Morally Chivalrous: Religious Irony in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight deals with the paradox of a chivalrous knight endeavoring to act in a moral manner, and yet one, chivalry or morality, must be broken. Gawain becomes successful in his own failure to fulfill both paradoxes. Like most ironic accounts, this statement appears contradictory. However, Gawain inadvertently brings change to King Arthur’s court by choosing the path of greater resistance at the expense of his own spiritual life. Using the research of both Robert Faulke and Northrope Frye, I will argue that redemption must be found through the actions of a hero that is not ironic, but romantic. For Gawain and the court that hero would be the Green Knight, who is a type of Christ figure. Not to diminish Gawain, I will define a new category of religious irony to better understand the heroes of religious works who are flawed, yet their very success depends upon such flaws. Through such an analysis we can understand the very nature of Gawain and the Green Knight in their roles as the two unique saviors of Camelot, fulfilling the archetype found in both religious and mythical motifs of man becoming deity. Thus, the very mode of romance, which deals explicitly with both religious and secular forms, is reinterpreted through religious irony, which bridges the gap between the two while offering a mode for religious characters who are not mythic nor ironic, but mainly misunderstood in their roles with the rest of the world.
Abstract
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight deals with the paradox of a chivalrous knight endeavoring to act in a moral manner, and yet one, chivalry or morality, must be broken. Gawain becomes successful in his own failure to fulfill both paradoxes. Like most ironic accounts, this statement appears contradictory. However, Gawain inadvertently brings change to King Arthur’s court by choosing the path of greater resistance at the expense of his own spiritual life. Using the research of both Robert Faulke and Northrope Frye, I will argue that redemption must be found through the actions of a hero that is not ironic, but romantic. For Gawain and the court that hero would be the Green Knight, who is a type of Christ figure. Not to diminish Gawain, I will define a new category of religious irony to better understand the heroes of religious works who are flawed, yet their very success depends upon such flaws. Through such an analysis we can understand the very nature of Gawain and the Green Knight in their roles as the two unique saviors of Camelot, fulfilling the archetype found in both religious and mythical motifs of man becoming deity. Thus, the very mode of romance, which deals explicitly with both religious and secular forms, is reinterpreted through religious irony, which bridges the gap between the two while offering a mode for religious characters who are not mythic nor ironic, but mainly misunderstood in their roles with the rest of the world.
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