When Sir Gareth arrives at Arthur's court unknown to the knights, Sir Gawain repeats his uncle's hospitality. Even though he was politely refused by his brother, whom he did not recognize, Gawain still extended a hand of hospitality to his brother Sir Gareth.
Despite his initial hospitality, Sir Gawain has a much more negative portrayal in Mallory's work. In this story Sir Gawain in transformed into a fool who fails to recognize his own brother on two separate occasions. When Sir Gareth first enters into Arthur's court, Sir Gawain does not recognize his own flesh and blood. Later, Sir Gawain engages in a joust with his own brother, "and there she cried all on high, Sir Gawain, Sir Gawain, leave thy fighting with thy brother Sir Gareth," (Mallory Chapter XXXIII). Later, after gaining his own recognition, Sir Gareth abandons his brother altogether in favor for other knights of Arthur's court. Rather than being the popular knight he was in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, who fights evil as...
He learns a valuable lesson in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which seems to be forgotten in Thomas Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The legend he creates for himself in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is surpassed by the courageous deeds of his brother Sir Gareth in Le Morte d'Arthur. Luckily for his character, he is most remembered for his starring role in the tale of sin and redemption seen in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
References
Damrosch, Daivd, and Dettmar, Kevin. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Masters of British Literature: Volume a. Longman, 2007.
Mallory, Thomas. Le Morte d'Arthur. "The Tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney." Book 7,
Chapter XXXIII. http://www.arthurian-legend.com/le-morte-darthur/le-morte-darthur-7i.php.2007.
