8/8/2019 Games in Sir Gawain

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Games in sir Gawain

The central plot in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green knight are two games: the beheading game andthe exchange game. The poem is taking place on King Arthur s court and at the very beginning we can

sense joyful and pleasant atmosphere of exchanging gifts until huge, awesome horseman, green-

complexioned and dressed all in green appears. When he enters the court, he propose a dangerousgame known as Beheading game and he challenges anyone from the court to strike him a blow with his

axe on condition he can give a return blow a year later. The only one who is brave enough to accept thechallenge is Sir Gawain. The bizarre beheading game has a ritual, pagan significance, suggesting theregenerative quality of nature and the turning of the year. So, when the SG chooses a period of one year

he emphasizes the significance of one year as a cycle of time. Then the Exchange Game, proposed by SirBertilak, questions the structure of chivalric and Christian values. The aim of this game is to test thevirtues of SG. On all 3 days of the games duration the structure is very similar: the lord hunts outdoors

and indoor SG is being hunted by the lady of Sir Bertilak. At the end of each day, they exchanges whatthey caught during the day. Sir Bertilak chase of the dear, boar and fox symbolically present aggressive

and cunning attempts of his wife to seduce SG. SG doesn t entirely evace the lady s seduction becausehe accepts one of the gift and that is green girdle. His acceptance of the girdle has a huge consequenceon him. This girdle is a pagan motif and stands for everything that is not acceptable by the chivalric andChristian standards. It is a symbol of love for life, because the lady told him that this girdle protects the

owner of being hurt and that was exactly what is needed when he went to exchange blows with the GK.So, in order to save his life, SG accepted the girdle and refused to give it away to his owner, SB. So, bykeeping it G goes against his code of honesty and faith and becomes a knight of the Great Goddess.