Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- essays research papers fc

Women, Courtly Love and the Creation Myth in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight     Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a great epic written in fourteenth century Europe by the Pearl poet, emphasizes the opposition of Christian hunch to Courtly love in the 13th century through the plight of Sir Gawain, one of the great knights of the Arthurian round table. By examining the women in the poem, Gawains dilemma becomes a metaphor for the contrast of these two distinct types of love. The poem looks upon the Virgin bloody shame as the representative of spiritual love, obedience, chastity, and life (Warner 9). In contrast, Morgan le Fay and Bertilaks wife appear to be representing courtly love, disobedience, lust and death. This conflict between courtly love and spiritual love demonstrates the drastically weakened religious values behind chivalry. An interesting parallel to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the story of original sin in the Garden of Eden. Gawains temptatio n correlates to the temptation of Adam, which is rooted in the sins of the flesh. The women in the story seem to accentuate the down inclination of Gawain, which mirrors the downfall of Arthurs court, as well as mans fall from grace in the garden.      Originally, the first duty of a knight was to be at the service of his church. However, with the rise of courtly love, knights began to give their devotion to their mistress alternatively than God. This elevated the churchs mistrust of women and the flesh. The characterization of Bertilaks wife is not unlike that of Eve, a temptress who would bring both happiness and despair to her man. One interesting structure to this story is that, like courtly love, possession of power seems to be shifted into the hands of the women. The wife of Bertilak operates unassisted against Gawain in the bedroom as the hunter and the aggressor. The great fair(prenominal) power in the story, however, comes from Morgan le Fay, the evil stepsister of Arthur. She is strong enough to move into Bertilaks castle, turn him green and order him to walk and talk with a separate head.      The Virgin Mary also plays a prominent role in the tale. It seems as if Mary and Gawain have a relationship based on a special untainted Christian love. That Gawain is Marys knight is made clear in the scene where he is robed for battle. That all h... ...t. The women in this tale serve as a medium for comparing the spiritual journey of Sir Gawain to the creation myth. With Mary as a symbol of perfection and Lady Bertilak as an Eve-like symbol of temptation, the feature that he is torn between them displays his humanness just as Adam was torn between the word of God and the love of Eve. In this case, Morgan le Fay would plausibly be considered the serpent in the garden, the instigator of the conflict in the story. Because of the story of Eve, women were frequently looked upon in medieval times as cunning, untrustwo rthy and generally evil. Women in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are looked upon with the male concept that flesh is evil and will lead to mans downfall, which is highlighted by the contrast of Courtly love to Christian love. Works CitedAbrams, M.H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New York W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1993. De Roo, Harvey. "Undressing Lady Bertilak Guilt and Denial in Sir Gawain and theGreen Knight." The Chaucer Review 27 (1993) 305-24.Warner, Marina. Alone of all Her Sex The Myth and the craze of the Virgin Mary. New York Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1976.