Chivalry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Explained

Introduction

In the medieval world, chivalry was a code of conduct—a principle of behavior—expected of courteous knights, as endlessly expressed by one of the most famous literary knights of all time, Don Quixote. In the medieval story Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, chivalry takes center stage in the action, as the plot essentially pivots on what it means to be chivalrous and how chivalry should be embodied. Sir Gawain undergoes a moral test; the Green Knight is a kind of mythical, mystical judge who puts him through the test; and at the end of it, Sir Gawain emerges humbled and conscious of his shortcomings. The tale is a moral one, and this paper will examine how the medieval concept of chivalry is applied in the story and what it means for Sir Gawain personally after he realizes the fullness of his behavior and all its ramifications.

Chivalry and the Knight

Chivalry stemmed from the Christian ethic prominent in the medieval era: it was based on the idea that men and women had precise duties in life, and that, as a man, one had to demonstrate courage, courtesy, honor, and strength to be chivalric. A knight, who was dedicated to serving a king, had to use arms in that service—and so the use of force became part of the concept of chivalry: "As a code of honour, chivalry had as much investment in knightly autonomy and heroic violence as in any forms of restraint, either internal or external." Chivalry created an atmosphere and environment in which one could be compelled in two opposite directions at once: a knight might boast in his chivalry and become full of pride through demonstrations of valor; on the other hand, chivalry could impose upon the knight certain constraints that would induce him to behave morally. The story of Sir Gawain is a story in which a boastful knight is taught a lesson about what it means to have modesty—a disposition much expected of a chivalrous person in the medieval age.

Aside from its association with manly violence, chivalry was also associated with courtesy. A courteous knight was one who respected the persons of others, particularly of ladies. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the idea of courtesy is linked to the concept of Christian virtue. Faith, modesty, courage, perseverance, honesty—all of these qualities are aspects of chivalry and are touched upon by Sir Gawain during his test, which essentially turns him from the proud, boastful knight at the beginning of the story into a kind of pupil of the Green Knight. After all, it is the Green Knight who tests Sir Gawain three times within his castle, though Sir Gawain is ignorant of the identity of his host. Gawain's test concludes not with a beheading, as agreed upon at the beginning of the story, but instead with a gentle reminder of what chivalry means—that is, how a knight should conduct himself: with honor, integrity, honesty, courtesy, and modesty.

The ending of the story is also one in which violence is not imposed: the violent rush comes at the story's opening; the ending displaces violence with mercy. Sir Gawain's lesson is tied to the idea that chivalry also extends to mercy and should reflect the Christian concept of charity whenever possible. This lesson is emphasized in the nick on the neck that Gawain receives from the Green Knight—it serves as a slight reminder of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and His blood shed for the sins of mankind. Gawain's sin, his failure to hand over to his host everything given to him by his hostess, is thus punished with a reminder that his sins have been atoned for by God, but that he himself must conduct himself with greater moral care in the future.

Sir Gawain's lesson is an important one—but it is also one to which he himself has committed. His own shield stands as a message to others that he will be mindful of the duties he owes to the world as a knight. His shield represents the ideals he is meant to profess, and so it is worth considering the symbolism of Gawain's shield to better understand what exactly the knight is meant to represent.

Sir Gawain's Shield

The shield of Sir Gawain represents the qualities of chivalry that he professes to uphold. On the shield is depicted a pentangle—a five-pointed star, with each point representing one of the values of chivalry. As the poem states: "It is a symbol that Solomon designed long ago / As an emblem of fidelity, and justly so; [...] Therefore it suits this knight and his shining arms, / For always faithful in five ways, and five times in each case, / Gawain was reputed as virtuous." Gawain's virtue is extolled in five ways: first, through the use of his five fingers, which aid him in battle; second, through the use of his five senses, which provide him with intelligence and the ability to judge rightly of the world around him; third, through his spiritual devotion to God, especially to the five wounds suffered by Christ during His passion; fourth, through the five joys experienced by the Virgin Mary, Mother of God; and fifth, through his five virtues, which are identified as charity, piety, generosity, chastity, and courtesy.

The symbol on Gawain's shield is also meaningful because it shows how all of the virtues are integrated—how one runs right into the other. There is no break in the pentangle on his shield: it is a single line that intersects over and under itself as it creates the star shape. The star could equally serve as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the three Wise Men to the child Jesus during the nativity. In this sense, Gawain is supposed to serve as a star for mankind—a sign that points toward Christ. His actions, way of life, words, thoughts, and decorum are all meant to reflect the saintliness expected of a virtuous person filled with the spirit of God.

As Morgan notes, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a medieval poem and as such has certain moral characteristics that must be considered for the poem to be fully understood: "The dominant characteristic of medieval poetry is its objectivity; the primary interest, that is to say, is moral and not psychological. In his description of the device of the pentangle on Sir Gawain's shield, the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reveals to us that such a moral interest can take exceedingly intricate forms. If we are to believe the poet, the pentangle passage is crucial to the understanding of the poem." However, the concepts that the pentangle represents are not all pursued in the narrative poem with the same emphasis. For example, Gawain's faithfulness takes center stage during the test, and his fidelity to his pledged word is what is at stake.

He is doubly tested in the sense that he keeps his word to the Green Knight and presents himself of his own free will for what he expects will be his beheading and death. He also keeps his word—for the most part—with the host of the castle where he stays prior to going to meet the Green Knight to uphold his end of the bargain. That the host and the Green Knight are one and the same reveals how important the concept of fidelity is at the center of the story, and this concept is associated with Gawain's chivalry through the symbol of the shield, as faithfulness is one of the virtues Gawain is meant to extol. Faithfulness is likewise "given the leading place as the total significance of the pentangle," as line 626 of the poem demonstrates.

Conclusion

The meaning of chivalry is here: this is what allows the poem to have its moral lesson—Gawain's life is saved through the sacrament of confession, and though he is not confessing to a priest, he is confessing nonetheless, and the mystical being that is the Green Knight hears the confession and gives Gawain but a small nick as penance. Gawain then goes home, wearing the lady's keepsake as a memory of his sinfulness and an emblem to remind him to be pious in the future and not so rash as he was at the beginning. Thus the story concludes as a morality tale in which the main character's chivalry is strengthened in unexpected ways that nonetheless reinforce the Christian ideals and teachings of the medieval era. Gawain wears the lady's keepsake as a reminder of his transgression and the need to maintain humility—humility he did not fully possess when he first met the Green Knight one year prior during the Christmas season, that time of year when Christ's birth is celebrated and the reason for chivalry was, in a sense, introduced into the world.