Vega 2
Tatiana Vega
Professor Amber Snoke
English 241
23 September 2022
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: How Archetypes Played a Major Role in Fourteenth Century Moral Virtues
I am creating this prospectus to explain how and why Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a romance that taught readers how to be morally justified, and virtuous in character. It does this by incorporating many different types of archetypes, which is a recurrent symbol or motif in literature, art, or mythology. Although there is an abundance of archetypes to choose from, I plan on focusing on the pentangle, the Green Knight, and Bertilak’s game: the deer, the boar, and the fox. In order explain why I’ve chosen these archetypes, I will be referencing essays from Bloom’s Literature, “The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” (Markman) and “Moral Theology in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Pentangle, the Green Knight, and the Perfection of Virtue,” (Beauregard) just to name a few. I chose these texts specifically because they highlighted a lot of symbology that coincides with what I believe the author was trying to convey to the reader. By the end of this essay, the reader will have a clear understanding of why these archetypes were pivotal in establishing a moral compass for the fourteenth century reader.
In order to support my claim that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provided morality and virtues for people of that time, I will be breaking down my essay into three main sections and subsections if needed. The pentangle alone covers a lot of symbolism and represents the epitome of perfection. I do feel like I will need to do more research and obtain more information to serve it justice. The Green Knight has many representations that leaves the reader wondering which is true. Is he the spirit of Christmas or is he a human kept in captivity. I also plan on breaking down the significance of the game Bertilak brought home after his hunt, and how it correlates to Gawain’s attempts of eluding the Lady Bertilak.
Works Cited
Markman, Alan M. “The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, Facts On File, 2016. Bloom’s Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=114111&itemid=WE54&articleld=396534. Accessed 23 Sept. 2022.
Beauregard, David N. “Moral Theology in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Pentangle, the
Green Knight, and the Perfection of Virtue.” Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Facts On
File, 2016. Bloom’s Literature,
online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=114111&itemid=WE54&ARTICLELD=396539. A
Accessed 23 Sept. 2022.