How does gawain and the green chapel

Arthur wants to take up the challenge, but his nephew Gawain intercedes. With a stroke, Gawain decapitates the giant, who calmly picks up his head and rides away: see you in a year. The next winter, Gawain, lavishly armed, sets off in search of the Green Chapel.

The host, too, has a proposition. This happens twice more; the last time, the lady also offers a magic belt, which is said to make its wearer invincible. Gawain, thinking of his appointment with doom, keeps the gift. One obvious departure is the unmaking—I think this is the most accurate term—of the character of Gawain. In the text, we meet our hero fully formed, already the flower of chivalry.

He is chaste, yet possesses the manners of a consummate courtly lover. View the Study Pack. Table of Contents. Plot Summary. Major Characters. Topic Tracking: Chivalry.

Topic Tracking: Courage. Topic Tracking: Fear. Part 1, lines Part 2, lines Part 3, lines The third time, the Green Knight barely cuts Gawain on the neck. The Green Knight reveals that he was Gawain's host and that his appearance as the Knight was made possible by Morgan le Fay.

He tells Gawain that the first two blows were for the first two days of their agreement, when Gawain fairly repaid him his wife's kisses. The small cut was for accepting the belt and concealing it. Overcome with shame, Gawain acknowledges his fault and wears the belt to remind him of his fault. When he returns to Camelot, the entire court wears green sashes in fellowship with Gawain. Even after Gawain has pragmatically resolved not to be scared by mere noises and has announced his presence to his unseen adversary, the Green Knight goes on grinding his ax, just to unnerve Gawain a few moments longer.

The Green Knight continues playing cat-and-mouse with Gawain as the knight draws out Gawain's anticipated deathblow. When Gawain flinches, the Green Knight attacks his reputation, much as the hostess did: How could the perfect knight Gawain show any sign of fear?

As if this were not enough, the Green Knight stops to praise Gawain when Gawain does not flinch. By this time, Gawain is getting irritated and tells him to get on with it. The Green Knight responds by giving Gawain only a small cut, but enough to make him bleed.

The image of Gawain's red blood on the snow adds to the repeated red-white-green symbolism of the poem, and it recalls the red on green of the Green Knight's beheading. Suddenly realizing that he has fulfilled his agreement to take one blow, Gawain draws his sword to defend himself, and here the poet gives the audience a view into the Green Knight's thoughts for the only time in the poem.

The knight sees Gawain standing there, brave and spirited, and he genuinely likes Gawain. For critics who have attempted to identify the Green Knight with the devil, this is a sticking point.

Clearly, the Green Knight shares many of the traditional literary qualities of the devil. He wears green, he is fearsome and otherworldly, he is a hunter, and most importantly, he offers temptations — he tests the virtue of the hero by offering opportunities for sin. In fact, some critics have likened Gawain to Job: God has allowed the devil to tempt Job so that he may show his virtues and attain greater knowledge of the good.

However, the Green Knight is remarkably fun-loving, and it is difficult to argue that the devil would begin to like one of his victims. The Green Knight himself is high-spirited and brave, just as Gawain is, and in his role as host, he was merry and hospitable.

Overall, he appears more mischievous, or perhaps devious, than evil. As the lord of the castle, he also regularly attends Mass, something no literary devil would do. He is neither entirely devil nor entirely man; not exactly an enemy, but not entirely a friend.

When the Green Knight finally reveals the plot to Gawain, the knight does not even condemn Gawain; in fact, he praises Gawain as a "pearl among peas.