Self Doubt

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Quote: "I am the weakest, the most wanting in wisdom, I know, And my life, if lost, would be least missed, truly. Only through your being my uncle, am I to be valued: No bounty but your blood in my body do I know. And since this affair is too foolish to fall to you, And I first asked it of you, make it over to me; And if I fail to speak fittingly, let this full court judge Without blame."

I believe this is a significant quote in this story because even though Sir Gawain has such a bad opinion of himself, everyone reading can see how he embodies what a knight is supposed to look like. He volunteered to kill a giant, he killed that same giant with one blow, something a weak knight wouldn't be able to do. Also, he stays honest *mostly* when tested later in the story, even though he claims to be incapable. Overall, this negative view of himself is what makes Sir Gawain such an interesting character.

Sir Gawian and the green knight

I chose the following song to describe the past reading:

"U Can't Touch This" by: MC Hammer

This song talks about not being about to touch "this" which I think fits well considering Gawian was seduced multiple times in the story and he would refuse each time not allowing to be touched.

What are we supposed to believe?

We talked about what we think is history versus legends in an earlier discussion. While reading Arthur's part in the History of the Kings of Britain, what does Geoffrey of Monmouth intend to be history, and what does he intend to be more of a "legend". Does he want readers to believe every word he writes?

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.