An Analysis of the Temptation Scenes in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

Author(s): David Mills

Source: The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 67, No. 4 (Oct., 1968), pp.
612-630
Published by: University of Illinois Press
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 AN ANALYSIS OF THE TEMPTATION SCENES IN
SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT

David Mills, University of Liverpool

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has been the subject of many critical
appreciations and interpretations, most of which, at some point, seek
to establish the exact nature of Gawain's temptations and lapse.1 The
present article does not propose any new interpretation of the tempta
tion scenes. Rather, by a close examination of the scenes, it seeks to
account for the immediate effect of comedy and moral tension2 which
the temptation dialogues produce, and to suggest new meanings for
certain passages within their contexts.
Each day's dialogue depends for its effect upon the creation of a
particular kind of tension. On each day the Lady makes statements
which would be acceptable in a certain type of situation but which
are not applicable to the situation in which Gawain finds himself.
By varying the kind of conflict involved from day to day, the poet
conveys a sense of climax which is offset by Gawain's final lapse.
The effect of the first day's dialogue is predominantly comic and
depends upon the fact that conventional words and themes from social
and chivalric contexts acquire sexual significance when employed in
the context of the bedroom. Thus the detailed account of the Lady's
stealthy entry into Gawain's room and of Gawain's reaction is essen
1 Some idea of the variety of approaches may be gained from M. W. Bloomfield,
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: An Appraisal," PMLA, lxxvi (1961), 7-19. Among
the more important interpretations of Gawain may be noted: L. D. Benson, Art and
Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New Brunswick, 1965); J. A. Burrow, A
Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (London, 1965); G. J. Engelhardt, "The
Predicament of Gawain," MLQ, xvi (1955), 218-25; G. V. Smithers, "What Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight Is About," MM, xxxin (1963), 171-89; A. C. Spearing, uSir
Gawain and the Green Knight" in Criticism and Medieval Poetry (London, 1964), pp. 29
45
2 The critics mentioned in n. 1 include the humorous, or comic, or "good-natured"
element in the poem in their interpretations. Comedy in the poem also forms part of the
discussions by S. Bercovitch, "Romance and Anti-Romance in Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight,11 PQ, xliv (1965), 30-37; R. H. Bowers, "Gawain and the Green Knight as
Entertainment," MLQ, xxrv (1963), 333-41; D. R. Howard, "Structure and Symmetry
in Sir Gawain,11 Speculum, xxxix (1964), 425-33. The starting-point for the present ar
ticle is Burrow's assertion that in the temptation scenes the poem "is at this point mov
ing through, or at least close to, fabliau country" (p. 75).
6l2

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 613

tial to the appreciation of the dialogue. Gawain's innocent specula

tions on the significance of the Lady's entry set the tone for what is to
come, for his innocence serves to amuse the reader by emphasising
just how little doubt there can be about the Lady's intentions under
such circumstances. Here, as throughout the scene, the comedy is
more in evidence than the moral issue. Even Gawain's reaction on his
feigned awakening, crossing himself as bi his sa^e pe sauer to worthe
(1. 1202),3 is a gesture of comic surprise rather than a serious reminder
of moral danger.
The Lady continues this mood with a conscious humour which is
indicated in terms such as lavande (1. 1207), gay (1. 1208), and bourde^
(1. 1212). Her opening words present the situation in a most unex
pected way:
"God moroun, Sir Gawayn," sayde J>at gay lady,
"5e ar a sleper vnsly3e, J>at mon may slyde hider;
Now ar 3e tan astyt! Bot true vus may schape,
I schal bynde yow in your bedde, J>at be 3e tray st."
(11. 1208-11)
Responsibility for the situation is immediately laid upon the helpless
and unwilling Gawain, seen here as a sleeping sentry. The inappropri
ateness of the martial image to Gawain's position as guest is itself
comic, but it is made more so by the bedroom setting. Gawain is
vnslyie?not "unwary" but "innocent," a fact confirmed by his earlier
meditations on the Lady's purpose. The masculine associations raised
by the impersonal mon are comically inappropriate, and the true
vus in this context suggest love and not treaties of war. Bynde, with
its idea of imprisonment, likewise acquires physical and sexual over
tones which are reasserted by in your bedde. The result is a heighten
ing of the sexual theme by the use of oblique reference. It also involves
an inversion of the normal roles of knight and lady in the manner of
the fabliau, for the Lady not only assumes the dominant role in the
action but also defines her position in imagery appropriate to knightly
conquest.4
3 All quotations are from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, ed. E. V. Gordon and
J. R. R. Tolkien, rev. ed. (Oxford, 1930). Italics, where used, are my own. For a different
interpretation of the effect of this line, see B. S. Levy, "Gawain's Spiritual Journey:
Imitatio Christi in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight11 Duquesne Studies, Annuale Medi
aevale, vi (1965), 65-106. Levy states: "Nor is Gawain unaware of his vulnerability, for
at the first approach of the lady, who attempts to distract him from his basic concern for
his spiritual welfare, he carefully blesses himself to assure the safety of his soul" (p. 96).
4 On the inversion of roles and the Lady's knowledge of courtly love, see J. F.
Kiteley, "The De Arte Honeste Amandi of Andreas Capellanus and the Concept of
Courtesy in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,11 Anglia, lxxix (1961), 7-16.

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614 Mills
Gawain is understandably ill at ease. Gawayn pe blype (1. 1213) is
an unexpected and significant departure from the usual Gawain
epithet of god or some near-synonym.6 His reply represents an attempt
to sustain the jesting manner (bourded a$ayn with mony a blype latter,
1. 1217) and continues the Lady's martial image in terms such as
leide (1. 1215), grace (1. 1215), and prysoun (1. 1219). However, the
speech excludes the sexual implications of the original image. Grace
cannot be considered as the grace of courtly love, for Gawain ex
pressly asks to bo}e of pis bed, and busk me better (1220). With this
request, word-play is abandoned:
I schulde keuer )?e more comfort to karp yow wyth. (1. 1221)

Gawain is requesting a social context in which he can converse with

the Lady. His words echo the account of his conversation with the
Lady on the previous evening:
Bot 3et I wot t>at Wawen and ]?e wale b?rde
Such comfort of her compaynye ca3ten togeder . . .
Wyth clene cortays carp closed fro iy\]>e. (11. 1010-13)

These words, however, are also echoed by Bercilak in his address to

Gawain with a significantly different emphasis which excludes the
reference to conversation; he speaks of his wife who
wyth yow schal sitte // and comfort yow with compayny
(11. 1098-99)

The Lady's reply is not merely a rejection of Gawain's request. It

takes up Gawain's desire for polite conversation in a social context
and invests it with the very significance which Gawain has sought to
5 For example, gode Gawan (1. 109), fie goode knytf (1. 381), fie gode knytf (1. 482),
Gawan wat) for gode knawen (1. 633), fie god mon (1. 1179) ; compare later references, such
as so god as Gawayn (1. 1297) and gode Gawayn (1. 2214). Where a nonalliterating epithet
is used, it is often a near-synonym ioxgode?e.g., hende, 1. 405, or noble, 1. 2149. The form
god in its various syntactic and semantic functions, together with its derivatives, is in
frequent collocation with Gawain in the alliterative line; e.g.,
Sir Gauan, on Godej halue (1. 692)
"In god fayth," quo)? Gawayn (1. 1241)
And al go?% in gomen Gawayn he called (1. 1376)
So here:
uGoud moroun, gay," quo}? Gawayn J?e bly]?e.
The collocation, however, serves to remind us of Gawain's usual epithet and emphasises
that blype is not a nonalliterative variant for gode but is a variant of the epithet applied
to the Lady, gay. On the importance of collocation for a theory of formulaic poetry, see
R. Quirk, "Poetic Language and Old English Metre," in Early English and Norse
Studies, ed. A. Brown and P. Foote (London, 1963), pp. 150-71.

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 615

exclude, while at the same time continuing the effect of comic in

version. A new determination is seen in her words?je schal not rise
(1. 1223), / schal happe (1. 1224). Happe reasserts the idea originally
conveyed in bynde and leads back again to the image of martial cap
ture in my kny?t pat I ka?t haue (1. 1225). Gawain must serve, not
freely and willingly, as a knight serves a lady, but under compulsion,
as a prisoner submits to his captor. Again there is an inversion of
roles and an assertion of sexual service by implication; but now the
sexual implications are carried over even to Gawain's harp, which the
Lady sees as the sequel to her completed embrace:
I schal happe yow here Jmt ol>er half als,
And sypen karp wyth my kny3t J>at I ka3t haue ....
(11. 1224-25)

The Lady's attack now takes a new form. The proposed embrace
is motivated by Gawain's reputation (For I wene wel, iwysse, Sir
Wowen ?e are, 1. 1226), a reputation for honour, an abstract concept,
and hendelayk, a compound whose second element, suggestive of
action, can also bear amorous significance.6 Your honour, your hende
layk (1. 1228) is balanced in the next line by with lorde$, wyth lady es
(1. 1229), implying honour for lords and hendelayk for ladies. This
slight sexual suggestion is now developed in an increasingly out
spoken manner. The Lady reminds Gawain that they are completely
alone. The rather weak hendely pray sed (1. 1228) is then taken up in
the somewhat stronger hym pat al lyke) (1. 1234), which gains added
force from the Lady's references to the bedroom setting. The Lady,
however, having asserted that we bot oure one (1. 1230), goes on in more
general terms?/ haue in pis hous (1. 1234). The line
I schal ware my whyle wel, quyl hit laste3 (1. 1235)

with its suggestion of a play upon whyle (time) and wyle (cunning,
stratagem), leads to the emphatic bob with tale (1236). By presenting
the bedroom setting as a social context in which Gawain can demon
strate his ambiguous hendelayk, the Lady invests the social karp with
hidden meaning which emerges in the play upon tale, evoking strong
physical and sexual associations characteristic of the fabliau, al
6 Ostensibly hendelayk repeats the idea contained in the preceding honour and is so
presented in editorial glosses. Layk, however, is a word indicative of activity in Middle
English (see NED) and the real distinction is between a quality (honour) and a form of
conduct (hendelayk). The fact that layk can be used of amorous play assumes added
significance in the context of the Lady's argument.

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6i6 Mills

though here capable also of bearing innocuous social meaning.7 The

Lady then carries her concept of social duty in the bedroom setting to
its startling conclusion:
5e ar welcum to my cors,
Yowre awen won to wale,
Me behoue3 of fyne force
Your seruaunt be, and schale. (11. 1237-40)
The sexual reference of this passage is so blatant that it has caused
difficulty to certain critics.8 In context, however, it also follows from
the social references. The earlier association of oure one and pis hous
is taken up in a play on the words cor(t)s and won. The Lady plays
upon cors (body) and cor(t)s (courts),9 and upon won (delight) and
won (dwelling). The physical sense is clear; on a social level the pas
sage would mean: "You are welcome to my courts, to choose your own
dwelling." As hostess, the Lady must be Gawain's seruaunt, and of
fyne force would refer to the social duties imposed upon her by her
lord which she must fulfil (and schale). Yet, in the bedroom setting of
fyne force seems an allusion to Gawain's helplessness, recalling the
7 Tail (OE t g?) and tale (OE talu) would not be formally identical in a West Mid
lands dialect, and in Gawain they are distinguished in spelling. In a Northern dialect,
however, they would fall together under tale-, see R. Jordan, Handbuch der mittelengli
schen Grammatik: I. Lautlehre (Heidelberg, 1925), p. 123, par. 132, and the note by E. J.
Dobson, English Pronunciation, 1500-1700: II. Phonology (Oxford, 1957), p. 778, n. 1.
Northern forms were known to the Gawain-poet and employed particularly in rhyme
words; see J. P. Oakden, Alliterative Poetry in Middle English: I. The Dialectal and
Metrical Survey (Manchester, 1930), pp. 72-87.
8 The discussion has centred upon the Lady's character and motives; see P. Stone,
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (London, 1959), p. 73, n. 1. Kiteley (p. 10) regards the
blatant offer as a breach of the standards of courtly love which the Lady otherwise ob
serves. Benson (p. 50) sees the Lady "flaunting her disregard of the courtly code" in the
manner of a fabliau heroine. Only Burrow (pp. 81-82) suggests that the speech may have
a double meaning: "In Middle English my (your, his) corse (body) could mean no more
than me (you, him). . . . There is, then, a saving ambiguity about the Lady's offer. She
can claim to have said no more than she says in the following line: T am at your ser
vice.' " Burrow quotes T. F. Mustanoja, A Middle English Syntax: Part I (Helsinki,
i960), pp. 148-49. This passage suggests that the use of his own body is "an emphatic
equivalent of himself11 when employed in apposition to a personal pronoun, and oc
casionally occurs in isolation meaning he himself. Even allowing for the possibility of an
emphatic and unusual form in Gawain, the resulting meaning, "You are welcome to me,
to take your own delight," is unambiguous. The example which Burrow quotes from
Purity is not strictly parallel since corse there has the sense of person, which it cannot
bear in Gawain.
9 The / of court was lost in fifteenth-century French, and it is reasonable to suppose
that it was weak among French speakers (including English speakers of French) in the
later fourteenth century. In any case, the / is weaker in the plural form ond force-cor (fis
would be an acceptable, if not a perfect, rhyme.

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 617

capture-image of katf, while schale is the most emphatic form of the

earlier schal's.10 The idea of compulsion conveyed in force and schale
is at odds with the idea of service. Conventional social conduct is
overthrown, and conventional social terminology has become in
vested with sexual significance. The Lady will serve Gawain, because
she can compel Gawain to serve her.
Gawain smiles acquiescence (gayn hit me pynkke$, 1. 1241), but as
before refuses to accept the Lady's sexual, as opposed to social, claims.
Reuerence refers only to the Lady's attitude, and Gawain's claims to
fame, sexual or otherwise, are disclaimed by wy$e vnworpy. The
sexual implications of tale and seruaunt are replaced by a conventional
concept of knightly service:
At sa3e oJ>er at seruyce J?at I sette my3t
To ]?e plesaunce of your prys?hit were a pure ioye
(11. 1246-47)

where sa$e and seruyce cannot bear the sexual innuendoes of the
Lady's words and a pure ioye suggests that the Lady's offer does not
fall within the category of purity. Gawain is seeking the dominant
role, and in so doing voices the Lady's praise, as a true knight should.
The Lady again restores the sexual implication to Gawain's words.
Gawain's term, prys, is taken up with reference to him in an ambigu
ous phrase:
J)e prys and ]>e prowes J?at plese3 al o)?er (1. 1249)

where prys and prowes become a restatement of honour and hendelayk,

just as plese1) al oper is a further advance on al lyke^. Social duty is
stated in daynt? and the pattern of dwelling terms is completed by
in h?r holde (1. 1252), meaning "stronghold" (hous, cors, won), "power"
(ka?t), and "physical hold, embrace" (bynde, happe) and thus fusing
the earlier images: as I pe habbe here (1. 1252) continues the fusion.
Hence the lines
To daly with derely your daynt? worde3,
Keuer hem comfort and colen her care3 (11. 1253-54)

not only echo Gawain's keuer pe more comfort but make it clear that
this concept of comfort is possible only if Gawain remains in his bed,
while the suggestion of the language of courtly love in colen her care}
continues the sexual innuendo. The Lady concludes:

10 Schale is an unusual choice for rhymed, stressed position; an emphatic, full-grade

long a is indicated by spelling and required by rhyme.

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6i8 Mills

Bot I louue ]?at ilke lorde ]?at J>e lyfte halde3

I haf hit holly in my honde )>at al desyres,
Jmr3e grace. (11. 1256-58)
On a sexual level, these lines continue the image-patterns already
established. Haf . . . in my honde is a restatement of haf . . . in hor
holde, another manifestation of the theme of capture, while al desyres
is the culmination of the earlier lyke? and plese?. The Lady seems to
be thanking God for putting Gawain in a compromising position,11
although hit is not the pronoun we should expect to find used of
Gawain; it reduces him from a human-being to an object of desire,
shift of emphasis which is part of the preparation for the barter
imagery to come. Socially, however, the Lady's words seem only to
re-echo what Bercilak's courtiers said of Gawain:
God hat3 geuen vus his grace godly for so}>e,
pat such a gest as Gawan graunte3 vus to haue.
(11. 920-21)
It is the kind of remark which a hostess might use of an honoured
guest.
Gawain, now7 pe myry mon (1. 1263), returns to his familiar argu
ment, although his expression becomes so compressed that editors feel
required to suggest translations in the notes.12 The Lady's daynt?, at
a social level, is disclaimed as being of disproportionate value for his
disert, and this fact itself is taken as indicative of the Lady's fraunchis
(1. 1264), her "nobility of character" (MED 2a) on a social level. The
reader, however, may be aware that j>-aunchis has a second sense, also
applicable, of "freedom of action, freedom to do as one pleases"
(MED id) which can hardly qualify for Gawain's epithet of nobele.
Gawain, however, has merely suggested another approach to the
11 Within the fabliau, of course, the grace of God could be invoked for all types of
sexual demands; cf. the Wife of Bath:
and Jhesu Crist us sende
Housbondes meeke, yonge, and fressh abedde,
And grace t'overbyde hem that we wedde.
(Robinson edition, p. 88, 11. 1258-60)
The Lady, however, cannot make such unambiguous statements, and the reference of
hit is therefore open to discussion.
12 The sense of the passage is clear but there are several unresolved problems. The
exact meaning of fongen hor dede) (1. 1265) and nysen (1. 1266) is not clear. Equally
difficult is the syntax of 1. 1265 and the reference of hit in 1267. While much of our diffi
culty arises from our limited knowledge of Middle English vocabulary and usage, it is
possible that the ambiguous hit may conceal a flaw in Gawain's logical arguments. See
notes on this passage in Tolkien and Gordon, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,
ed. Sir I. Gollancz with introductory essays by M. S. Serjeantson and M. Day, EETS
(London, 1940).

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 619

Lady, by his use of the term fraunchis. The Lady takes up the idea of
"freedom of action" and startlingly fuses it with a new sense of the
term "the right to buy or sell, also the right to exclude others from
buying or selling; a monopoly" (MED 3b). What she seeks is a free
dom of action which confers upon her a monopoly of the male market.
As Burrow has pointed out,13 this combination of barter and sex is
commonplace in the fabliau, but its appearance here is carefully pre
pared. The image pattern started with Gawain's prys at 1. 1247 and
continues (retrospectively) through prys (1. 1249), set at ly$t (1. 1250),
daynt? (1. 1250, having a second sense of "precious thing"), the equa
tion of Gawain's presence with much of pe garysoun oper golde (1. 1255),
through Gawain's own fraunchis (1264) and daynt? (1266) used with
the surprisingly materialistic verb, delen. The Lady herself seems to
look back to her previous speech, for al pe wele of peworlde were in my
honde (1. 1270) recalls haf hit holly in my honde. Her worth (1. 1269) is
presented in material terms?wone (1. 1269, NED "riches"), wele (1.
1270), chepen (1. 1271)?and even Gawain's costes (1. 1272) involves
a play upon "qualities" (ON *kostr) and "costly things" (OF cost,
NED 4). Indeed, these "costly things" are displayed for all to see?
bewt?, debonert?, blype semblaunt (1. 1272)?and are reinforced by those
unspecified aspects of Gawain's reputation of which the Lady has
heard.
At last Gawain sees his chance. Bercilak is the "better buy" de
spite the high prys attached to Gawain. The reference to Bercilak is
a reminder to the Lady of her role as wife and hostess. Gawain, as her
husband's guest, is her seruaunt (1. 1278) ; but he seeks also to be her
servant as a vassal serves his lady?hence she is my souerayn (1. 1278)
and he is yowre kny?t (1. 1279) as a faithful servant and not as a help
less captive. Souerayn marks the culmination of Gawain's praise of
the Lady, since she excels him in worth and is therefore a fit match for
Bercilak. The sexual innuendoes have been successfully eliminated by
reminding the Lady of her duty as wife and of Gawain's duty as knight
and guest. The chivalric concept of service is restored.
Yet it is restored in unchivalric fashion:

And, soberly your seruaunt, my souerayn I holde yow,

And yowre kny3t I becom, and Kryst yow fo^elde.
(11. 1278-79)

13 Burrow, pp. 76-77: "an idea much more characteristic of fabliau than romance?
the 'mercantile' idea of sexual favours as a commodity to be exchanged against other
commodities or cash." Burrow does not, however, press this point in interpreting the
scene; he merely asks the reader to notice specially the play on pris (p. 83).

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?2o Mills

This sequence of short phrases, linked by conjunctions, sounds terse

and hurried, especially when compared with Gawain's long, and often
involved speeches. A sense of impatience is evident in the Lady's
growing despair and Gawain's irritation. I think we would be entitled
to understand this in the lines
pe lady J?enn spek of leue,
He granted hir ful son? (11. 1288-89)
which suggest that both contestants think the round is at an end.
The growing impatience explains the coda to the scene. The Lady
abruptly changes the tone, from wyth a glent la$ed (1. 1290) to ful stor
worde] (1. 1291):
Now he ]?at spede3 vche speche Jris disport 3elde yow !
Bot J?at 3e be Gawan, hit got3 in mynde. (11. 1292-93)
The first line is an expansion of Gawain's Kryst yow for^elde in which
disport ("amusement") seems bitter and ironic, while the second, with
its defective alliteration, achieves a terseness equivalent to Gawain's
previous speech, culminating in the blunt, colloquial hit got$ in
mynde. Gawain himself is startled?his Querfore? (1. 1294) is very
direct, and asked freschly. The Lady attempts to restore the mood
with blessed, reverting to her extended sentence-structure in praise of
Gawain.
The Lady again asserts a normal social context within which, in
normal courteous fashion, the knight could seek a kiss from a lady.
The bedroom presents a different context. Gawain's Iwysse, worpe as
yow lykei (1. 1302) is weary rather than courteous. He seems to treat
kissing as an obligation of a vassal and carefully deprives the act,
not only of personal volition (at your comaundement, 1. 1303), but also
of personality, for lest he displese yow (1. 1304) is an oblique form of
self-reference. Yet Gawain has once more been compelled to concede
some of the dominance to the Lady and has reintroduced comedy in
his implied sentiment that to kiss when the Lady commands befalls
a knight in the course of duty.
The tension of the scene breaks in a rapid sequence of movements.
The Lady advances with unseemly haste?comes, caches (1. 1305),
toutei, kisse) (1. 1306). The action pauses with momentary courtesy
(comly by kennen, 1. 1307) and the Lady departs without even a verb
of motion (dos hir forth, 1. 1308). Now it is Gawain's turn to produce a
sudden burst of energy?ryches, ryse, rapes (1. 1309), clepes, choses (1.
1310), bo?e} (1. 1311), meued (1. 1312). The action is the result of the

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 621

tension built up during the increasingly complex word-play and the

growing impatience of the two protagonists which ultimately de
stroys the elaborate and calculated discourse.
Yet throughout the dialogue the sense of moral danger is never
strong. It is the technique of the discourse, the comedy of the double
meaning, which gives the scene its appeal. Gawain, indeed, shows no
interest in the Lady and her offer, and there is no evidence to suggest
that his moral faculties are in any way tested. Here, as in other
scenes, the poet gives a clue to the hero's thoughts. In lines 1284-87
it is suggested that Gawain's apparent indifference results from a con
cern with the blow which he must receive at the Green Chapel. The
physical temptations which the Lady offers to Gawain are of minor
concern compared with the real object of his quest, and the fact that
her departure follows immediately upon this revelation stresses the
futility of her efforts. The comedy of the first day's dialogue is a
counterpart to the absence of any evident moral conflict in the hero's
mind.
The comedy of the first day is thus a prelude to more serious con
flicts. On the second day the purely physical temptation is abandoned
for a more serious social issue. At the same time there is a transition
from word-play to direct statement and argument and a correspond
ing loss of comic interest. The comic tension of the use of social and
even commercial language in a bedroom context gives way to a differ
ent tension, between the way in which knights are said to act in
courtly romances and the way in which Gawain is acting. Here the
Lady's remarks have to be evaluated within the context of Gawain's
quest for the Green Chapel and therefore become an important part
of his moral concerns. At the same time the notion of duty and of
knightly service stressed by Gawain on the first day in defence is ex
tended by the Lady to comprehend courtly love.
Just as the Lady's argument develops from the position of the
previous day, so the scene begins as if the word-play is to continue.
An expectation of comedy is raised by the lines:
pe lady no3t f?cate,
Com to hym to salue;
Ful erly ho wat3 hym ate
His mode for to remwe (11. 1472-75)
where the solicitous care of no)t formate and the conventional greeting
of salue stand in comic contrast to the purposeful colloquial wat) hym
ate.

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?2 2 Mills

The opening speeches serve the double purpose of renewing the

temptation and rectifying the lapse of tone which occurred at the end
of the previous day. The Lady's theme is again the duty of a courteous
knight to kiss a lady, but the expression is now deferential. Wyth a
luflych loke (1. 1480) replaces the backward glance of the previous day
and the speech opens with a deferential Sir (1. 1481). The colloquial
and bitter
Bot J?at 3e be Gawan, hit got3 in mynde

now becomes the restrained and polite

Sir, 3if 3e be Wawen, wonder me J)ynkke3. (1. 1481)

There is even perhaps an excuse for the previous day's bluntness in

the reference to alder-truest token of talk pat I cowpe (1. i486), as if it
had been motivated by an urge for clarity.
Gawain himself shows a more courteous manner. Worpe as yow
lyke? is not repeated; although Gawain cannot accept the Lady's
suggestions, he nevertheless praises her remarks (good is your speche,
1. 1498), and, although still repeating his rather ridiculous suggestion
of the previous day, his answer is carefully constructed in half-line
periods:
I am at your comaundement, to kysse quen yow lyke3,
5 e may lach quen yow lyst, and leue quen yow J?ynkke3,
in space. (11. 1501-03)
No impatience is here betrayed. The kiss itself is effected without the
indecent haste and close embrace of the previous day. The Lady merely
toute $ adoun (1. 1504) and comlyly kysses (1. 1505), where the adverb
suggests that this is a dignified kiss of salutation. The contrast in
manner with the previous day both provides a comic anti-climax and
also sets the new tone for the dignified and serious dialogue which
follows.
In effect, the Lady begins with the same social-sexual reference as
before, but moves to an argument which is entirely social. Her open
ing criticism is that Gawain, noted for courtesy, does not know how
to undertake of compaynye pe coste$ (1. 1483). Compaynye here has
two senses, social and sexual: M ED 1, "a group of persons having a
common interest, purpose, faith, status, occupation, function," and
M ED 4, "companionship or intimacy between the sexes; sexual
union." The two meanings are comically incompatible. The Lady,
offering ostensible social instruction, is herself contravening social

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 623

convention in being in Gawain's room, and Gawain, the epitome of

courtesy, needs no social instruction. If mon kennes yow (1. 1484) again
exploits the incongruous masculine associations of the impersonal
and, in looking back to the previous day's dialogue, serves to remind
the reader that the Lady's speech on that occasion scarcely conformed
to polite usage and that its content was far more suggestive of sexual
than social embrace.
The remainder of the Lady's speech has caused some concern to
critics who see it as a barely concealed invitation to rape. To appre
ciate it, the reader should recall what happened when Gawain did
undertake the coste $ of compaynye:
When Gawayn gly3t on J?at gay, ])at graciously loked,
Wyth leue la)t of pe lor de, he went hem a3aynes... .
pe loueloker he lappe3 a lyttel in arme3. (11. 970-74)

The Lady suggests in the temptation that it is Gawain's duty:

Quere-so countenaunce is couJ>e quikly to clayme. (1. 1490)

Countenaunce here combines the ideas of "face" and "demeanour,"

suggesting recognition of both appearance and disposition. Within
a social context Gawain recognised pat gay as Bercilak's wife and also
recognised her favourable demeanour?pat graciously loked. Hence he
claymed, in the sense of "put forward a claim," to make himself
known to her. In the bedroom, the Lady's willingness to be kissed is
evident and Gawain should clayme, in the sense of "demand as his
due."
Gawain rejects this suggestion, eliminating the sexual implications
and concentrating upon the social sense:
If I were werned, I were wrang, iwysse, 3if I profered.
(1. 1494)

If the Lady's disposition is known in a social context, then she will

not werne Gawain; but courtesy demands that Gawain must ask her
husband's permission. This consent is clearly a social formality. To
refuse it would be vilanous (1. 1497), and in any case Gawain is a
sufficiently capable knight to avenge the insult (to constrayne wyth
strenkpe, 1. 1496). Within the bedroom setting, however, the husband's
consent is an irrelevance. The Lady's desire is known; she will not
refuse Gawain for she is teaching him cortaysy, which implies the
opposite of vilanous. Moreover, a woman who does not act in courtly

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6 24 Mills
fashion does not warrant courtly niceties. As G. J. Engelhardt has
said, a knight could use force towards a woman of lower social rank,
of vilein status.14
Gawain is thus reminding the Lady once more that she is married,
and he makes the point even clearer when he rejects the idea of force
(pr?te is vnpryuande, 1. 1499) without specifying whether he regards it
as applying to Bercilak or to a woman of low social status. He then
goes on to refer to
vche gift ]?at is geuen not with goud wylle.
(1. 1500)

This cannot refer to a gift from the Lady?a kiss would be bestowed
willingly. It refers to the gift by Bercilak of his wife to Gawain, a gift
unlikely to be given with good will and one which should not be ob
tained by force. Gawain's offer to the Lady gives the lines a final
twist. The kiss which she claims from Gawain is obtained under
compelling circumstances and can hardly be said to be bestowed with
good will. Gawain's careful reply provides an implied judgement upon
the Lady and makes it difficult for her to repeat her passionate em
brace of the previous day.
At this stage of the dialogue the sexual innuendo of the word-play
is abandoned for more serious discussion of principle. The Lady's
approach is summed up in one speech of twenty-six lines of a compli
cated and rather loose structure, in which she tries to compare
Gawain's conduct with that of the heroes of chivalric romance. The
speech begins as if it were going to praise Gawain (11. 1508-11), but
it breaks off abruptly for an apparent digression on the importance
of love in the romances (11. 1512-19). Equally abruptly, the Lady
returns to Gawain and compares his conduct towards her with the
knightly behaviour of the romance heroes (11. 1520-27). The speech
at this point is virtually one long sentence divided into sections ellip
tically by the omission of subordination. It achieves its effect by its
dramatic changes of thought within a continuous, developing theme.
By contrast, a series of short sentences follows, made even more
dramatic by sharp exclamations?Why! (1. 1528), For sch?me! (1.
14 Engelhardt (p. 222, n. 8) suggests that the Lady's words originate in Andreas'
advice that it may be necessary to use force in making love to a peasant?hence vilanous
implies "of villein status." D. W. Robertson, Jr. (A Preface to Chaucer [Princeton,
1963], pp. 443-44) points out that force is recommended as part of the technique of
making love to a peasant but "there is nothing in what he [Andreas] says that implies
any kind of license to rape peasants."

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 625

1530), Dos (1. 1533)?and the- long periods give way to a series of
shorter sentences.
The speech is far more elaborate than any on the previous day
and far more serious in tone, developing an argument instead of play
ing upon words. Its content marks a reversal of the Lady's role, from
teacher of etiquette to pupil in love, a role often adopted by the
knight.15 Hence the Lady presents herself as an innocent. To her,
Gawain's chivalry involves two things?sexual vitality (so $ong and
so )epe, 1. 1510) and chivalric virtues (so cortayse, so knytfyly, 1. 1511).
From cortayse and knytfyly spring the references to deeds of valour in
the romances; from ?ong and ?epe spring the references to pe lei layk
ofluf (1. 1513), her lele luf (1. 1516), her drury (1. 1517), voyded her care
(1. 1518), and bro)t blysse into boure with bountees hor awen (1. 1519).
Here the context of evaluation is not the bedroom setting but
Gawain's own quest, a quest not motivated by love. His dulful sloun
de$ are not for drury (1. 1517) nor does it seem probable that he will
ever return to court. Gawain's quest is not like those that the Lady
describes, nor can his love for the Lady be like the loves of romances.
Lel(e) to the Lady would involve disloyalty to Bercilak. What the
Lady seeks is naturally not overtly stated. Her concept of love sug
gests nothing more than the luf-talkyng expected of Gawain by the
retainers (1. 927) and fulfilled in the dere dalyaunce of his conversation
with the Lady at the banquet (1. 1012). The verbal notion, inherent in
no worde$ / pat euer longed to luf (11. 1523-24) and dalyaunce to
herken (1. 1529), gives way to more ambiguous terms?schewe and
teche (11.1526-27), trweluf craftes (1.1527), sum game (1.1532)?and the
reference to Bercilak's absence both rejects Gawain's implicit re
minder and suggests far more than conversation. Her speech is a
demand that Gawain should treat her as a literary romance hero
treats his lady, but the demand is given added force by the social
criticisms which the Lady makes of Gawain's refusal. Either he is
lewed (1. 1528) and is therefore unworthy of his reputation; or he is
insulting her by refusing to regard her as the equal of the romance
heroine?in fact, considering her to dille (1. 1529).
Gawain's reply is a masterpiece of rhetorical construction which
refuses to accept the Lady's assumed role of innocent pupil in love.
He questions her attitude. She is "playing" with him (play, 1. 1538).
Her own countenaunce is coupe is echoed now in with anyskynne$
countenaunce (1. 1539), suggesting that the Lady's intentions are far
15 See Kitely, p. n.

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626 Mills

from clear. These suspicions are carefully hedged about with protesta
tions of pleasure (gode gle, gomen, 1. 1536; ese, 1. 1539). Gawain con
tinues:
Bot to take J?e toruayle to myself to trwluf expoun,
And to wehe ]>e teme3 of tyxt and tale3 of arme3
To yow l?at, I wot wel, welde3 more sly3t
Of J?at art, bi )?e half, or a hundreth of seche
As I am, oJ?er euer shal, in erde ]>tr I leue,
Hit were a fol? felefolde, my fre, by my trawj?e.
(11. 1540-45)

The rhetorical cumulative effect of these lines is increased by the

sequence of enjambements, the movement being checked in mid-line
by parenthetical utterances (I wot wel-, bi pe half-, oper euer schal),
throwing into prominence the outspoken/'ol?felefolde which the follow
ing my fre does little to soften. Gawain's use of toruayle reveals that
he is not willing to humour the Lady as on the previous day, and the
use of slytf to refer to the art of love suggests not only an "acquired
skill" but also perhaps "skill used to deceive." The ambiguity lies in
the reference to pat art. Gawain may be saying that the Lady knows
more about love in practice than he does. His reference to pe ternes
of tyxt and tale) of arme?, however, suggests to me that he is saying:
"You as a leisured lady read romances and therefore know about the
art of love; I, and many of Arthur's knights?the very people dis
cussed in such romances?know very little about such matters." In
other words, life is not like books, any more than Gawain's quest is
like a courtly love romance. Gawain concludes again with an offer of
knightly service.
Here the dialogue inevitably ends, for there can be no answer to
Gawain's direct statement. Again the poet gives the reader a clue to
his hero's thoughts, in lines 1549-53. On the first day the Lady merely
made hym so gret chere (1. 1259), but now she frayned and fondet (1.
1549) for to hafwonnen hym to wo$e (1. 1550). Gawain's reactions show
an awareness of the change. On the first day he with speches skere //
Answared to vehe a cace (11. 1261-62), but now he defended hym (1.
1551). The hardening of tone corresponds to rising sense of moral
danger which replaces the earlier emphasis on death?wo?e (1. 1550),
faut (1. 1551), euel (1. 1552).
This growing sense of moral awareness reaches its height on the
third day. Here the Lady's demands are personal and emotional, re
quiring an equally human response from Gawain. But the context of

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 627

personalised relationships must be set against the chivalric and, above

all, the spiritual duties of a Christian knight. Gawain's whole code of
life, his pentangle, is the evaluative context for this temptation.
On the third day the Lady is at her most dominating. Motivated
by luf (1. 1733), she is also driven on by an unspecified purpose (1.
I734)- Clad richly and revealingly, she bursts into the room, flings
open a window while calling to Gawain, and kisses him.16 Gawain,
aroused from dreams of death, awakes to the joys of life which are stated
in a sequence of words and phrases?witf wallande joye (1. 1762),
smope smylyng and smolt (1. 1763), merpe (1. 1763), blis and bonchef (1.
1764), wynne (1765), wele (1. 1767). We are reminded of the seriousness
of the issue, however, by the phrase gret perile (1. 1768), which looks
back to the Lady's purpose, and by the reference to Mary (1. 1769),
which recalls Gawain's shield and its pentangle symbol. The moral
issue left to the end of the dialogue in the other two days, now ap
pears first, as it rises in all its complexity before Gawain:
He cared for his cortaysye lest craj?ayn he were,
And more for his meschef, 3if he schulde make synne
And be tray tor to ]?at tolke >at J?at telde a3t.
(11. 1773-75)

These are the consequences of the apparently simple choice oper lach
per hir luf, oper lodly refuse (1. 1772), and the use of more clearly her
alds Gawain's refusal. The Lady has abandoned implication and
principle for a personalised approach which involves speche) of
specialt? (1. 1778). Her speech provides an example:
Blame 3e disserue,
5if 3e luf not ]?at lyf J?at 3e lye nexte,
Bifore alle ]>e wy3e3 in ]>e worlde wounded in hert,
Bot if 3e haf a lemman, a leuer, ])at yow lyke3 better,
And folden fayth to ]?at fre, festned so harde
pat yow lausen ne lyst?and ]?at I leue nouJ?e. . . .
(11. 1779-84)

The overstatement is clear?every idea is reinforced. The Lady is

suddenly an image of suffering humanity?pat lyf?which is raised
to a superlative level immediately?bifore alle wy}e$ in pe worlde.

16 C. S. Luttrell comments: "Though the Lady of the castle stoops to kiss Sir
Gawain in earlier bedchamber scenes (fines 1306 and 1504), in this one she behaves less
decorously, falling upon him in her first kiss of the scene (line 1738), the same motion
being later described by the use of swe$e doun" ("The Gawain-Group: Cruxes, Etymo
logies, Interpretations," Neophilologus, xl [1956], 300).

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628 Mills

Lemman is taken up in teuer and lyke) better, using the comparative

to reduce the Lady to a position of undignified inferiority. Foldenfayth
is likewise taken up, in concrete terms, as festned so harde, an image
continued in lausen, and the sentence ends with the abrupt emotional
and pat I leue noupe. This overstatement of emotion is balanced by
Gawain's simple, controlled:
In fayth I welde ri3t non,
Ne non wil welde J?e quile. (11. 1790-91)
The statement is so direct that it terminates all further discussion,
resolving the moral dilemma entirely. The climax of the temptation
has apparently been reached; what follows is really anti-climax, an
unworthy surrender of the high ideals just vindicated.
The final act of the temptation conveys its effect in part by echoes
of the previous days. The Lady asks for a parting gift, and Gawain,
in his reply, unconsciously reverts to the barter image of the first day.
On the one side is the Lady's honour and love?luf (1. 1802), drurye (1.
1805), honour (1. 1806), luf (1. 1810); on the other is the equivalent
material gift?leuest ping (1. 1802), rewarde (1. 1804), garysoun (1.
1807), gifte^ (1. 1807), menskfulpinge) (1. 1809). This equation gives
the Lady her opportunity. Gawain is hende of hy$e honours (1. 1813),
a sarcastic reference which combines the abstract and material
senses of honours. The equation is applied to Gawain by the Lady,
who sees the degree of material worth in a gift as indicative of the
degree of obligation which it confers:
If 3e renay my rynk, to ryche for hit seme3,
5e wolde not so hy3ly halden be to me,
I schal gif yow my girdel, J)at gaynes yow lasse.
(11. 1827-29)

Gawain seems to accept this idea. Even if the acceptance of the

girdle does not confer the same degree of obligation upon him, it still
gaynes him and must be refused. Gawain's rejection is, however, even
more reminiscent of the first day's barter image:
And he nay J?at he nolde neghe in no wyse
NauJ>er golde ne garysoun, er God hym grace sende
To acheue to J)e chaunce J)at he hade chosen }?ere.
(11. 1836-38)

The reference tope chaunce recalls in content Gawain's motives on the

first day. The phraseology recalls the Lady's speech at lines 1251-58
in which she says that others would give much garysoun oper golde for

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 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 629

what she has gained pur$e grace. One cannot have treasure on earth
and in Heaven.
The echoes continue in the Lady's words. Just as Gawain's prys
depended upon his costes on the first day, so the costes (1. 1849) of the
girdle cause one to prayse it at more prys (1. 1850) because it can pro
tect the wearer from blows that might kill him. Suddenly for Gawain
the worthless girdle becomes a fuel. It is zjuel as a "sovereign remedy,"
but it is a fuel in the sense that a jewel is a precious stone, at one with
the golde and garysoun. The material prys of the rich ring is rejected
for the no less worldly prys of the girdle, which becomes the substitute
for grace. Moreover, because it is worth more than anything else to
Gawain, it confers upon him the greatest obligation to its donor.
The result is an ironic reversal of the pattern of the second day.
Not only does Gawain treat the Lady with tolerance (pulged, poled,
1. 1859; granted, 1. 1861; acorde^, 1. 1863), but he agrees to lelly layne
(1. 1863) the whole affair, a phrase reminiscent of the Lady's insis
tence upon^e lel(e) layk of luf, rejected on the second and third days
as a betrayal of duty to Bercilak. Loyalty to the Lady means dis
loyalty to her lord.17 The action is thus judged by Gawain's own con
cerns at the start of the third day and will again be judged in Gawain's
rejection of the servant's offer on the way to Green Chapel:
I schal lelly you layne, and lance neuer tale (1. 2124)
which Gawain counters with an assertion of faith in the will of God
reminiscent of his earlier reply to the Lady:
I wyl to Ipe chapel, for chaunce ]?at may falle
(1. 2132)
Ful wel con dry3tyn schape
His seruaunte3 for to saue .... (11. 2138-39)
Gawain is his own judge, both before and after the acceptance of the
girdle. If what he says is true, there is no need for the girdle and the
obligation of disloyalty which its acceptance involves, and it is the
very needlessness of his lapse which constitutes the bitterest irony of
all. While the reader is aware of this fact, Gawain is not. We leave
him momentarily in a sense of false security:
pus myry he wat3 neuer are,
Syn he com hider, er ]>is. (11. 1891-92)
17 Gawain's acceptance of the sle^t (1. 1858) is an ironic contradiction of the Lady's
description of him on the first day as vnsly^e. Nobele is clearly a significantly unexpected
word to describe sle^t, a term which even in Middle English had suggestions of decep
tion.

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630 Mills
Closely examined, the temptation scenes in Gawain reveal a
highly skilful construction. Throughout, words and phrases acquire
new meaning seen against the appropriate context?the bedroom
setting of the first day, Gawain's quest on the second, Gawain's faith
on the third. Echoes of earlier concepts and phrases are picked up in
the dialogues and utilised to suggest the nature of the struggle. The
result is a sense of climax as the scenes move, both through the
speeches of the two characters and the choric comments of the poet,
from an intellectual exercise on the first day which does not touch
Gawain's concern with death, through the second day's debate on
chivalry which involves more direct statement and raises matters of
principle, to the overt challenge to morality on the third day and its
terse dismissal. After Gawain's triumph, the acceptance of the girdle
is an anti-climax whose hollowness is revealed by all that has gone be
fore. Gawain, by thought and word, accepts the Lady's earlier posi
tion, and the episode at the Green Chapel merely makes public a
judgement already realised by implication.

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