In the beginning of the poem, the speaker describes Camelot. He says “Such a coming together of the gracious and the glad: the most chivalrous and courteous knights known to Christendom;” He says the knights are known in the Christian world not throughout the kingdoms. There is an emphasis on Christianity in multiple parts but do the characters’ actions align with christian doctrines? Even some unlikely characters? Or do you see more of a repetition of the seven deadly sins?
King Arthur & His World
ENGL 361 | Spring 2019 | Dr. Myra Seaman
Arthurian values and Christian values experience a lot of overlap, especially in this text. For example, the scene in Fitt 2 when Gawain dresses before setting off to find the Green Knight offers a physical representation of the convergence of Arthurian and Christian ideals. He dresses like an esteemed knight, with “gold spurs which gleam with pride” and “a keen sword swinging from / the silk belt to his side” (587-89). But he also has a pentangle on his shield, which the text explains is “a symbol that Solomon once set in place” (625). From a mere aesthetic perspective, Gawain represents both a stereotypical Arthurian character and an intensely faithful Christian man who follows doctrine.
I think Teresa’s question highlights a pattern we’ve seen in the medieval narratives we’ve read this semester: often times, codes of chivalry and knightly behavior (even while they are supposed to include piety) are placed at odds with true (as we see it) religiosity and Christian values. And, since the audience is being given, in the case of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and other stories, a romance that is meant to focus on the adventures and glory of a single knight, Christian values are often subordinated by those values that contradict them (i.e. willingness to fight, seeking a noble reputation, revenge, etc.). In his book Chivalry and Violence in Medieval Europe, author Richard W. Kaeuper describes this impossibility for harmony between Christian and courtly values that we often see in Arthurian literature: knights, he writes, “absorbed such ideas as were broadly compatible with the virtual worship of prowess and with the high sense of their own divinely approved status and mission; they likewise downplayed or simply ignored more strictures that were not compatible with their sense of honour and entitlement” (47). Chivalry, he goes on, was “the male, aristocratic form of lay piety” during the Middle Ages (47). I think audiences today see this relationship as more paradoxical than contemporary audiences/narrators would have. As Teresa suggested, there are reflections of behavior mirroring the Seven Deadly Sins (especially pride and anger) in Sir Gawain that make the narrative contradictory to Christian teaching.
I feel it is important to remember that at this time, you were born a christian. One did not convert to it later in life. This means the medival people did not choose christianity in any real sense- it was chosen for them, essentially. This may explain the gap you speak of, between values and actions. Not having made a conscious choice to imitate those values, medieval people were (ironically) actually probably not the most devoted of christians.
Nevertheless, this is a story, and is therefore not about how people were, but how they wish think they should be. Therefore, I believe this story does largely align itself with christian values. In Gawains solitary quest, we see a militarized echo of the spiritual journeys of Jesus, Job, Moses, and Joseph- a journey that was imitated by countless wandering holy men in early christian history.
Also, it is important to remember that, for most medieval folks, the christian world was the only one they knew. With the exception of Judaism, competing religions had long ago been wiped out. They might’ve heard of the horrors of Islam while on crusades, but that would be the closest thing they knew to an other faith.
A final note: though this tale is primarily christian, I believe I see an echo of the older, Celtic faith in the Green Knight. His mysterious powers, the emphasis on the color green, and the power of promises kept would all thend to support this.