Second chances and Redemption in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Abstract

This paper aims to address how second chances within duty and redemption tie together in the context of medieval knighthood and honor in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem about second chances and redemption, telling the moral that while mistakes are inevitable, second chances allow individuals to achieve redemption in their duty. Through critical analysis of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and the character Gawain the Glorious, Gawain’s character is shown to be one who constantly makes mistakes throughout his journeys. Gawain is offered second chances through the form of Lord Bertelak’s game, where his honesty is tested as a knight. Even when Gawain inevitably fails, he is offered partial redemption in the form of a nick he receives on his neck from the Green Knight. This portrayal is significant of a character seen as a model knight. The message in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight uses a previously glorified Gawain to send the message that, despite the expectation of perfection within duty, continuous redemption and improvement through second chances from past mistakes is honest to one’s duty.

In a profession as prized as medieval knighthood, the concept of life, duty, mistakes, and how they interconnect has been a long-debated concept. The relationship between one’s life and one’s duty has been a long-standing question that has been challenged since the beginning of literature. A significant example of this is the famous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written during the late 14th century, where the relationship between duty and life is explored through the character Gawain, a knight of King Arthur.

Throughout the entirety of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain’s role as a regarded knight is continuously tested throughout his adventures. As a knight of King Arthur, he is prized within Camelot. Further, he is a relative of King Arthur himself and is portrayed as a model knight (Jobe). However, within the poem and Gawain’s journey, his mistakes in his duty are ultimately what lead him to survive and redeem himself to live up to his prized identity. Throughout the poem, multiple factors like Sir Gawain’s identity as a knight, the antagonist Green Knight, and Lord Bertalak’s game rest on the underlying themes of second chances and mistakes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a poem about redemption within duty. While mistakes within duty are inevitably made, second chances still frequently present themselves to give opportunities to redeem oneself in their duty while also holding consideration of their life.

The first instance of a mistake leading to a second chance is in the opening scene in Camelot during the feasts of Yule. When the Green Knight approaches the court with a challenge, not a single knight rises to meet him, despite chivalry and bravery being included in a knight’s honor code. This includes Gawain. It is only when Arthur is forced to arise and almost meets the Green Knight’s challenge that Gawain stands up and takes his challenge:

“Gawain bv Guenevere

Toward the king doth now incline:

‘I beseech, before all here,

That this melee may be mine.”

…

“I am the weakest, well I know, and of wit feeblest;

And the loss of my life would be least of any;

That I have you for uncle is my only praise;

My body, but for your blood, is barren of \mrth;

And for that this folly befits not a king,

And ’tis I that have asked it, it ought to be mine,

And if my claim be not comely let all this court judge,

in sight.” (ll. 338-361, Borroff)

In this scene, Gawain stands up and declares, “I beseech before all here that this melee may be mine…if my claim be not comely let all this court judge in sight.” Not only does Gawain claim responsibility as the player in the Green Knight’s game in front of the court, but he also asks the entire court to hold him responsible for his word, which shows he’s committed to seeing the challenge through. Further, in his words against himself, “I am the weakest…and wit feeblest…the loss of my life would be least of any…” In this, he acknowledges his imperfections as a knight and his willingness to sacrifice himself for the court and King Arthur, something that nobody else had stood up for. Despite Gawain’s delayed acceptance of the Green Knight’s challenge, a lapse in his duty to be brave and chivalrous, he swiftly makes it up by taking up and committing to the responsibility of the Green Knight’s challenge from King Arthur’s hands. This shows redemption in his duty and the rest of the court of being an honorable knight despite his initial mistake because he stood up despite nobody else doing so.

Gawain’s next mistake is shortly after his redemption when he takes the responsibility of the Green Knight’s challenge. In his game with the Green Knight, where they exchange a blow for a blow with the Green Knight’s axe, Gawain deliberately makes his cut a fatal one. He was prompted by King Arthur to be intelligent about his blow, as well as tempted by the Green Knight with the outcome of a fatal blow. The Green Knight says: “and if I spend no speech, you shall speed the better: You can feast with your friends, nor further trace” (ll. 409-410). The Green Knight’s words are deliberately tempting — he brings up Gawain’s friends as well as the possibility of him feasting, if he didn’t have to receive a cut in return. Gawain falls for the bait, and by attempting to make it so the Green Knight would not be able to give him a blow back in return, he does not follow the traits of a medieval knight. It does not display bravery or justice to try to slip out of a game Gawain volunteered for, more especially after his poignant declarations to the entire court of his willingness to lose his life. However, the Green Knight survives, and Gawain is also expected to receive the same blow in return as per the rules of the Green Knight’s game. Thus, despite Gawain’s attempts to go through a loophole in the Green Knight’s game being a mistake, it prompts the rest of the journeys, and, at the time for Gawain, unknown second chances for him to redeem himself as a knight as well as his life. This is also explored in Georges Gusdorf’s “The Game of Chance: Moral Ambiguity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The loophole reflects a larger ethical ambiguity, as Gawain effectively trades his honor as a knight for a better chance to keep his life. Both preservation of life and duty are important values in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the loophole that Gawain utilizes shows the complexity that accompanies abiding by both duty and life (Gusdorf). The poem later reflects:

Now take care, Sir Gawain,

That your courage wax not cold

When you must turn again

To your enterprise foretold. (ll. 487-490, Borroff)

In this scene, the speaker directly addresses Gawain with a declaration that he needs to be courageous in the future. This reads similar to a warning that Gawain has journeys ahead of him that require his courage as a knight, the very thing the game was testing and relying on. It serves as an acknowledgment that Gawain’s future journey is not so simple, because if the journey was just him receiving the cut, he would not need to ensure that his “courage wax not cold.” Further in the story after the year has passed and Gawain’s expected meeting with the Green Knight approaches, he reflects on his future journey.

“There was much secret sorrow suffered that day

That one so good as Gawain must go in such wise

To bear a bitter blow, and his bright sword

lay by.

He said, “Why should I tarry?”

And smiled with tranquil eye;

“In destinies sad or merry,

True men can but try.” (ll. 558-565, Borroff)

This scene gives the reader some insight into Gawain’s emotions and thoughts regarding his journey and his perceived imminent death. He rhetorically asks himself why he should delay his presumed imminent death, then follows it up by saying “True men can but try” when faced with destiny. While it isn’t clear exactly what Gawain is referring to, based on his future destiny to die, and his pondering over why he should delay the inevitable, it can be assumed Gawain is referring to living past his destiny of death. This shows that despite his acceptance of his imminent death, there is still a part of him that wishes to try and live and redeem himself to be a “true man” who would try and live. This offers the reader some insight on the complexities of Gawain’s current emotions, showing that he feels “tranquil.” Despite his duty as a knight and his expected sacrifice, there is still a part of him that wishes to live and have a second chance at life — something that Gawain says a “true man” would do. This implies that Gawain feels that, to be true to himself, he must also try to live. This displays Gawain’s uncertainty in his future journey despite it being something he is bound by duty to since he took up the Green Knight’s challenge, along with consideration of his own life and his hesitancy about death. However, it also shows a development in Gawain’s attitude toward life and duty, as he also considers the preservation of his life despite an imminent death. This is also explored in Marjorie Nicolson’s “Second Chances and Self-Knowledge in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Gawain’s consideration of his imminent death as a result of a mistake shows a sense of maturity, as he still opts to try as a “true man” would, displaying adherence to staying true to his duty despite his situation. Despite his past mistakes, he resolves to move forward with consideration of his duty (Nicolson). Later, when on his journey, he faces a near-death predicament before his duty is fulfilled. The poem reads:

Thus in peril and pain and predicaments dire

He rides across country till Christmas Eve, our knight.

And at that holy tide

He prays with all his might

That Mary may be his guide

Till a dwelling comes in sight. (ll. 733-739, Borroff)

This scene is another example of a second chance at living appearing for Gawain. After trekking to the point where he was on death’s door, he prayed with vigor for a chance to get guided to his destination. His prayers were answered, and soon after, he discovered Lord Bertilak’s court. It’s important that Gawain was on death’s door and was specifically given a second chance because it tells us that not only does he want to live to fulfill his duty, but he was also offered a second chance to do so through his well-timed discovery of Lord Bertilak’s court. This is once again another second chance for Gawain, but also specifically in the context of his necessity to survive to fulfill his duty, providing Gawain an opportunity to fulfill his duty despite his past mistakes when hesitating to take up the Green Knight’s challenge. However, it’s also important to consider whether or not Gawain’s second chance in this case was divine intervention from his prayer to Mary, or a second chance he redeemed from his own actions. But despite the way his life was saved being uncertain, Gawain was still presented with a second chance — whether it was one he seized from his own redemption or one he prayed for, representing a second chance nonetheless. These instances of second chances and Gawain’s uncertainty about his duty and life show the complexities the poem portrays about second chances in duty. The structure of the poem also reflects these repeated trials where Gawain faces second chances, as also analysed in Derek Pearsall’s “The Structure of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The four fit structure shows a section where Gawain is tested once again to face a choice he must make, until finally, in the fourth fit, he’s set to face all of his previous choices and ultimately given a second chance to live, reflecting the structural support of each second chance. (Pearsall)

The next second chance that Gawain takes is when he arrives at the Lord’s court, in the third fit. When initially meeting the Lord, the Lord proposes a game of exchange to Gawain. The poem reads:

“And Gawain,” said the good host, “agree now to this:

Whatever I win in the woods I will give you at eve,

And all you have earned, you must offer to me;

Swear now, sweet friend, to swap as I say,

Whether hands in the end be empty or better.

“By God,” said Sir Gawain. “I grant it fortwith!

If you find the game good, I shall gladly take part.” (ll. 1105 – 1110, Borroff)

This shows the Lord’s offer of a second chance, despite Gawain’s initial ignorance of the true nature of the Lord’s game. However, the Lord’s game adds complexity because it depends on one Gawain’s duty as a knight, which a lack of brought him to his death — he needs to be honest to the Lord. This is a second chance to redeem his duty to better himself from his initial mistake that led Gawain to what he perceived as his imminent death. Gawain, however, successfully engages in the exchange of winnings, taking this second chance for his life and utilizing it. The only exception in this game was the last day, when he did not give the Lord the girdle out of the desire to save his life. The girdle’s role in the games is also significant. In Jane H.M Taylor’s “The Girdle and Its Meaning in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, the girdle is shown to be a badge of humility, stemming from a desire to live, but eventually evolves into a partial redemption after Gawain’s mistakes and through his second chances (Taylor). Gawain’s intentions with the girdle and its representation, and Gawain’s honesty regarding the Lord’s game is an interesting juxtaposition between Gawain’s honesty and his mistakes — while he was honest and redeemed himself in his duty by being honest, the mistake he made when he was dishonest stemmed from Gawain’s desire to live. On the third day of the exchange of winnings, when Gawain is considering lying to save his life, the poem reads:

When he gains the Green Chapel to get his reward:

Could he escape unscathed, the scheme were noble!

Then he bore with her words and withstood them no more,

And she repeated her petition and pleaded anew,

And he granted it, and gladly she gave him the belt,

And besought him for her sake to conceal it well. (ll. 1857 – 1862, Borroff)

In this next passage, we can see Gawain deliberately trying to be dishonest and “conceal” what would keep him alive. While the action of Gawain preserving his life is arguably ingrained in human nature, his dishonesty still is not representative of the values that a knight upholds — a mistake in the context of his duty. This mistake is later revisited when Gawain faces the consequences of the Lord’s game. When Gawain came to the Green Chapel to face the Green Knight, who was revealed to be the Lord, he was told he would receive one hit with the axe due to lying on the third day of the Lord’s game. While receiving the stroke, however, Gawain flinches and is criticized by the Green Knight. The poem reads:

“Bestow but one stroke, and I shall stand still,”…

And his [Gawain’s] shoulders shrank a little from the sharp iron.

Abruptly the brawny man breaks off the stroke,

And then reproved with proud words that prince among knights.

“You are not Gawain the glorious,” the green man said,

“That never fell back on field in the face of the foe,

And now you flee for fear, and have felt no harm:

Such news of that knight I never heard yet!

I moved not a muscle when you made to strike” (ll. 2267 – 2274, Borroff)

This passage shows the Green Knight is directly criticizing Gawain’s bravery and courage, which is part of his duty. He denies Gawain being himself, stating that Gawain is “not Gawain the glorious” who had “never fell back on the field in the face of foe.” This is significant, as the Green Knight denying Gawain being himself and “glorious” is him denying Gawain being a good knight who never feared “in the face of foe.” The Green Knight also criticizes Gawain for being a coward, saying “now you [Gawain] flee for fear.” Here, the Green Knight is denying Gawain’s knightly qualities, essentially saying by flinching, he hasn’t been a good knight. This is especially significant considering the honor accompanying medieval knighthood, as explored by Derek Brewer’s “The Ethics of Honor in Medieval Knighthood.” The honor and duty that accompany medieval knighthood were broken by Gawain’s fear of death, as Gawain’s frailty in the face of death highlights his imperfections as a knight. (Brewer) Further, Gawain also does make a mistake prior to his action of flinching because he lies about being still but flinches anyway, saying “I shall stand still” and yet “his shoulders shrank a little from the sharp iron,” representing him making a claim of being brave and not holding himself to it — a mistake in his duty to be brave as a knight. The Green Knight feigns a second hit, in which Gawain doesn’t flinch, and on his third hit, he does not behead Gawain — only nicks him. The Green Knight explains his intentions of the hit, saying:

“I owed you a hit and

you have it; be happy therewith!

The rest of my rights here I freely resign.

Had I been a bit busier, a buffet, perhaps,

I could have dealt more directly, and done you some harm…

True men pay what they owe:

No danger then in sight.

You failed at the third throw,

So take my tap, sir knight.” (ll. 2341-2357, Borroff)

In this passage, after Gawain’s third hit is revealed to be because he lies, as the Green Knight says, “you failed at the third throw.” However, the Green Knight didn’t behead him, showing that one simple nick was enough for Gawain “pay[ing] what [he] owe[d]” and also referred to him as “true man,” implying Gawain’s honesty despite the nick being due to him lying. This implies that if he’d fully lied and been dishonest, he would have been hit thrice — one for a lie on each day — and likely killed. Gawain, in being honest in the game of winnings, had unknowingly redeemed himself from his mistake at the feast last year when attempting to cheat the game by being honest and coming to fulfill the game; he was properly fulfilling what he should be doing as a knight, other than his mistake of dishonesty, which he was punished for. Further, despite his punishment, Gawain was still given a second chance because he wasn’t killed — he still had his life to make up for the mistakes he made of lying. The Green Knight also considers the context of Gawain’s lie, saying:

“So is Gawain, in good faith, to other gay knights.

Yet you lacked, sir, a little in loyalty there,

But the cause was not cunning, nor courtship either,

But that you loved your own life; the less, then, to blame.” (ll. 2365-2368, Borroff)

Here, the Green Knight also directly addresses his dishonesty and says that, despite his dishonesty not being true to his duty as a knight, he can’t be blamed for just wanting to live. The incompatibility of these concepts is also explored in Jesse Roberts’s “Chivalric Duty and Human Fallibility”. Both the honors of knighthood and Gawain’s methodology of preserving his life and his own human fallibility force Gawain to address the tension between these two values. (Roberts) This represents a more nuanced view of Gawain’s lie, building on the portrayal of life and duty in the poem. Despite his duty, Gawain had prioritized his life over upholding the values of his duty. Even then, he is still constantly faced by the weight of his mistakes, but at the same time, given constant second chances to improve and redeem himself. The nick he got for his dishonesty is a final representation of that second chance, and how life ties into duty — he was given a final second chance to live and uphold his duty after learning from the several mistakes he made. Gawain addresses this, saying:

“Your cut taught me cowardice, care for my life,

And coveting came after, contrary both

To largesse and loyalty belonging to knights.” (ll. 2379 – 2381, Borroff)

Gawain directly says he learned more about the duty that belongs to knights by saying the Green Knight “taught [him] cowardice…and loyalty belonging to knights” telling us that his experience prior to the games was lacking but he learned from the entire ordeal with the Green Knight. This shows that his redemption did affect the way he viewed his duty as a knight, and now he has a better view of how to “Care for [his] life” along with harnessing the loyalty belonging to knights. This change in Gawain is also shown in the way the poem describes him. It reads:

Wild ways in the world our worthy knight rides

On Gringolet, that by grace had been granted his life.

He harbored often in houses, and often abroad,

And with many valiant adventures verily he met…

The nick on his neck he naked displayed

That he got in his disgrace at the Green Knight’s hands…

“For where a fault is made fast, it is fixed evermore…” (ll. 2479-2512, Borroff)

Gawain is directly described to be “a worthy knight,” which shows that he is now truly a knight following his duty, and directly addresses his mistake and how it is now “fixed evermore.” His opportunity for this was only possible because of the second chance to live from his duty he got from the exchange game, showing that the message portrayed in Gawain’s character is that redemption in duty is achieved through second chances despite mistakes and mishaps made throughout your life. He did not portray perfection in his duty, but instead had a balance between redemption in his duty and consequences — something that the nick on his neck represents. He did not redeem himself fully, but his partial redemption allowed him to learn from the past mistakes he had made within his duty.

Throughout Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, there is a repetitive and continuous pattern of making mistakes within one’s duty and redeeming oneself. Zooming out, the portrayal of the character Gawain — who is highly praised for being a compassionate and chivalrous knight — openly making mistakes, is unorthodox. These ideas of Gawain as a perfect knight are explored in Kennis Jobe’s “A Model Knight: Sir Gawain, Chivalric Contradictions, and Grief in Medieval Literature.” This different portrayal of him is significant, considering Gawain’s previous portrayal as a model knight in previous works featuring Gawain, such as L’arte Périlleux and Claris et Laris. (Jobe) However, the appeal in a story like this shows in its message of redeeming oneself within duty. It has a certain ignorance toward the concept of perfection at duty and embraces the priority of your life and humanity in the actions of constant improvement, despite past portrayal as a model knight. Ultimately, this poem makes a powerful statement on the complexities of the relationship between life and duty, illustrating a message that, despite the weight of expectations and the want of perfection, the honest way to be true to one’s duty is achieved through constant improvement from past mistakes and seizing second chances to be better.

Works Cited

Borroff, Marie, and Laura L. Howes. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: An Authoritative Translation, Contexts, Criticism. W. W. Norton & Company, 2022.

Pearsall, Derek. “The Structure of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Speculum, vol. 52, no. 4, 1977, pp. 619–640.

Gusdorf, Georges. “The Game of Chance: Moral Ambiguity in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Modern Philology, vol. 83, no. 1, 1985, pp. 67–78.

Brewer, Derek. “The Ethics of Honor in Medieval Knighthood.” Journal of Medieval History, vol. 14, no. 1, 1988, pp. 39–48.

Jobe, Kennis. “A Model Knight: Sir Gawain, Chivalric Contradictions, and Grief in Medieval Literature.” 2023. Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana Tech Digital Commons, https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1104&context=theses

Nicolson, Marjorie. “Second Chances and Self-Knowledge in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Studies in Philology, vol. 82, no. 3, 1985, pp. 281–294.

Taylor, Jane H.M. “The Girdle and Its Meaning in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Review of English Studies, vol. 56, no. 225, 2005, pp. 362–374.

Roberts, Jesse. “Chivalric Duty and Human Fallibility.” Speculum, vol. 70, no. 4, 1995, pp. 797–820.

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