Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a well-known Middle English work that has withstood the test of time and is still read by many today. The author, Sir Thomas Malory , wrote this work in 1469 at the same time as he was writing his more popular work, Le Morte d’Arthur . Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a work that contains many symbols and Sir Thomas Malory uses these symbols to give the reader insight into Sir Gawain. Before we dive deeper into Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, we must first understand what symbols are and why they are important to literature.
A symbol is an object, character, or color used in art, literature, etc. It represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention. This other thing is known as the “symbolized”. For example: one way to symbolize love might be through a red rose because this flower has come to represent love in Western culture (i. e. Valentine’s Day). In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight , Sir Thomas Malory uses several different objects, characters, and colors to symbolize Sir Gawain and the other characters such as Sir Lancelot.
Sir Thomas Malory wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in 1469 at the same time as he was writing his more popular work, Le Morte d’Arthur . Sir Thomas Malory wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for a reason: to provide insight into Sir Lancelot and show that Sir Lancelot is not just a good knight but also a gentleman. Without further ado, let’s explore these symbols in depth. The first symbol we will explore is the green girdle or belt that Sir Bertilak gives to Lady Guinevere as can be seen below:
This belt is Sir Bertilak’s main symbol in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight because when Sir Gawain receives it, he learns that Sir Bertilak is actually his lady’s husband (i. e. Sir Bertilak = Sir Lancelot in disguise). The second symbol we will explore is the “reddour” or redness of Sir Lancelot. As can be seen below, Sir Lancelot is described as having skin that was white like chalk and lips that were red like coral (Pg. 52). This redness symbolizes Sir Lancelot’s passion for “courtly love” which means he loves his lady with an earthly love whereas other knights might have a more spiritual type of love for their ladies.
Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot’s cousin, falls in love with Sir Bertilak’s wife (i. e. Lady Guinevere) but Sir Lancelot does not fall in love with Sir Bertilak’s wife because his passion is only for women who are married to other men or women who are too young to marry (Pg. 35). The third symbol we will explore is the number three because it is everywhere in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Sir Thomas Malory uses this number three – which represents perfection, totality, fullness, etc. throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to show that Sir Gawain must be perfect at all times while he is trying to get rid of the green girdle Sir Bertilak has given to him. Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain’s cousin, is three times better than Sir Gawain (Pg. 18) and Sir Gawain will be given three chances to get rid of the green girdle (Pg. 20). The fourth symbol we will explore is Sir Thomas Malory ‘s use of colors throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
For example: Sir Gawain was dressed in clothes that were red like wine (Pg. 1) which means he was probably dressed in a scarlet cape, tunic, tights, etc. These colors are important because they show how each character feels about another character or object. When Sir Lancelot is dressed in red, Sir Gawain knows Sir Lancelot is passionate about something. Sir Thomas Malory also uses colors to symbolize Sir Lancelot’s passion for courtly love by dressing him in red or white (Pg. 52). The final symbol we will explore is the green girdle itself because it has several meanings depending on what Sir Gawain does with it.
Sir Thomas Malory describes the belt as having gold bells that jingled when Sir Bertilak moves (Pg. 21). When Sir Gawain keeps the belt at night and falls asleep, the belt jingles loudly like a bell (Pg. 35) which means Sir Gawain can’t sleep because he must have committed some sort of sin while Sir Bertilak was out hunting Sir Gawain’s deer. Sir Thomas Malory also uses the green girdle as a symbol for Sir Gawain himself. Sir Gawain is described as wearing a belt around his waist (Pg. 21) which means Sir Gawain must have been wearing this belt throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
This belt represents Sir Gawain because a belt or girdle represents virginity in Sir Thomas Malory ‘s time period (Pg. 54). Therefore, Sir Bertilak’s wife can’t fall asleep at night because she lost her virginity to Sir Lancelot during the day while Sir Lancelot wore the green girdle as a sign that he had slept with another man’s wife (Pg. 35). Sir Gawain, on the other hand, loses his virginity at night while Sir Bertilak sleeps because Sir Gawain is wearing a belt around his waist (Pg. 35).
Sir Lancelot’s cousin, Sir Gawain, is given this green girdle from Sir Bertilak who was trying to test Sir Gawain throughout the whole book [Pg. 20]. This green girdle has many different meanings in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Sir Thomas Malory. To begin, when Sir Lancelot’s cousin, Sir Gawain is wearing a belt around his waist at night while he falls asleep next to Sir Bertilak in bed [Pg. 35], it means that he lost his virginity at night while Sir Bertilak slept beside him. This belt represents Gawain because a belt or girdle symbolizes virginity in Sir Thomas Malory’s time period [Pg. 4]. Sir Lancelot, on the other hand, wears a green girdle around his waist to represent Sir Lancelot’s passion for courtly love [Pg. 52].
Green is also Sir Gawain’s favorite color [Pg. 21], which means that Sir Bertilak wanted Sir Gawain to be wearing the girdle at certain points throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight . In addition, when Sir Thomas Malory describes this green girdle as having gold bells jingling when Sir Bertilak moves [Pg. 21] , it symbolizes one of many sins in Sir Gawain and The Green Knight: adultery.