Hey guys,
I read something really interesting in an article about Sir Gawain today. It was talking about the significance of the number three. Reading over Laz's idea sheet for the paper, it talks about symmetry (two) but I found more interesting things in the number three.
The lord's wife came to Gawain's bedroom three times. He was tempted to do evil three times. The hunts were on three different days. The Green Knight swings the axe three times. On the third day of the hunt/his stay, Gawain doesn't give the lord everything. On the third axe swing, the Green Knight gives him a small scar (but not deadly). While this in itself is pretty obvious stuff, I thought the Christian/pagan connection was interesting. In Christianity (as some of you know and can explain better than me), there is a connection between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This doesnt necessarily connect to just Christianity, though. Three is significant in many cultures. The idea that life comes in three stages (birth, life, and death/afterlife), "all things come in threes", etc. The passage I read said that this was the authors way of saying that everything is (in this story and in life) connected. The passage specifically suggested that it was a Christian reference. While I would agree that it might be, because three is such a significant number in many cultures (http://www.shawlministry.com/significance_of_three.htm ) , I don't know if we can say this reference is directly Christian. But its interesting.
PS: Did you know that JRR Tolkien translated a version of Sir Gawain? His translation is supposed to be one of the better versions. It's funny... Tolkien came up in my research of Beowulf as well (he had done a couple of essays on the monsters in Beowulf)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
As to the religious references, I also read that it represents circumcision and such (it being 8 days after in Jewish religious rites) and that was the day that Gawian had to find the green knight by.
As to Tolkien's translation, Matt said it was good if anyone wanted some verification from a BROWN (gratz him) scholar. lol.
Also i have a copy of the Beowulf monster or something essay by Tolkien if anyone wanted to take a look at it. (I believe it was like 60 or so pages. :)
Fun Fact: Things are repeated in literature, and especially poetry because this is the average number of times that something can be repeated without being perceived as redundant. Repitition is used to get a point across or to point out something significant but after three repititions, the statement loses some of its impact.
This had absolutely nothing to do with Sir Gawain but the number three made me think of this... another reason why so many things in the story come in threes?
As for the Father, Son, Holy Ghost reference, these three beings for lack of a better word) are the three forms that God has taken.
Next time my comments will be of more literary/critical value. I'm sorry for the lack thereof in this post.
I guess my real question would be whether or not this is necessarily a Christian reference.
I think it is. Like Laz said, knights were the defenders of Christ. This combined with the picture of Virgin Mary on Gawain's shield leads me to beleive that it is a Christian reference.
Anyone disagree?
Yeah I came across some interesting things about symbolism and significance (in this case, of the #3). Like you guys have mentioned, it represents the Holy Trinity. But going in depth, it is also believed to represent the integrity and interdependence of things. It also universally reprensents the connection and balance of the mind, body,and spirit. Another interesting thing (in math) is that at least 3 lines are required to make a solid-looking image. Therefore, the number 3 stands for the entirety of something. Time is also separated into 3 sections: past, present, future. All in all, in SGGK, 3 stands for divine perfection.
Another interesting thought in terms of threes. I was looking back at our Canterbury information, and found something in the Second Nun's Tale. She talks about Saint Cecilia. In the tale, a Roman prefect tries to cut off her head (Cecilia was mocking his pagan religion). he could only make three cuts - and she countinued to preach for three more days before dying
Post a Comment