Symbolism plays a huge role in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, so I decided to do some research on the most popular symbols...
The Color Green: Obviously this symbol is connected to the Green Knight, as well as the Green Chapel and Bertilak's wife's girdle. Critics have many theories about the significance of the color green. Throughout literature, green has represented the cycles of nature and rebirth. This ties into the cyclical time frame of the story; the store starts and ends in the New Year (rebirth) and with the Green Knight challenging someone's life. In medieval England, green also represented witchcraft and devilry. This accounts for the Green Knight's devilish appearance as well as Morgan's control over all the events. Through witchcraft, Morgan gives the Green Knight his appearance and his ability to survive once his head has been chopped off. Also, when paired with gold (as in the Green Knight's costume and the girdle), green is representative of the fading away of youth. In this poem, Gawain has just been knighted and is one of Arthur's youngest knights; he then goes on a journey in which he is forced to give up his idealistic views of chivalry and how it applies to human nature. Finally, the Celts superstitiously claimed that green was a symbol for death and misfortune (fairly self-explanatory I think).
The Color Red: Though not as important as the color green, red plays a significant role. It should be noted, for all of you who don't know this, red is placed opposite from green on the color wheel. The most significant showing of red in this tale is on Gawain's sheild. The pentangle is inscribed in gold on a shield of "gules." In heraldry, gules stands for "warrior," which aptly describes Arthur's knights. In this story, Gawain's greatest adversary (besides himself) is the Green Knight, thus it is fitting that Gawain's shield would be the opposite color of the Green Knight. The Green Knight is also described as having red eyes... I'm not sure of the significance of this but if anyone else has any ideas, please share. It should also be noted that red and green are Christmas colors, which is when the story takes place.
The Pentangle: Perhaps the most significant symbol in this story. This story is the first time that the word "pentangle" has been used in English and it is the first time that it is described as the "endless knot." This is also the only story in which Gawain's shield has a pentangle on it. To Gawain, the pentangle is a representation of all the virtues to which he aspires: to be faultless in his five senses; never to fail in his five fingers; to be loyal to the five wounds of Christ; to gain strength from the five joys of Mary; and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity. In short, to be chivalrous. At the beginning of the story, the pentangle is the main symbol which represents Gawain's ideals of chivalry. However, at the end of the story, the pentangle's significance is overshadowed by that of the girdle.
The Girdle: The green girdle has many meanings throughout the story. In the third section, Bertilak's wife claims it has magical powers and Gawain desires it to keep himself safe during his meeting with the Green Knight. However, once he gets the girdle and finds out that it has no protective powers, Gawain is ashamed that he gave up his chivalrous ideals for such an object. Gawain now sees the girdle as a badge of cowardice and shame for both his actions and his love of mortal life. Once he returns home, in true archetypal manner, the other characters do not understand what the girdle represents to Gawain and they see it as a symbol of his knightly skills. As with the actual events of the story, the meaning of the girdle is cyclical in nature.
These are just some of the most important symbols in SGGK... if you have anything else to add, please do!
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4 comments:
Also on red, there is this sort of clashing idea in that Gawain put on the green magical-protector thing and but his clothes are red as i remember. Anyone think they know why? (besides the conflict thing liz was talking about)
Could also foreshadow the internal conflict he would have after meeting up with the green knight.
http://www.kheper.net/topics/typology/four_humours.html
According to that site, red stands for an irresponsible personality. Could we say that the over abundance of red on Gawain's armor represents his youth and inexperience as a knight?
youth and inexperience? I doubt that.
Another interesting idea I found about the connection between the pentangle and the girdle...
The pentangle is known as the "endless knot" and is thus is impenetrable. However, critics have noticed that the girdle needs to be tied and untied to get it on and off. Also the girdle is a symbol of sexuality; when loosened, it gives promised, while when fastened, it denies. Gawain gives up the pentangle (which is a protective symbol) in favor of the girdle (which represents the giving up of his chastity/chivalry). Therefore, Gawain makes himself more susceptible to sin.
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