LIT 251
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Parts 1-2

Like Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight explores the social ills of late 14th-century England, but unlike Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is much more focused on the aristocracy and the royal court (and it's much more subtle too).  So, above all other questions, we will be asking ourselves again and again what the Gawain-poet sees as the chief problem(s) of his day.

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. Why does Sir Gawain and the Green Knight begin by referring to Troy?  What does the story in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight have to do with the story of Troy?  How are the people at Arthur's court like the characters in the story of Troy?  How is the Green Knight like those characters?  How is the plot of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight like the plot of the story of Troy?  How is the story of Arthur's court like it?
2. Why does the Green Knight come to challenge the court?  How is he characterized?  Why is he green?  Is he a "good guy" or a "bad guy"?  What exactly is his proposition for Arthur's court?  What has he come to do?  What challenge does he pose for Arthur's court?
3. How does Arthur's court react to the Green Knight's challenge?  Why does it react that way?  What do we learn about the court's values from its reaction to the Green Knight?  Does the court react the way it should have reacted?
4. How is Gawain portrayed?  Gawain is obviously supposed to be a "good guy."  In what way(s) is he good?  Is he perfect?  What do we learn about the court's values from the depiction of Gawain?  How does Gawain compare to the Green Knight?  How does Gawain find his way to the Green Chapel?  In the end, what quality of Gawain helps him most to find his way?

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