CRITICAL COMMENTARY

LITERATURA IV2014/2015

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CRITICAL COMMENTARYSIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT2014/2015LITERATURA IV

CRITICAL COMMENTARY

Gerald Morgan initiates his article, Medieval Misogyny and Gawains Outburst Against Women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, trying to deny Gawains misogyny and he states that the main problem is that Gawain need to be evaluated in the context of Medieval Age and not as a 21st century character. According to the author, ladies are responsible of knights inspiration and knights are prepared to die for them. The main function of a medieval knight is to fight for justice for the weak, for women. The company of ladies is something normal in the life of courts. A knight is a warrior with a refinement of manners and a respect of the experienced warrior. Those elements are interlaced in the word chivalry which was described by Morgan as the practice of knighthood and the prowess of a knight related with the gracious and honorable manner in the dealing of a man and a woman.The article claims that the most important chivalric virtues are, on the one hand, the courage, defined as the midpoint between the vices of rashness and cowardice with the danger of death. Then, the writer depicts the virtue of gentleness as the moderator of the passion of anger. When a knight is fighting in a battle, he needs anger but he also needs to moderate it. On the third place we find humility, a knight does not need to speak about his great exploits because those ones speak by themselves, he should not be arrogant. The last one is courtesy, a knight must moderate his way of speaking and dressing. That virtue has to do with sincerity, friendliness and wittiness; and it is one of the most important virtues because of its presence in Medieval Literature and later in the Renaissance. All those virtues are symbolized in Gawains pentacle and that means that he is a hero because he has all virtues required in a medieval knight.The poem is built around two games, in both, Gawain is the protagonist and he plays the games until the end, accomplishing the role that has been allocated to him. The first one is the Beheading Game, in which he decapitates the Green Knight and, after a year, he returns to the Green Chapel in order to receive the same hit. The other one is the Exchange of Winnings, in which he has to remain in Bertilaks castle and exchange with him, what he has got at the end of the day. The game lasts three days and Gawain has to face with Lady Bertilak who wants to seduce him, he is continuously proved by the lady who puts him in an awkward situation which could drive him to betray his chivalric virtues. Finally he is successful in the way that he is not seduced by his sexual instincts but, being afraid of his destiny, he decides to accept an enchanted girdle for the lady; this girdle has the power to protect the person who wears it. With that fact Gawain violates his social code, because he is not sincere with Bertilak, so he is finally persuaded and betrayed by the lady. He has been defeated although he does not know yet. Gawain thinks that he has been legitimate and honorable with the lady. Nevertheless, at the end of the third day, he seems overwhelmed, he sees his death near and he has to be rescue by the habit of piety. He makes a complete confession of his sins. After that he leaves the castle and goes to the Green Chapel where he discovers that the Green Knight is Bertilak who has been enchanted by Morgan, and he also realizes that he know everything about his wife and the girdle. He feels frustrated because his virtues have contributed to his moral downfall. Thus, at the end, he shows vulnerable.That shows the real nature of a knight, the world where he lives; and that does not mean that he hates womankind. He plays his role as woman plays her own one. The writer says that the problem of misogyny is a very complicated and states that women and men are human beings before being females or males. Lords wife must be seen as a woman who has betrayed a man and not as a representation of her sex, and Gawain must be seen as a man who is disillusioned because a woman has let down him. He is one of those excellent men who have been vulnerable to the power of women.Furthermore, the author rejects the fact that Gawain is a misogynist character because he makes himself guilty of his actions, he never blames the lady. He accuses himself of cowardice, infidelity and covetousness. Thus, Morgan concludes saying that the criticism that has been done against the poet and the hero is unfair. Reading Morgans article, women are seen as beautiful object created to accompany men and to be saved in order to knights can show their bravery. But, in my opinion, women are more than beautiful object in the poem, they are intelligent and in total control of men since the beginning to the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.The secrets to control men have been taken by Morgan through her sexual wiles and magical skills. She cannot be ruled by them because she does not play their rules, she can tame everyone and she can govern their lives. She wants to frighten Guinevere and bring about her death through the test performed on the Round Table, she provokes Gawains crisis and she creates a negative interpretation of Arthurian chivalry. After all, her desire is to prove the pride of those famous knights and debunk the myth. She gets to push Gawain far beyond his limits and evoked a crisis of chivalry virtues both in the knight and in Arthurs court. In a misogynist view, the poem proposes that women control the masculine order, that is, there is a kind of gynocracy in which males might be playthings manipulated by women in order to work out their hatreds, feminine jealousies and other negative desires.The girdle and the injury on Gawains neck turn into signs related with his faults and the loss of his masculinity or chivalric virtues incurred by the feminine position of Lady Bertilak. The moral crisis is produced by his fear to die and he, who supposedly should be the controller of the situation because he is the hero, he has all virtues that made a knight proud of himself, becomes in the controlled by womens will. Thus, we should consider the fact that Gawain is not a courageous hero, because when he sees the possibility of save his life, he takes it and instead of courage he shows cowardice because he does not want to confront his destiny.Morgans article states that Gawain never blames the Lady, but it should be taken into account that in the scene of the Green Chapel, the blame shakes from Gawain to Bertilak to the Lady. Furthermore, in the same scene Gawain pronounces an antifeminist speech, negated by the articles author, in which he says that is better to love women and not to trust them. So he represents women as object to be loved and in addition he is afraid of them because he considers woman as evil seductresses. Finally, from the Lady, the blame shifts to Morgan herself. Gawain only accepts his fault in Arthurs castle when he confesses his adventures to the court, before that moment, Morgans test is responsible of his shortcomings.In one way or another, Morgan is present in the whole poem until it is demonstrated that women are a threat to men and their chivalric codes and virtues. When that has been proved, the author of the poem tries to erase that threat marginalizing Morgan. Her magic skills make clear that even the most noble and chivalric knight could be manipulated by her. The force of male aristocracy has been threatened by Morgan.To conclude, it can be said that the criticism done against Gawain and the poems author might be justified because even placing Gawain in his medieval context, misogyny is used in the poem to exhibit ladies as dangerous and manipulative women who can disorient men and make them lose their chivalric virtues. Bertilak is showed as a victim of Morgans magic skills and Gawain as a victim of Lady Bertilaks seductive game. In addition to that, when the author gets to give the ladies those negative connotations, they are removed of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in order to demonstrate that, in spite of everything, men continue being the only ones who can rule Arthurian Court and have the power in that sexist society; women once again, are precious object to accompany those brave warriors and make the scene beauty. The poem itself can be said to be an aggressive attempt to make strong the masculine culture of Medieval Age. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Gerald, Morgan. Medieval Misogyny and Gawains Outburst against Women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Trinity College, Dublin. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3736858?uid=3737952&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21106582661073

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