Sir Gwain and the green knight
...led in this stanza. Despite his less than human appearance,it was still assumed he was a mortal being. This error in judgement is exposed as soon as The Green Knight picks up his head and mounts his horse. In his haste and conviction, Gawain has seemingly written his own death sentence. This in itself, highlights the fallibility of ‘Camelot‘. Gawain is now bound by his promise and the code of chivalry to allow The Green Knight to exchange the blow in a years time. The reference to the contrast of the colour of the red blood on the green skin, ’bright on the greeness’, can be seen as a symbol for the difference between the two knights. This foreshadows the symbolic contrast between Gawain’s red attire and the wearing of the green girdle. The green girdle upon the red cloth is linked symbolically to the blood on the green skin. It can also be argued that The Green Knight is a symbol for the natural world who, like the natural cycle of nature, is killed and reborn. Sir Gawain is also reborn in a sense when his life is spared and he is purged of debt by The Green Knight in stanza 96. This stanza prepares the reader to expect surprises by creating a sense that nothing is as it appears to be. The alliterative style and symbolic verse help to give the reader an intricate picture of the terrifying sight of...