One of the amusing aspects of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the way (or actually ways) that Lady Bercilak attempts to seduce the knight. Lady Bercilak tries to use every trick in the book: she is a persistent lover who cannot take “no” for an answer. She tries flattery and begging and acting hurt or jealous. She tries every way she can to move Sir Gawain, to get him to love her.
In the first seduction scene Lady Bercilak is playful. She claims to be a captor and that Gawain is her captive (line 1225). In a way, this is almost literally true too. Gawain is without his clothes underneath the blanket of the bed. His modesty prevents him from leaving. He is trapped. He is a captive. The lady also plays on Sir Gawain’s reputation of being a great lover (like Casanova, an 18th century Italian who wrote an autobiography about his sexual adventures, or Don Juan, a character who seduces many women in a 17th century Spanish story). In other words, she flatters him (III: 1252). Finally, she doubts him. She tells him that he cannot be the great Gawain that she has heard so much about (line 1293). She wants him to say, “I am so.” She wants him to play the part of the great lover, but he refuses.
On the second morning Lady Bercilak continues to pretend that she doubts that her guest is really the great Sir Gawain (line 1481). But she moves from flattery to accusation. She tells Gawain that he does not use the language of love (line 1524), the courtly language that every noble knight should use. She expects, of course, for Gawain to uphold the reputation of using the courtly language of love. Her accusations become sterner when she then asks
Gawain “are you artless” or “do you deem me so dull?” The second question would mean that Gawain has behaved poorly and ignobly, that he has not been chivalrous, that he has allowed a lady to feel bad. In other words, Lady Bercilak wants Gawain to feel guilty. Finally, she plays the part of the eager pupil or student: she asks Gawain to teach her about love (line 1533). Once again, she is flattering and praising Gawain by suggesting that he has superior knowledge about love.
On the third morning, Lady Bercilak uses jealousy by suggesting that Sir Gawain already has a lover (line 1782). When Gawain denies that he has a lover, the lady plays the part of the sad, rejected lover (line 1795). Again, she plays upon Gawain’s feelings of guilt. Finally, since all other methods have failed, she resorts to bribery. She offers Gawain a magical belt that will make him invulnerable, that will allow him to receive the death-blow without harm. This is one temptation that Gawain cannot resist. Gawain is seduced.
He is not seduced literally. He does not have sex with Lady Bercilak. But he is seduced spiritually. He loses his faith in God and resorts to pagan magic to help him out of his problems.
The scenes of seduction are integral, then, for both the purpose of plot and the purpose of theme. Moreover, the seduction scenes add humor to the work. The reverse seduction situation is humorous in itself, but the reader should also laugh at the number of times that Lady Bercilak comes and the different approaches that she uses. We see her shifting and plotting and conniving to make Gawain relent, and we see the poor hero struggling to prevent himself from committing adultery. The scenes are full of comic tension: will she succeed? Will Gawain give in? How will she succeed? What will make Gawain fall? But what perhaps makes the scenes so humorous is that the males in the audience would probably more readily identify with Lady Bercilak while the females in the audience would more likely see themselves in Gawain.
As mentioned already, the major theme of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight concerns promises and pledges, oath-making and oath-breaking, faith and fidelity. These concepts were important to the medieval Anglo-Saxons of pagan times and to the Christians in England in the later part of the Middle Ages. For the Anglo-Saxons fidelity to their lord was not only important as a social concept, it was necessary for survival. Fighting was a part of life. One small tribe or kingdom was frequently at risk from invaders from either inside or outside of England. Enemies could easily defeat a tribe that suffered from internal fighting. The fidelity one expressed to one’s lord symbolized, as the Christians saw it, fidelity to God. People believed that their kings were chosen by God to be their leaders (the Divine Right of Kings). Being unfaithful to one’s lord or king was nearly as serious as being unfaithful to God.
Fidelity, then, is a concept appreciated by both pagans and Christians; and in a romance where both pagan and Christian ideas are interwoven, a theme concerning fidelity is highly appropriate and intriguing.
Gawain, as mentioned previously, agrees to bargains twice in the romance. On the first occasion, he agrees with the Green Knight to exchange deadly blows. Gawain gets to give the first blow; and the Green Knight, if he survives, gets to give a return blow in one year’s time. The oral contract that Sir Gawain makes with the Green Knight is a binding one; and the reader may notice how the Green Knight ensures that Gawain recites the agreement before the “elf-man” receives the blow from Gawain’s hands. Gawain thus makes a promise to the Green Knight both as a Knight who would be making a promise as a retainer to King Arthur and as a Christian who would be making a promise as a servant of God. To break the promise, Gawain would be breaking his loyalty both to King Arthur and to God. Even though accepting the blow means losing his life, Gawain must do it. Otherwise, he could no longer be one of
Arthur’s knights and he could no longer be a
Christian.
The second bargain that Gawain makes is to Lord Bercilak, a seemingly harmless bargain that seems to be made in fun. And even the fun seems to continue during the seduction scenes, as Gawain flirts with Lady Bercilak but avoids temptation. But the situation is not really all that fun for the hero. To sleep with Lady Bercilak would be a crime against
Lord Bercilak, who is Gawain’s host and is, for the time being then, Gawain’s lord as well. So, if Gawain were to sleep with the lady, even the pagan Anglo-Saxons would have found fault with him. Of course, sleeping with Lady Bercilak is also the sin of adultery, a mortal sin in the eyes of Christians.
The bargain that Gawain makes in the castle with Lord Bercilak, though, should be every bit as binding as the bargain made with the Green Knight. Gawain, is, after all, a pure knight, spotless in word and deed. He had never told a lie before. He had always kept his word. When Gawain breaks his promise to Lord Bercilak on the third day, when he does not give Lord Bercilak the belt that he had won that day, Gawain is not only telling a lie. He is breaking his promise, his pledge, his oath. He is acting in a way harmful to his lord (King Arthur) and his God.
The reason Gawain breaks his promise is fear. He is afraid to die. Even when Gawain accepts Lady Bercilak’s belt, he is breaking his promise to God. By accepting the belt, Gawain is thus relying on magic and, hence, evil to save him. A good Christian would trust in God. A good Christian would not fear death because he would have the glory of Heaven to look forward to. Gawain’s acceptance of the belt, then, is an act of sacrilege, an act against God.
Gawain, then, actually makes two mistakes:
(1) accepting the belt and (2) breaking his promise to Lord Bercilak. Both are serious to Gawain. Either one alone means that Gawain is no longer pure.
At the end of the romance, Gawain becomes mad at the Green Knight when he does not deliver the death-blow. Gawain, though, is actually mad at himself. He knows he has done wrong: he knows he has committed a sin. Gawain thus leaves the Chapel of the Green Knight and returns to Camelot feeling a deep sense of shame.
The message of the poet, however, is not that one should feel a sense of shame when one commits a sin. There is another way of looking at this romance: one should see Gawain as a young man who has made the hard transition from innocence to experience.
In Part II of the romance the poet criticizes Gawain for getting in this predicament (this problem) on account of his “empty pride” (line 681). Like King Arthur, Gawain behaves childishly, immaturely, and suffers from pride. Gawain, the poet seems to be suggesting, needs to grow up. He needs to learn that too much pride is dangerous and foolish. He also needs to learn that he cannot be perfect, cannot be pure. To be human means to have imperfections and, sometimes, to make mistakes.
At the end of the romance, Gawain has more of a mature view. He understands that he is not perfect. He is in sharp contrast to King Arthur, who had no such experience and who does not understand Gawain’s sense of shame. Arthur, therefore, remains immature.
The poet seems to be saying that foolish pride is an attribute of the young. With maturity comes the sense of one’s own fallibility and one’s imperfection. But if one learns these lessons, then one will not foolishly risk his life for a matter that could be handled more wisely.