Sir Gawain and the green knight- the pentangle
...irtues which Gawain strives and aspires to: to be faultless in his five senses, never fail in his five senses, to be faithful to the five wounds the Christ received on the cross when crucified, to be strengthened in the five joys that the virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity. The side of the shield which faces Sir Gawain contains an image of the virgin Mary to make sure that Sir Gawain never loses Heart. Sir Gawain holds many qualities which allow him to have the pentangle as his sign. The five wounds that Christ received are usually known as the stigmata. The stigmata can be seen as a physical manifestation of Gawain’s piety which is usually associated with those of highest devotion to Christ. Before Gawain’s battles he thinks of the bible and when he was on his journey to find the Green Knight he prays to Mary to be his guide. He does this because he doesn’t want to think of his battles as just an act of violence but that he is fighting in name of good. We al...