Frustrated Readers and Conventional Decapitation in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

Criticism of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" has focused on the poem's concern with shifting signs and signifiers, particularly the gap between Gawain's reputation for courtly dalliance and his behaviour at Bertilak's court, but these studies fail to recognize the multival...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Modern language review 2002-10, Vol.97 (4), p.793-802
Main Author: Moll, Richard J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
14th century AD
Arthurian legend
Arthurian romances
Beheading
Emperors
Heroes
History instruction
Insults
Literary criticism
Love relationships
Narrative poetry
Portrayals
Romantic poetry
Speeches
Swords
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Criticism of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" has focused on the poem's concern with shifting signs and signifiers, particularly the gap between Gawain's reputation for courtly dalliance and his behaviour at Bertilak's court, but these studies fail to recognize the multivalent nature of the hero. This paper describes a second, concurrent image of Sir Gawain which is drawn from medieval historiography. The Trojan frame and the beheading game recall this heroic image of Gawain, and an audience's attempt to interpret Gawain according to his reputation is thus frustrated by contradictory images of Arthur's famous nephew and knight.
ISSN:0026-7937
2222-4319
DOI:10.2307/3738612