Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

[GRWelsh]

You guys may think this is weird, but every year around this time (April/May) I reread SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT. I own two translations, the Penguin Classics one by Brian Stone and Tolkien's. I've checked out some other translations, but these two are my favorite so far. I've been meaning to get the new-ish one by Richard Armitage (2007), but haven't bought it yet. Anyway, for me this is always one of those "going back to the well" times, to get back to some old roots of fantasy. Sometimes I focus more on the details than the overall themes... Consider these passages (from Stone), which just resonate so well with the idea of "adventure" at the heart of D&D:

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Now the gallant Sir Gawain in God's name goes
Riding through the realm of Britain, no rapture in his mind.
Often the long night he lay alone and companionless,
And did not find in front of him food of his choice;
He had no comrade but his courser in the country woods and hills,
No traveller to talk to on the track but God,
Till he was nearly nigh to Northern Wales. [1]
The isles of Anglesey he kept always on his left,
And fared across the fords by the foreshore
Over at Holy Head to the other side
Into the wilderness of Wirral, where few dwelled
To whom God or good-hearted man gave his love.
And always he went, he asked whomever he met
If they knew or had knowledge of a knight in green,
Or could guide him to the ground where a green chapel stood.
And there was none but said him nay, for never in their lives
Had they set eyes on someone of such a hue
As green.
His way was wild and strange
By dreary hill and dean.
His mood would many times change
Before that fane was seen.

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He rode far from his friends, a forsaken man,
Scaling many cliffs in country unknown.
At every bank or beach where the brave man crossed water, [2]
He found a foe in front of him, except by freak of chance,
And so foul and fierce a one that he was forced to fight.
So many marvels did the man meet in the mountains,
It would be too tedious to tell a tenth of them.
He had death-struggles with dragons, did battle with wolves,
Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags, [3]
Battled with bulls and bears and boars at other times,
And ogres that panted after him on the high fells.
Had he not been doughty in endurance and dutiful to God,
Doubtless he would have been done to death time and again.
Yet the warring little worried him; worse was the winter,
When the cold clear water cascaded from the clouds
And froze before it could fall to the fallow earth.
Half-slain by the sleet, he slept in his armour
Night after night among the naked rocks,
Where the cold streams splashed from the steep crests
Or hung high over his head in hard icicles.
So in peril and pain, in parlous plight,
This knight covered the country till Christmas Eve
Alone;
And he that eventide
To Mary made his moan
And begged her be his guide
Till some shelter should be shown.

NOTES ON THESE PASSAGES FROM THE STONE TRANSLATION (pp.172-3, in which other scholars are referred to):

[1] Gawain comes from an unlocated Camelot to northwestern Wales and enters a known region with real names before going again into the unknown. Davis (p.97) discuses Gawain's itinerary at length: it passes near Holy Well, where Caradoc, Prince of Wales decapitated St Winifrid for refusing his advances. Where the head fell, the holy well broke out. St Benno restored her to life, and the white circle round her neck remained as testimony of her fidelity to Christ. Gollancz (p. 107) relates this, and concludes that the story 'would make a natural appeal to Gawain'. But Davis thinks this fanciful, since there is no reference to the story in the poem. In the fourteenth century the wilderness of Wirral had become a refuge for vagabonds and outlaws to such an extent that in July 1376 Edward III, on the petition of the citizens of Chester, ordered the disafforestation of the area.
[2] Fierce guardians of water-crossings are common adversaries for virtuous knights in medieval romance.
[3] The wild man of the woods was a monstrous sub-human creatures often met in medieval literature and art. He survived ot appear in Spenser's Faerie Queene (Book IV, Canto VII) and to be represented several times in the Elizabethan drama; Calaban is one in essence. These wild men specialized in carrying off women and fighting knights.

SOME OF MY OWN NOTES:

- In the Tolkien translation it is "Realm of Logres" rather than "Realm of Britain." The original Middle English is "ryalme of Logres."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "with worms he wars" rather than "he had death-struggles with dragons." The Tolkien is closer to the original: "sumwhyle wyth wormez he werrez."
- In the Tolkien translation it is "at whiles with wood-trolls that wandered in the crags" rather than "Warred with wild men who dwelt among the crags." The original is: "Sumwhyle wyth wodwos pat woned in pe knarrez."

[Scott]

I read the Penguin version a long time ago. I don't remember much about it, other than it left a favorable impression. The Tolkien version has been on my list for a long time.
Speaking of old roots and the idea of "adventure" at the heart of D&D, I finally started reading Vance. Just started Manzirian the Magician.

[GRWelsh]

I hope you like Vance; I think he's great. I like Vance almost as much as EGG did -- Vance was EGG's favorite writer. It seems like some people are disappointed when they try to read Vance after they find out EGG considered him to be be one his biggest influences. It is as if people expect Vance to be more like Robert E. Howard, Leiber, and Moorcock: "More of the same." But he's not, he's different. Vance is definitely an acquired taste, but once you acquire it, it is like learning to like coffee -- you'll like it for the rest of your life.

For fantasy, I recommend all of the DYING EARTH stories and the LYONESSE trilogy.

[Scott]

I've been very impressed with what I've read so far. The influences are in your face. The obvious things like prismatic spray and Vanican magic in general, to the writing style. You can see the model for EGG's descriptive writing style, including the use of rare and obscure words.

[geneweigel]

In regards to the various Arthurian tales' value, hell, yeah. Its totally the right mood for a great D&D game.

I think the TSR "Green Knight" was too cut and dry for my imagination (magical plate) and when I had that combined fantasy Europe campaign he was more of a ent/"ettin"/troll variant with ability to regenerate.

As to the "Tolkiening" of it, its good to see him work on different things and how his line of thinking on it but I always take his motivations as wanting to bowdlerize for a good Christian sensible version (what verges on modern atheistic/agnostic views) so he has to be taken with a grain of salt to see past it into the elemental monstrosities of the ancient world and hence more content to use. Not saying Tolkien doesn't do a great job but I like to see more potential (i.e. does an orc have blood or ichor? Or it depends on the type of orc? etc.)

[GRWelsh]

Right. The most intriguing parts of these old poems and stories aren't the Christian elements but rather the pre-Christian elements that survived into that time. It is always interesting to me that the medieval Christians for the most part did not demonize elves/fairies, but left them in a murky, undefined category.

[geneweigel]

My Irish and German relatives had hideous "fairy" stories but it was always disassociated from the name "fairy". Like something magic AND evil was the problem and magic in general was helpful.

[GRWelsh]

The poem ends with the Green Knight revealing that he was all along the lord of the castle nearby and his name is Bertilak of the High Desert, and the aged beldame always accompanying Lady Bertilak of that castle is in truth Morgan the Fay, Gawain's aunt, Arthur's half-sister, Merlin's past lover, and also called here "Morgan the Goddess." The whole adventure was a scam, a test of King Arthur's knights and also intended to scare Guinevere to death. Gawain returns to Arthur's court wearing the green belt like a baldric, thinking it an emblem of his shame symbolizing his cowardice and covetousness, but Arthur and the other Knights of the Round Table comfort Gawain and laugh it off, saying they too will wear bands of green as for his sake -- a sign of solidarity. So, the green bands end up being emblematic of passing the test. What I do not like about the ending of the poem is the interpretation that the Green Knight is just "some guy" transformed and given power by Morgan's magic, and that without it, he is merely a human knight or noble. I'd prefer an interpretation that Bertilak is also a being of Faerie, even if still needing Morgan's magic to transform, but that seems to have less support. From the Penguin Classics version translated by Brian Stone:

'Truly,' the other told him, 'I shall tell you my title.
Bertilak of the High Desert I am called here in this land.
Through the might of Morgan the Fay, who remains in my house,
Through the wiles of her witchcraft, a lore well learned --
Many of the magical arts of Merlin she acquired,
For she lavished fervent love long ago
On that susceptible sage; certainly your knights know
Of their fame.
So, "Morgan the Goddess"
She accordingly became;
The proudest she can oppress
And to her purpose tame --

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She sent me forth in this form to your famous hall
To put to the proof the great pride of the house,
The reputation for high renown of the Round Table;
She bewitched me in this weird way to bewilder your wits,
And to grieve Guinevere and goad her to death
With ghastly fear of that ghost's ghoulish speaking
With his head in his hand before the high table.
That is the aged beldame who is at home:
She is indeed your own aunt, Arthur's half-sister,
Daughter of the Duchess of Tintagel who in due course,
By Uther, was mother of Arthur, who now holds sway.
Therefore I beg you, bold sir, come back to your aunt,
And by my faith, brave sir, I bear you as much good will
As I grant any man under God, for your great honesty.'

Gawain turns down the offer, but seems to leave on good terms. What I do like about the ending is that it shows a pre-LE MORT D'DARTHUR version of Morgan in which she isn't simply an antagonist to King Arthur and his knights -- the relationship is more nuanced.

[geneweigel]

Heh, I've been living in a fairy prison doing this add-on. (I just finalized the monster text last. Hint another min-Monster Manual).

I don't know if I got around to featuring the Green Knight in the combined campaign that I had featuring King Arthur. I had notes on him but never finalized him.

[foster1941]

I took a medieval lit class in college where we read this in the original with glosses, which was a huge chore because unlike something like Chaucer which is written in a fairly comprehensible precursor to modern English, the dialect of this poem is very far off and trying to make sense of it is a whole lot of not very rewarding work. That’s the only version I own. I should probably buy a modern “translated” version and re-read it so I can appreciate it more for its content and less as a technical language exercise.

[GRWelsh]

Pure translation is a slog when you didn't sign up to learn the language but just wanted to appreciate the story. I think an exercise in comparing translations to each other and the original text for a few stanzas would suffice for an undergraduate class. I like to see examples of the original language, and even hear it spoken a little, but too much of it is a grind. I'm more interested in learning about the symbolism and motifs as the medieval audience would have understood them, the literary allusions, etc. For example the poem begins with call backs to Troy and Rome and I like to know what that meant to the medieval audience and if they saw Britain as the cultural successor of the perceived past greatness. And the poem ends with the French pharase HONY SOYT QUI MAL PENCE which means "Shame be to him who thinks evil of it" and was the motto of the British Order of the Garter, which was blue. Was a green version of the garter adopted by the Knights of the Round Table an inside joke, or a wink at the audience?