Sir gawain and the green knight

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MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

Sir Gawain and theGreen Knight

Kelly Gilbertson

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight(Oxford University Press, 1998)

NB: YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO BRING THE TEXT TO EVERY CLASS

Lectures: Weeks 1–3

Assignment due: 6 March

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Hamlet(RSC / Macmillan, 1998)

NB: YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO BRING THE TEXT TO EVERY CLASS

Lectures: Weeks 4–6

TEST: 17 April

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Where are we?

• William Shakespeare (1564–1616)Elizabethan period

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c.1380–90)Anonymous (NB!)

• Late Middle Ages (Medieval period)(over 600 years ago)

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What were the “Middle Ages”?

• Period between

Dark Ages (c. 500 – 1000)

and

• The Renaissance (c. 1500–1600)

‘Rebirth’

Middle Ages = c. 1000–1500 AD

• Dark Ages: What happened?• Classical: Roman Empire• Large, unmanageable• Civil strife, weak rulers, invading tribes• Division into western and eastern empire• Capital moved to Constantiople (East)• Visigoths and Vandals attacked Rome• Last western emperor in west

overthrown by Goths in 476AD.

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The medieval period was the beginning of recognisable English language and literature.

Beginnings of the ‘modern’ age.

Medieval literature has been influential for over 600 years, and continues to exercise an influence on modern writing, art and culture.

WHY ARE WE STUDYING THIS PERIOD AND THIS WORK?

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King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

• King Arthur – a legendary king of Britain• He becomes king when he draws a

mysterious sword out of a stone

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• Arthur fights to end a period of civil war, and becomes leader of a group of heroic knights, including

Sir LancelotSir GawainSir Galahad

• They meet around a Round Table –• At which everyone is equal

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• Arthur’s kingship is further confirmed when he receives a magical sword — ‘Excalibur’ — from ‘the Lady of the Lake’

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• For many years Arthur’s knights go on adventures, defeating enemies, upholding good over evil, and upholding the values of chivalry.

• But tragedy develops when Arthur’s queen — Guenevere — falls in love with his best knight, Lancelot.

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

• An ‘Arthurian romance’ (genre)

• A narrative poem (style)

• The hero is not Arthur, but Arthur’s nephew, Sir Gawain

• The setting is Arthur’s court, when everyone is young and energetic

• Text is a modern English rendition

• As you read, try to get a sense of where the text is taking you

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After the battle and the attack were over at Troy,The town beaten down to smoking brands and ashes,The man enmeshed in the nets of treachery – the truestOf men – was tried for treason; I meanAeneas, the high-born, who with his noble kinsmen,Conquered many countries and made themselves mastersOf almost all the wealth of the Western Isles.Romulus goes off in haste towards Rome, raisesAt first that fine city with pride, bestowingOn her his famous name, which she still has now.Ticius builds new towns in TuscanyAnd Langeberde lays out homes in LombardyAnd, joyfully, far over the French sea,Felix Brutus founds Britain by ample down

and bay;Where war, and joy, and terrorHave all at times held sway;Where both delight and horrorHave had their fitful day.

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• The poem begins in the distant past, and moves progressively closer to the poet’s own time and country

• Note how both destruction and creation are mentioned:After the battle and the attack were over at Troy,

The town beaten down to smoking brands and ashes, …Romulus goes off in haste towards Rome, raisesAt first that fine city with pride, …

Ticius builds new towns in TuscanyAnd Langeberde lays out homes in Lombardy

• Life consists of endings and beginnings

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Felix Brutus founds Britain by ample down and bay;

Where war, and joy, and terrorHave all at times held sway;Where both delight and horrorHave had their fitful day.

•War AND joy

•Life is unpredictable; it consists of good and bad

•Neither lasts forever. Remember!

•Stanza 2: the court of King Arthur

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And after Britain was founded by this brave fighterRough fellows were fathered here who relished a frayAnd made much mischief in troubled times.More marvels have occurred in this countryThan any other since then, so far as I know.But of all the kings who’ve commanded this landMen say King Arthur was the greatest in courtesy.Let me tell you, then, a tale of adventure,A most striking one among the marvels of ArthurWhich some will consider a wonder to hear.If you listen closely to my words a little whileI’ll tell it to you now as I heard it told

in town:A bold story, well proven,And everywhere well known,The letters all interwovenAs custom sets it down.

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• Stanza 2 also refers to war and conflict, but this belongs to the time before King Arthur

• Arthur is renowned for courtesy

• The poet promises to tell a story about marvels, that will make you wonder

• Marvel / marvellous – something astonishing, out of the ordinary, maybe even supernatural

A bold story, well proven,And everywhere well known,The letters all interwovenAs custom sets it down.

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Alliteration

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Stock

Bob

Wheel

Structure of Stanzas

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And when this Bretayn was bigged bi this burn rych,Bolde bredden therinne, baret that lofden,In mony turned tyme tene that wroghten.Mo ferlyes on this folde han fallen here oftThen in any other that I wot, syn that ilk tyme.Bot of alle that here bult, of Bretaygnes kynges,Ay was Arthur the hendest, as I haf herde telle.

Ande quen þis Bretayn watz bigged bi þis burn rych,Bolde bredden þerinne, baret þat lofden,In mony turned tyme tene þat wroȝten.Mo ferlyes on þis folde han fallen here oftÞen in any oþer þat I wot, syn þat ilk tyme.Bot of alle þat here bult, of Bretaygnes kynges,Ay watz Arthur þe hendest, as I haf herde telle.

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Alliterative Verse

• Uses internal rhymes (alliteration), falling on stressed syllables within each line.

• This rhyming was typical of verse that was meant to be read aloud in performance – in oral delivery.

• The SOUNDS of each line communicate meaning in addition to the words themselves.

• Read aloud and LISTEN to the music of the stresses, the sounds and the language

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Summary (lines 1–36)

• In order to locate its setting, the poem begins by evoking events in the distant ‘historical’ past (the fall of Troy, the founding of Rome, the founding of Britain by Felix Brutus).

• It emphasises the uncertainty and the instability of events: the FALL of Troy leads to the FOUNDING of Rome; ‘war’ alternates with ‘joy’ which alternates with ‘terror’; ‘delight’ is balanced by ‘horror’.

• Britain was a place of fighting, mischief and troubled times (20–22), but also of marvels (23).

• King Arthur brings stability and is most famous for courtesy (26).

• The poet will tell the story of one of the most amazing ‘marvels’ to have happened in Arthur’s court.

• A marvel: something unusual, amazing, miraculous, supernatural.

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Christmas time. The king is home at Camelot 37Among his many lords, all splendid men —All the trusted brothers of the Round TableReady for court revels and carefree pleasures.Knights in great numbers at the tournament sportsJousted with much joy, as gentle knightsWill do, then rode to the court for the carol-dances.The festival lasted fifteen long daysOf great mirth with all the meat they could manage.Such clamour and merriment were amazing to hear:A day of joyful noise, dancing at night —With lords and ladies pleasing themselves as they pleased.So in delight they lived and danced there together:The knights of highest renown under Christ Himself,The loveliest ladies that ever on earth drew breath,The handsomest king that ever kept court,All in that hall were beautiful, young and, of

their kind:The happiest under heaven,A king of powerful mind,

Sir gawain and the green knight

Education

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