For Wednesday: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Fit III

Answer TWO of the following questions after you read the definition of "allegory" below:

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).

Q1: The poet goes into some detail describing each day of the hunt, much like he did with the description of the Green Knight himself. Choosing one of the days, discuss how the details of the hunt can be read allegorically (see above): how do these events and details say something else about the story, including the story going on in the castle?

Q2: Where do we see the words "knots," "loops," or "ties" crop up in Fit III? Why might this be significant, given that this metaphor ties together (pun intended) much of the earlier poem? 

Q3: During one of their days together, the Lady tells Gawain, "If this is Gawain who greets me, I am galled/that a man so dedicated to doing his duty/cannot heed the first rule of honorable behavior,/which has entered through one ear and exited the other" (119). In other words, she is claiming that he doesn't live up to the reputation of knights in books, who love to flirt with married women and even, to some extent, make love to them. How does Gawain seem to interpret his 'honor' in this situation? How far can he go and still be faithful to his host? And which seems more important to Gawain: to live up to the knightly ideal, or not take advantage of his host? Does he seem to succeed?

Q4: Why does Gawain ultimately accept the Lady's gift, even though he previously refused to accept anything from her he can't give back to the Lord. Is it dishonorable to take the belt, or is the belt his reward for being so 'faithful'? How do you think the poem wants us to read this? (esp. considering he doesn't give it back to the Lord).