Gawain (fit 4)

1. When Gawain goes to the castle he changes, he gives up on his faith and becomes dishonest. When the Green Knight knicks him with the axe Gawain spiritually dies, the way he was becoming he is no longer. He is reborn when he leaves the Chapel because he returns to his old faith in his shield, the pentangle and the Virgin Mary, no longer in the girdle. He keeps the girdle, only to remind himself of when he became dishonest and gave up on his faith.

2. Gawain is reborn physically after he upholds his part of the deal to the Green Knight, and then believes that he is dead. He thinks the Green Knight is going to chop off his head, instead he only cuts it. He is reborn spiritually because he dies when he gives up his faith in God and the Pentangle, and is reborn after his visit with the Green Knight and takes back his old faith.

3) I think we are supposed to accept Sir Gawains point of view at the end because we are supposed to see that he feels bad about what he had done. He feels lesser because he gave up his faith and honesty when he before was prided because of those things. It becomes a lesson to the reader.
4. Gawain is in a way both ruined and not ruined as a knight. To himself he is ruined, he no longer has any respect for himself. But to everyone else he is not ruined because he came back alive and honorable and is still able to perform in battles.
5. I think the Lady is in control of the game. It was not her game, but she was the factor that made it a game. She could have chosen to leave Gawain alone and not temp him. If she would have left him alone he would have stayed honorable and kept his faith. But she chose to take part in the game and challenge him with temptation. She tricked him into becoming dishonest and to put his faith in the girdle instead of the pentangle. It was the decision she made that changed everything and made the challenge.

Questions (fit 3)

2. I think Gawain upholds his respect at first, when the Lady comes into his room he asks her to leave so he can get dressed because he does not feel it is right she is there because she is married to the Duke. It is not very honest to the Duke when he kisses the Lady, but by doing that he is trying to maintain honor for the Lady. He is honorable by upholding his deal with the Duke and giving him in return a kiss that he earned. The next morning he starts to become a little bit more dishonorable to the Duke because he is up waiting for the Lady, he does not ask her to leave, and he kisses her twice. He is able to resist the temptation for the most part, and he does give the Duke the two kisses he received. The third time the Lady visits him, he is no longer honest to the Duke, he lies about the Girdle, and gives up on his original beliefs, forgets about his faith in the Virgin Mary and puts it all in a ‘magic’ girdle that is supposed to protect him. Gawain slowly loses his honesty and faith.

3. The climax would be when Gawain lies to the Duke and tells him he only got the three kisses when he also received the girdle. The whole reason why he was even at the castle is because he was on a journey to uphold a deal. His entire trip was based on being honorable to his people and himself as a warrior. As soon as he accepted the girdle and lied to the Duke he gave up his faith in himself and his shield, and was no longer honest.

4. The girdle symbolizes dishonesty and loss of faith. The lady tells Gawain that it has magical powers and will protect him which Gawain later finds out is a lie; because of this lie it causes Gawain to then lie to the Duke after their deal. The girdle also causes Gawain to give up his faith in the Pentangle, his shield, and the Virgin Mary. He forgot about his Christian beliefs and was thinking more Pagan, believing that the girdle was magic.

5.

Gawain (fit 3)

The first time the Duke goes out he kills a bunch of deer. That same morning the Duke’s wife goes into Sir Gawain’s room while he is sleeping and tempts him. The deer can be related to Gawain because deer are innocent, and were ambushed by the men. Gawain is as well innocent because he has no idea that the Lady will be coming into his room, and he asks her to leave so he can get dressed because he does not believe it is right that she is there.

The second day the Duke and his men killed a Boar, the battle was more difficult this time because the Boar was more prepared than the deer. That same morning the Lady went into Gawain’s room again. This time though, he was waiting for her. He was more prepared for her visit and like the Boar put up a good fight against her but eventually gave it and kissed her.

The third day when the Lady went into Gawain’s room she wanted to give him a gift, but he would not take the ring she offered him. So she gave him a green girdle, but made him promise he would not tell the Duke. She told him it would keep him safe from any blade. That same day the Duke came back with merely a fox. A fox represents trickery and deception, this parallels the idea that Gawain did not uphold his part of the deal and did not tell the Duke about the girdle, and was therefore not honest.