to win over Gawain.  The boar was more difficult and dangerous to kill, representing the woman’s straighter forward and brute force attempt at Gawain.  The fox is the most difficult animal to kill because of his smarts, representing the woman tricking Gawain by giving him her “magical” girdle that protects whomever is wearing it.

The author also uses great lengths of imagery when describing the hunting scenes.  An example of this is when he said, “Then they slit the slot and seized the gullet, scraping it with a sharp knife and tying it into a knot; then they hacked off the legs and stripped away the hide…”  Wilhelm goes into extremely graphic detail when describing the field dressing of the deer after the hunt was over.  The author also goes into great detail when describing the bedroom scenes between Gawain and Bertilak’s lady.  The imagery that he uses allows the reader to really connect and engage in the events of the story.