Sir Gawain and The Green Knight

Arthurian legends and chivalric romance

1. Green Knight's arrival, by Juan Wijngaard, 1981

Michał Kasprzak, 2017/2018

 The Norman Conquest
• In the 11th century England was invaded and occupied
by army of Norman, French and Breton soldiers led by
Duke William II, later known as William the Conqueror.
• Normans were the descendants of Vikings, who
settled in France due to agreement between the French
ruler Charles the Simple and Viking leader Rollo.
• The most known event of the invasion is the Battle of
Hastings, that took place on 14 October 1066

2. The Bayeux Tapestry – a scene depicting The Battle of Hastings

 Influence of Norman Conquest
• The replacement of the old Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
with the new French-speaking Norman aristocracy.
• England begins unifying under the new rule.
• The introduction of the feudal system - a way of
structuring society around relationships between
lord and his vassals, derived from the holding of land
(fief) in exchange for service or labour.
• Many fortifications (motte and bailey castles) are
being build.
• The increasing role and influence of the Catholic
Church.
3. Totnes castle (Devon), one of the best preserved examples of a Norman motte and bailey castle in England
 English language after the invasion
• The events of the 11th and 12th century had influenced
the way the English language is spoken nowadays.
• Due to the influence of the Anglo-Norman language, Old
English had lost most of its inflections.
• About 10 000 words entered the English language.
• Pronunciation was enriched by the introduction of
sounds like [f], [s], [Ɵ] (as in thin), [ʃ] (shin), [v], [z] and [ƺ]
(mirage), and also the diphthong [oi] (boy).
• Anglo-Norman influenced grammar as well. In Old
English there was an adjective + noun order, however
some expressions were changed to fit the French order
of noun + adjective.
• English adapted some of the French idioms, many of
which are used even today.
 Romance, the courtly love, litterature
courtois
• Romance – from Old French romanz
and Vulgar Latin romanice – "in a
Roman manner, derived from Roman
language (Latin)"; the term initially
referred to any narrative written in the
French vernacular.
• Gradually, it started being used to
refer to stories in which the main
character is a hero who must conquer
various challenges as a part of a quest.
This type of literature was the most
popular among the French-speaking
court audiences of France and
threAnglo-Norman England.
4. Illustration from the Codex Manesse, 14th c.
• The concept of the courtly love (amour courtois): an
idealistic form of love that emphasizes nobility, discipline,
purity, and spirituality.
• Litterature courtois – courtly literature.

• Chretien de Troyes – "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart ",

"Perceval, the Story of the Grail "
• Geoffrey Chaucer - "Troilus and Criseyde"
• Thomas Malory - "Le Morte d'Arthur "
• John Gowen - "Confessio Amantis"
• Juxtaposition – in literature, juxtaposition can be used
to present opposing ideals, e.g. contrasting something
good with something evil, someone representing
positive characteristics with someone representing
negative characteristics.
It allows the author to portray the characters in great
detail to create suspense and achieve a rhetorical effect.

• Exemplum is a rhetorical device in a form of a short

tale, narrative, or anecdote used in literary works and
speeches to explain a doctrine or emphasize a moral
point. Examples of exemplum include legends, folktales,
and fables.
 Chivalric romance
• The term chivalry derives from
French noun chevalier (horseman).
• Chivalric romance is a type of prose
and verse narrative that was popular
in the aristocratic circles of High
Medieval and Early Modern Europe
both as a form of enterntainment
and a didactic tool.
• Chivalric romance can be described
as a narrative of heroic or spectacular
achievements, chivalry, gallant love,
and daring deeds. It contains
elements of fantasy, improbability,
love, adventure, and mythic.
• This type of prose was created
approximately in the 11-12th century.

5. God Speed by Edmund Leighton, 1900

 Arthurian romance

• The cycle of chivalric romances about the deeds

of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round
Table.
• King Arthur is one of the most important figures
in British folklore. According to many legends and
romances, he led the defence against the Saxons
in 5th and 6th centuries.
• Arthur and his fellow knights became the symbol
of honorable knights living according to the rules
of the Knight’s Code.
• Arthur – the legendary King of Britain, son of Uther
Pendragon, the leader of The Knights of the Round
Table.
• Excalibur – the sword of King Arthur.
• Camelot – the castle
where King Arthur and
The Knights of the
Round Table resided.
• Merlin – the wizard
and Arthur’s advisor.
• Guinevere – the wife
of King Arthur.

6. Arthur and Excalibur by James Edwin McConnell

• The Holy Grail – an important motif of the Arthurian legends – initially, it
was described as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers granting
happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance to its owner;
later, it became a legendary vessel used by Jesus Christ during the Last
Supper – and later, by Joseph of Arimathea, to catch Christ's blood during
the Crucifixion.
• The Knights of The Round Table – a chivalric order led by King Arthur. A
Round Table symbolized the equal standing of all sitting around it. Some of
the most famous Knights of The Round Table include:
• Lancelot of the Lake,
• Galahad,
• Gawain,
• Percival,
• Kay,
• Bors,
• and Mordred.

• Avalon – a legendary idyllic island, represented as an earthly paradise in

the western seas, to which King Arthur and other heroes were carried after
death.
7. The knights and kings of the Round Table experiencing a vision of the Holy
Grail, a manuscript illustration by Évrard d'Espinques, 15th c.
 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Date of creation
• Sir Gawain was written in
northwestern England in
the late 14th century
(1300s).

The source of the poem

•The poem survives in a
single manuscript, the
Cotton Nero A.x., which
also includes three
religious narrative poems:
Pearl, Purity and Patience.
All are thought to have
been written by the same 8. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - pages from the manuscript Cotton Nero
unknown author, dubbed A.x.
the "Pearl Poet" or
"Gawain Poet".
 Sir Gawain
• Son of Lot, King of Orkney; King Arthur’s
nephew and brother of Agravain, Gaheris,
Gareth, and Mordred.
• One of the greatest Knights of the Round
Table.
• The equivalent of Welsh folklore hero
Gwalchmei
• A role model of a knight – a position later
taken by Lancelot and Percival, who became
more popular in literature.
• Gawain’s coat of arms was a golden
pentangle (a five-pointed star) on a field of
red.
• It represented five knightly virtues:
generosity, purity, brotherhood, chivalry,
and piety; it could also represent five
wounds of Christ.
9. An illustration of Sir Gawain by Les Edwards
 Structure

• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is divided into four

sections of chapters.
• It was written in an archaic English form of poetry
(Nothern dialect) originating from antiquity. Today
known as the alliterative poetry, this type of poetry is
similar to that used by the Anglo-Saxons.
• It is characterized by the repetition of consonants and a
sharp rhyme at the end of each verse.
 Sources:
J. Boulenger, Opowieści Okrągłego Stołu (original title Les Romans de la Table Ronde), published by
Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy Warszawa, 1987
U. W. Cutler, O królu Arturze i rycerzach Okrągłego Stołu (original title Stories of King Arthur and His
Knights), published by Pelikan, 1991

Websites:
cliffsnotes.com
cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl513/courtly/courtly.htm
en.wikipedia.org
literary-articles.com
literarydevices.net
maenglish1.blogspot.com
medievalists.net
oxfordbibliographies.com
sterlingnorthbookfestival.com
thoughtco.com

Sources of illustrations:
1. http://jamesrussellontheweb.blogspot.com/2016/04/sir-gawain-green-knight-in-pictures.html
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayeux_Tapestry_tituli
3. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-weekend-in-totnes-devon-zp8hdcmp2mn
4. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guillem_de_Cabestany.jpg
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Speed_(painting)#/media/File:Leighton-God_Speed!.jpg
6. https://fineartamerica.com/featured/-arthur-and-excalibur-james-edwin-mcconnell.html
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89vrard_d%27Espinques#/media/File:Holy-grail-round-table-bnf-
ms_fr-116F-f610v-15th-detail.jpg
8. http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126560.html
9. http://www.lesedwards.com/galleries/fantasy/sir-gawain/1038