Pagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green...

Pagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight People of the Middle Ages saw and interpreted their world through the lens of Christianity, and the church had no small amount of symbols. These people were guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for something transcendent, something that could make them stand closer to understanding God. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides vast Christian symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide range of Pagan allegory, the result making of Sir Gawain a unique story full of complex contrasts. The story begins with an uninvited guest at King Arthur’s court, during the Christmas†¦show more content†¦In the end, when put to the test the Green Knight created for him, a test for Sir Gawain’s temperament, his flawed human nature is revealed. Sir Gawain is offered a means of survival, a green girdle that renders its wearer invincible, and he takes it. The Green Knight tempted him and brought out the true nature of Sir Gawain: an imperfect mortal striving to live up to perfect ideals. The association of the Green Knight and nature is drawn to accentuate the idea that although Gawain contends for perfection in an attempt to comply to knightly standards, he ultimately sins by putting his faith in the girdle and not confessing he is in possession of it; the Green Knight pardons him, allowing him to live, thereby permitting Sir Gawain to repent and become a better Christian, as it is seen in the poem’s last supplication to Jesus, the savior: â€Å"Now Christ with his crown of thorn/Brings us his bliss, evermore! AMEN.† (CI.2529-30) Work Cited Kermode, Frank. â€Å"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.† The Oxford Anthology of English Literature, Volume I. New York: Oxford University Press, 1973.Show MoreRelatedPagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Night1090 Words   |  5 PagesPagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight People of the Middle Ages saw and interpreted their world through the lens of Christianity, and the church had no small amount of symbols. These people were guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for something transcendent, something that could make them stand closer to understanding God. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides vast Christian symbolic richness, but at the Pagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green... Pagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight People of the Middle Ages saw and interpreted their world through the lens of Christianity, and the church had no small amount of symbols. These people were guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for something transcendent, something that could make them stand closer to understanding God. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides vast Christian symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide range of Pagan allegory, the result making of Sir Gawain a unique story full of complex contrasts. The story begins with an uninvited guest at King Arthur’s court, during the†¦show more content†¦In his other hand he holds an axe, a symbol of conflict and war. He is holding together good and evil. Sir Gawain deals a savage blow to the Green Knight’s neck severing his head, only to watch him pick it up by the hair and keep talking, reminding Sir Gawain to look for him at the Green Chapel to receive his own blow with the axe. The Green Knight represents a pagan spirit of vegetation, very much like a tree with the ability to regenerate, to sprout a new limb or change its growth direction if it should be cut off; unlike a person who loses a limb and is permanently handicapped. While humans shy away from their inevitable death, it is nature which can continue to restore and regenerate itself. When the time almost comes for Sir Gawain to fulfill his promise and start his journey, he puts on his knightly clothes and armor; his shield in particular is described thoroughly: It is a symbol which Solomon conceived once To betoken holy truth, by its intrinsic right, For it is a figure which has five points, And each line overlaps and is locked with another; And it is endless everywhere, and the English call it, In all the land, I hear, the Endless Knot. Therefore it goes with Sir Gawain and his gleaming armour, For, ever faithful in five things, each in five fold manner.Show MoreRelatedPagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Night1098 Words   |  5 PagesPagan and Christian Symbolism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight People of the Middle Ages saw and interpreted their world through the lens of Christianity, and the church had no small amount of symbols. These people were guided by a visual world, in which practically everything in nature became a sign for something transcendent, something that could make them stand closer to understanding God. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides vast Christian symbolic richness, but at the same time