DEFINITION OF
ALLEGORY:
“An allegory is a
narrative fiction in which the agents and actions, and sometimes the setting as
well, are contrived to make coherent sense on the “literal” or primary, level
of signification, and at the same time to signify a second, correlated order of
agents, concepts, and events. We can
distinguish two main types: (1) historical and political allegory…and (2) the
allegory of ideas, in which the literal characters represent abstract concepts
and the plot exemplifies a doctrine or thesis…The central device in the second
type, the sustained allegory of ideas, is the personification of abstract entities such as virtues, vices, states
of mind, modes of life, and types of character” (from M.H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms).
YOUR RESPONSE:
After reading Parts
II and III , examine a section of the text (a
short passage, no more than a page or two) that you feel can be read
allegorically. Consider how the poet
writes a poetic narrative that functions on two levels, and what clues suggest
his multiple meanings. What ideas or
concepts are personified, and what
“doctrine or thesis” might your reading lead to? Write a developed response of at least a
developed paragraph, though you can go to town if you wish.
NOTE: If you’re
stumped, consider nature/weather imagery, the various hunt episodes, and the
“challenge” that Gawain faces in the Lord’ s castle.
Remember, you can post here OR bring it to class with you. But it's due no later than class time on Wednesday.
There are several places within parts 2 and 3 where the author potentially could have used an allegory. Some of these are the scenes of the lord of the castle going hunting. The ways in which the animals try to escape and the ways in which they die seem very allegorical. “…for the knight eyed him well as they came to grips/ and plunged his blade firmly, right in his throat/ pierced to the hilt so his heart burst in two/and, snarling, he surrendered, swept down the stream” (pg 51 line 1593-1596). The amount of detail in the preceding passage allows the reader to believe this scene is an allegory. It’s hard to ignore the number of details especially when those details are so specific. The death of the animal, as well as the way it meets death, though functioning on a primary level, could also mean something on a secondary level. For example, this scene could be telling the audience that someone or something is going to fight very hard to stay alive, but in the end it will give up and allow itself to perish.
ReplyDeleteYes, great point here...but in the world of the poem, how might this hunt be allegorical? What else in the poem is being "hunted"? Consider how this might compare with the three encounters Gawain has with the host's wife. Each time, his honor is besieged by the wife, and each time he seems to resist capture...and yet each time the hunt brings back a more meager catch, ending with a mere fox. Does this suggest that Gawain is being less and less true in following his own chivalric code? Is the also the "fox"?
DeleteThat's a very good point; however, I don't see Gawain's chivratic code decreasing. It's obvious in the text when the narrator says, "but more for his virtue lest he'd fall into sin/ and betray that good lord whose castle it was. / 'God forbid,' the knight thought, 'that that should happen' " (pg. 56, lines 1775-1778). Since Bertilak's wife is unable to have her way with Gawain, it could be said that she ended up with only a "fox". She got something from Gawain, but it wasn't enough to satisfy her: a kiss.
DeleteYes, he maintains his code through the first two days, and the boar represents this: his enemies' barbs bounce off him and they cannot truly catch him. Yet I think he becomes something of a fox because there is one thing he cannot resist: the promise of life and escaping death. Love and temptation he can resist, since he's not 'in love' with love; however, his true love affair is with life, and the lure of the girdle is too much. In this way he has been 'skinned' of his honor by clinging to life, when he should have rejected that gift as well. Naturally, it's not a very fatal flaw, but if this flaw is exposed (as it will be), can Gawain ever hold up his head in Camelot? Or will he try to find someone to blame? :)
DeleteThe encounter of Gawain and the Lady of the Castle(pages 39 and 40, lines 1187 - 1262) reminds me of the historic and biblical Joseph and Potifer's wife. The parallel of the wife lusting after the noble man and becoming the temptress to obtain what they desire in their carnal seeking. Gawain ad Joseph stand their ground according to the code/law that was set before them, therefore overcoming not only temptation but also sustaining their own representative virtue. The Lady tries and tries as she might to bed Sir Gawain, however, his code holds up to her slithering words. In line 1261, Gawain retorts her words with his own "proper speech," and repeats it again in 1551. In fact, Gawain's victories were also paralleled with the king's. For the first two hunts were of the greatest success and Gawain too, held his ground with the lady. The third victories were only of slight gain, for the fact that both had also lost a small amount. Gawain, through much resistance, accepted a gift from his temptress for the selfish benefit that it could bestow him, and the king lost a man in the fox hunt. He was greatly displeased that the fox was all that he could give him. So fitting that the fox be the last animal in the hunt because of the representation of its wit and sly personality. This representation coincides with the queen's own smooth and manipulative words.
ReplyDeleteGreat Biblical comparison, one the poet would be well aware of. Clearly, Gawain can resist sexual temptation, but not the temptation of life over death. He is in love with himself--or at least his youth and his life. When the woman's charms fail her, she realizes he still has a weakness--the very weakness that all the knights of Camelot earlier betrayed by not facing the Knight in his game.
DeleteThe most interesting allegory, perhaps, is in the "challenge" Sir Gawain faces. Noble, virtuous, silly Gawain. Three times he is approached by the lord's wife, with thinly veiled offers of sex, which Gawain skillfully brings down to a mere kiss, which he then gives to his host as per their earlier deal. Likely, this is an allegory to "courtly love", seeing as how she is married, but might also be because he'd then have to reciprocate it to her husband if it was more. Something that he may or may not mind by lines 1390-1391 "'You take my winnings. That is all I gained here. I'd yield it up freely, even if it were more.'", though it may just be because of his honor rather than any... eagerness on his part. Especially considering the day and age. Gawain only messes up when presented with the lady's girdle, said to be gifted with protection from death, after denying her more valuable gift. This is not given in turn to the host, perhaps it's own allegory to the price and worth of life over honor? His host gamely doesn't call him on it, if he even noticed at the time.
ReplyDeleteNot that I ship it,
Kenia Starry
Yes, by not returning his gift, he has betrayed not only the game, but his honor. Of course, one can argue that he was tricked into doing this, not only by the wife but by Bertilak himself, who was surely in on it. The Green Knight has games within games, so it's hard to really blame Gawain for acting so human in the faith of certain demise. However, the allegory is that he cannot let go of his love of youth/life, even though his calling as a knight demands a sacrifice to death. He wants to be honorable AND live forever.
DeleteI see a connection between each hunting scene and Gawain's encounters with the host's wife. Most notably, the last hunt and last encounter are weaved together allegorically. Gawain has been "hunted" by the host's wife, but has managed to elude her twice. The fox manages to elude the hunting party, but just when he thinks he has made it to safety, the fox falls into "a smart trap" (line 1712). Gawain and the lady are once again in his chambers, but this time she has taken every measure to ensure her success; he eludes seduction once again. Gawain, however, falls into a different trap. He takes from her a girdle of green silk and gold that will protect him from death. By accepting the lady's gift he has broken his promise to the Green Knight, but there is more. The text cuts back to the chase of the fox shortly after Gawain accepts the gift. The fox makes a mistake, running into the jaws of one of the hounds, and is captured by the lord. I believe this is significant in that it signals Gawain, being the fox, has fallen into the lord's trap as well. The hunt for Gawain is not over.
ReplyDeleteGreat connections here--the hunts are going on simultaneously, and they connect in some very interesting ways (even if they're not perfectly parallel). Yes, the fox's mistake is similar to Gawain's, who rushes right into the trap laid for him, since they know that it's one thing to dodge a woman's charms, but quite another to avoid one's fear of death. And even Gawain wants to live, for all his talk of chivalry and honor.
DeleteI think, in a strange way, the Green Knight represents God. So far, the reading has personified sin and despair. The moment that this seems clear to me is when Gawain is weeping and praying to Mary (line 736) for a place to stay and the castle on the hill appears to him (764). When he approaches the castle he is told that he would be more than welcome to stay--not by the lord of the house, but by a porter (812). Christians, in a way, are not told directly from Christ that we are going to heaven, but by pastors and missionaries who deliver the message at the door (if you think of being saved as being let into a castle). To go further in the reading, the Green Knight intends to judge Gawain on his actions while he is a guest in the house. Judgement, temptation, and sin all appear throughout this book.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting reading, since the Knight IS something more than a knight or a monster. He is god-like, and might represent perhaps an old god of the pagan past, like a trickster figure who is testing this new Christian regime. He wants to see if they're really as holy and perfect as they claim to be. The question is, does he want to destroy Gawain, or simply take him down a peg?
DeleteLines 1022-1030 represent to me an allegory of people acting in ways that are contrary to what is to be expected of them. The scene is of the court expecting to participate in the Feast of St. John in a sober, respectful way but yet again getting drunk. Because it is calling out people who are celebrating a very sober minded Christian holiday by getting drunk this would fit more into the first category of a more political allegory since at this time I think politics and religion were basically the same thing. This theme runs on as Gawain is continually put in situations that are sinful in the midst of Christmas celebrations and Mass services yet are what is expected of him as a Knight. Another example is directly following a kiss alone in Gawain’s room, the Lady and Gawain “Commend(ed) each other to Christ”.
ReplyDeleteThings turning out not to be what they said began in the first section, when such a wonderful utopian Christian world was interrupted by the pagan-like Green Knight. His description is a contrast in and of itself; he is a beautiful and wonderful knight, yet blatantly disrespectful and horrifying. I found it interesting that the entire second section ended with such friendship between Gawain and the lord of the house and on such a high, hopeful note. Then, in the third section everything is once again turned on its head as the relationship looks less like a friendship and more like a hunter and his prey. I can see Gawain trying to do what is the best and most right thing possible, yet in this world full of unexpected twists and turns it seems impossible.
(I may be confusing allegory with theme here...)
No, you're quite right--the theme and the allegory go hand-in-hand. Throughout the poem, everyone is playing a game--Arthur, the Green Knight, Bertilak, and even his wife. Yet life itself is a game, and someone has to lose, be outmanuevered, destroy the other's defenses, etc. The question is, are these games merely Christmas Eve amusements, or are they really life and death? Gawain certainly thinks he's playing for his life at the end!
DeleteI liked Morgan's consideration of the Green Knight representing God. I never thought of it that way, but it is kind of similar to my opinion. I mainly think of the Green Knight representing the world as a whole; therefore; making the world, and life, personified. We understand that the Green Knight comes in and is very tough and inferior, but that is really what the world seems to be for Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain, as we have discovered, is not the strongest or most fearless night of King Arthur's army, and he knows that. Though, he isn't the toughest, he is still part of the court and continues to have fun with them as well. There are times though, when the Green Knight comes into play and shows Gawain that he isn't correctly acting out what his code of chivalry and conduct expect of him. Gawain is weak and cowardly, and a knight of the court is supposed to be strong, fearless, and respectful. These are not the traits Gawain holds. For Gawain lacking these traits, he has come face to face with the struggle of successfully facing the Green Knight. On the third day of staying as a guest in the castle, Gawain is given the gift of the green girdle. It is said for anyone who wears this girdle, cannot be killed by any strike or blow. This girdle represents the strength, faithfulness, and courage that Gawain lacks. For Gawain to where this girdle, he is able to face the Green Knight and make it out alive. So, the allegory of these two things represents this, with Gawain having the courage, strength and the faithfulness the code of chivalry calls for, he will be able to face the world and his life successfully to become the best that he can be.
ReplyDeleteGood response, though we can't always take Gawain at his word. He is being humble when he says he's the weakest of the bunch: in reality, Gawain is one of the very greatest of all Arthur's knights, as both the Green Knight and his wife testify later in the poem. He's not weak or cowardly, but he is facing certain death: he knows he has to be killed. So the question is, should he trust in God and meet his demise, or should he find a sneaky way out of it, through "pagan" magic? He chooses the latter, and worse still, hides the fact. This is unbecoming of a knight who proclaims to be the truest of all knights (as the Pentangle on his shield declares). We might see this as acceptable, but Gawian himself knows it is wrong, a betrayal of his values.
DeleteALSO: Be careful, you posted this too late to count (it has to be posted by class time unless you have some accident or issue that you tell me before hand). You can miss 2 responses without penalty, so this counts as 1. However, I'm glad you're still keeping up with the reading.