Day 14 – Sir Gawain and Literary InterpretationAnthropological/ ArchetypalPsychological

Tolkien and Sir Gawain

What influences do you see?

Clock of the Day, the Year, and the Life

Another version

Alain Renoir’s cinematographic theory of the writing of the beheading. “close reading”

Also see Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The green knight got ready, feet firm on the ground;leaned his head a little to let the cheek show,and raised the rich riot of his hairso the nape of his neck was naked and exposed.Gawain held the ax high overhead,his left foot set before him on the floor,swung swiftly at the soft fleshso the bit of the blade broke through the bones,crashed through the clear fat and cut it in two,and the brightly burnished edge bit into the earth.The handsome head fell, hit the ground,and rolled forward; they fended it off with their feet.The red blood burst bright from the green body,yet the fellow neither faltered nor fellbut stepped strongly out on sturdy thighs,reached roughly right through their legs,grabbed his graceful head and lifted it from the ground,ran to his horse, caught hold of the reins,stepped in the stirrup, strode into the saddle,the head dangling by the hair from his hand,and seated himself as firmly in the saddleas if he were unhurt, though he sat on his horse withouta head.                He swiveled his bulk about;                the ugly stump still bled.                They gaped in fear and doubt                because of the words he said.

Green Man

The mysterious Green Knight is the most unique, and perhaps most memorable, feature of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Scholars have long debated whether he owes more to Pagan mythology, to poetic invention or folkloric ceremony. However that may be, he represents a spirit of vegetation. Trees can live far longer than human beings, and they have regenerative powers that people have always envied. A person who loses a limb is permanently handicapped, but a tree that loses a limb will simply grow in another direction. The Green Knight has this ability. On being decapitated, he simply picks up his head, which continues to speak in his hand. The next year, the head is back on his torso where it belongs.

Nevertheless, possible literary predecessors of the Green Knight may go back almost to the start of civilization. The earliest is the giant Humbaba, guardian of the cedar forest of Lebanon in the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh from around the early second millennium B. C. Like the Green Man of medieval Europe, Humbaba was often sculpted grimacing from the facades of buildings. There is also a Muslim Green Man known as Kadr, whose lore was probably carried by crusaders back from the Holy Land.

Mythological/ Anthropological

Anthropological view of the tale so far?

Sir Gawain as associated with Oaks

Also Sir Gawain as associated with May Day and the May Pole

Story as fertility myth, ritual

In European spring festivals, maypoles were set up to represent sacred trees, and a sacred marriage was enacted between a May Queen—a descendant of countless fertility goddesses reaching back to the Neolithic and the SumerianInanna— and a companion known as the Green Man, himself a descendant of all those ancient fertility heroes such as Dumuzi, Attis, and Adonis, many of whom were associated with sacred trees. A later relative of the Green Man was the Green Knight in the Middle English romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which the theme of decapitation suggests the ancient ritual of fertile sacrifice for the good of humanity, a process reenacted in the Christian story of Jesus, who died on the “tree”-cross and was resurrected in the spring, symbolizing a new spiritual fertility.

Pentangle

“The poem describes Gawain's armor in detail. He carries a red shield that has a pentangle painted on its front. The pentangle is a token of truth. Each of the five points are linked and locked with the next, forming what is called the endless knot. The pentangle is a symbol that Gawain is faultless in his five senses, never found to fail in his five fingers, faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross, strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (The Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption), and possesses brotherly love, pure mind and manners, and compassion most precious. The inside of the shield is adorned with an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain never loses heart.” (Sir Gawain Room)

Carl Jung on Mandalas

The "squaring of the circle" is one of the many archetypal motifswhich form the basic patterns of our dreams and fantasies. But itis distinguished by the fact that it is one of the most importantof them from the functional point of view. Indeed, it could evenbe called the archetype of wholeness.- from Mandalas. C. G. Jung. trans. from Du (Zurich, 1955)

During a difficult period in his life in which he withdrew from his teaching position and devoted much of his time investigating the nature of the unconscious, Jung frequently painted or drew mandalas, but only learned to understand the mandala symbology many years after he had begun creating the images.

He understood only that he felt compelled to make the figures and that they comforted him, “Only gradually did I discover what the mandala really is: “Formation, Transformation, Eternal Mind’s eternal recreation”. And that is the self, the wholeness of the personality, which if all goes well is harmonious, but which cannot tolerate self-deceptions” (MDR 195-196). Mandalas are defined by Jung as magic circles, containing certain design motifs that he found to have a universal nature, across cultures and across time, whether they are the transiently created mandalas from Tibet, sand paintings from the American southwest, or illustrations from ancient, medieval, and Renaissance alchemical works. (Carbonek – August 9, 2007. Blog.)

Dr. Freud or Dr. Jung?

Psychological view of the tale so far?

What if you were doing a Freudian reading?

A Jungian reading?

In any case, the poem is very humanistic. Gawain’s “only fault is that he loves his life too much.” The poem is about a good man choosing between right and wrong.

Chivalric ideal

Loyalty to God, King, Lady (remember loyalty from Beowulf). But this doesn’t always work – what do you do if there is a conflict in loyalties? Gawain fails in all three of these respects, as you will see. But he also succeeds.

Questions as you keep reading

Which court is more real? Arthur’s or Haut desert?

What should Gawain do with the Lady?

What is the meaning of green?

What kind of king is Arthur?

What do the animals mean?

Anti-French?

How you would do a New Historical view?

Some argue that there is an anti-French theme represented by Arthur’s court. This is due to the 100 Years War. So French poetry and structure were thrust aside. This is one argument for the alliterative revival – an endeavor to find literary independence from France.

Values?

What values do you see as significant to Sir Gawain?

From what you know of the Round Table, what values were most significant?

Dark Ages?

Sir Gawain and the Canterbury Tales were written at a time of transition. The Gawain/ Pearl poet looks backwards to courtly love but Chaucer looks forward to the Renaissance and humanism.

Neither book (unlike Dante’s Divine Comedy) was focused on heaven. The rewards, punishments, conflicts, etc. were based in this world. The focus is on human frailty and human greatness. There is sympathy for the human condition.