Challenge Accepted

            Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a very interesting tale with an unclear purpose. While I was reading, I couldn’t help but to wonder why the Green Knight was proposing this challenge and why did he specifically visit King Arthur. I suspected that maybe it was a competition to show who was the bravest or the most loyal knight of King Arthur, but that wasn’t really emphasized. The concept of an all-green knight who seems to be indestructible was fascinating. While reading the description of the Green Knight the image of the superhero the Hulk came to my mind, especially when he was described as “a hulk of a human” in line 138.  I immediately wondered why the color green. Is there a significance to that color? When I think of the color green, I think about spring and new life, so I thought that the knight might be green because he can grow new limbs? I also thought that he might be immortal from some kind of magic and perhaps he might have been a wizard. Or maybe someone else with magical powers gave him something like an amulet to protect him or put a spell on him that would keep him from dying.

             A person who is already familiar with the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table may have already had an idea of why the Green Knight was challenging Arthur’s court. Since I am not one of those people and I was extremely curious to learn more about this poem, I read through the Sparknotes. From there I learned that the Green Knight was working with Morgan le Fay who is sorceress and also King Arthur’s half-sister. Morgan apparently hates King Arthur and often tests his knights. Sending the Green Knight to King Arthur I assume was another way for Morgan to test his knights, but it is still unclear what was the purpose of the challenge was. I thought that maybe Morgan was planning on King Arthur accepting the challenge in hopes of killing him.

                Reading this excerpt of the poem makes me want to read the rest of it, as well as more stories about King Arthur. I think they are probably great for learning about that time in history. I would like to learn more about Morgan le Fay and how she is depicted in stories. I’m curious to know if she is thought of like witches of the Middle Ages that were hunted and burned or if she was respected for her power. I would also like to know why she hates King Arthur and what is she trying to achieve by challenging him.