offering to keep the secret for him. Gawain faces this
fi nal temptation successfully, however, and continues
towards the chapel.
When he arrives, Gawain bemoans his fate but con-
tinues ahead. The Green Knight greets him courte-
ously, and Gawain kneels down, baring his neck. The
Green Knight raises the axe high above his head, and
brings it down in a crashing blow—into a snow bank.
Gawain has fl inched, revealing his cowardice. The
Green Knight mocks Gawain, who swears he will not
fl inch again. The Green Knight raises his axe for a sec-
ond mighty blow, which he begins, but pulls at the
fi nal moment. This time, Gawain does not fl inch, and
the Green Knight praises him for his bravery. On the
third try, the Green Knight’s axe nicks Gawain’s neck
but does him no real harm. Seeing this, Gawain springs
up, grabs his helmet, and cries “bede [bait] me no mo!”
(l. 2322). The Green Knight laughs and tells Gawain
not to worry—he is the most nearly faultless knight on
foot. Of course, he realizes that Gawain has the garter;
indeed, it is his wife’s girdle. The Green Knight and the
lord of the castle—Lord Bercilak—are the same per-
son. He rules through the power of Morgan le Fey, the
old woman Gawain noticed with the lady of the castle,
who desires revenge against Guinevere for Christianiz-
ing Arthur’s court. The Green Knight commends
Gawain for loving his life and for making a “clean con-
fession” (l. 2391) and sends him away with the girdle.
Gawain humbly accepts it—and his faults—and ties
the garter to the outside of his armor as a sign of his
humility. He rides away, returning to Arthur’s court to
share all he has learned about faith and courtesy. The
court, however, ignores his words—but adopts the
girdle as a fashion statement.
There are a number of interesting elements at work
in Sir Gawain. It is a romance with numerous antiro-
mance aspects. For instance, it praises court life and
courtly manners while simultaneously satirizing them.
Early scholars also examined the text for its “English-
ness.” Many of the tales in the Gawain Cycle were
French; critics sought to establish a particularly British
spirit in this poem. These scholars cited the emphasis
on native traditions—Celtic religions, Brutus founding
London, and so forth—and native poetic devices—
ALLITERATION in particular—to justify this position. As
well, traditional scholarship examined the work in the
context of being a “handbook” of chivalry.
Some see Sir Gawain as a confl ict between courtesy
and purity. Other scholars have examined the role of
penance and confession in Sir Gawain. For instance,
Gawain skips necessary steps (no remorse, insuffi cient
disclosure) and makes a false confession—until he
confesses to the Green Knight, a non-Christian. A sim-
ilar stance examines the shame/guilt dichotomy, con-
textualized within early English society.
Feminist and gender critics have examined the rela-
tive power structures present in Sir Gawain, in particu-
lar what it means that Bercilak rules through Morgan’s
power, the aggressiveness of the lady toward Gawain,
and the infl uence of the Virgin Mary. Queer theorists,
on the other hand, have focused on the exchanges
between Gawain and Bercilak and the potential desires
underlying the game. The men both agree to exchange
their “winnings”—in each case, kisses and animals.
However, what if Gawain had given in to temptation
and slept with the lady? Would he then have to sleep
with Bercilak? A similar viewpoint suggests that lesbian
desire underlies the poem, since all the events were
caused by Morgan in order to strike at Guinevere.
See also ARTHURIAN LITERATURE.
FURTHER READING
Dinshaw, Carol. “A Kiss Is Just a Kiss: Heterosexuality and
Its Consolations in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.”
Diacritics 24, no. 2 (1994): 205–226.
Spearing, A. C. The Gawain-Poet: A Critical Study. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 1970.SIR LAUNFAL THOMAS CHESTRE (14th century)
THOMAS CHESTRE’s poem Sir Launfal has been dated to
the 14th century. About the author, nothing is known
for certain beyond his name. Because of the poem’s
dialect, it seems likely he came from Chester, which is
in northwest England. Although it is preserved in only
one manuscript, there are a number of medieval ver-
sions of the story. Chestre’s Sir Launfal is based primar-
ily on Landevale, an earlier English version of MARIE DE
FRANCE’s “LANVAL”; it also draws heavily on a version of
the Old French ROMANCE Graelent, primarily for the
account of the queen’s enmity toward the hero, the
episode of the mayor’s daughter, the depiction of the412 SIR LAUNFAL