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Ana Basar

Dr Ljubica Matek, Associate Professor

Survey of English Literature I

22nd December 2023

Courtly love is present in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a chivalric romance written in 14th century that

belongs to the Arthurian legend and was written by an anonymous poet, also referred to as

The Pearl Poet (Kline). This poem is just one of many that exalt chivalric virtues like honour,

bravery, and fidelity in mediaeval romance. Courtly love is another literary element present

in the poem and is realized through the dialogues between Sir Gawain and Lady Bertilak.

Courtly love is a concept in mediaeval European literature and poetry that, as Dodd

claims, emerged towards the end of 11th century, particularly within the troubadour traditions

in southern France, whilst in northern France, the new ideas about love were introduced to

contemporary literature through the approval of higher rank women (1-2). The term “courtly

love” highlights an idealized and polished form of love: “It was a special form of love in

which the courtly lover idealized his beloved lady and spoke to her or about her in the exalted

language usually reserved for a deity” (Moore 622). It revolves around a married

noblewoman and a knight, in this case Lady Bertilak and Sir Gawain, who is obligated to

serve the lady due to her higher rank. C. S. Lewis argues:

The lover is always abject. Obedience to his lady's lightest wish, however whimsical,

and silent acquiescence in her rebukes, however unjust, are the only virtues he dares

to claim. There is a service of love closely modelled on the service which a feudal

vassal owes to his lord. The lover is the lady's 'man'. (qtd. in James 12)
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Lady Bertilak is described as gracious in her movements and fresh in her beauty: „The fair

hues of her flesh, her face and her hair / And her body and her bearing were beyond praise,“

(Gawain poet, lines 943-944) which aligns with the standards of “the mediaeval ideal”, as

Dodd argues: “Her hair is blond or golden ; her eyes beautiful ; her complexion fresh and

clear ; her mouth rosy and smiling ; her flesh white, soft, and smooth ; her body slender, well

formed, and without blemish” (10). Such depiction of the lady is another element of courtly

love. Thus, with her beauty, nobility and courtesy, the lady not only piques Sir Gawain's

interest, but has full control over their relationship as the knight owes her obedience and

submission. However, due to the code of chivalry, “chivalric love is eternally platonic; to

consummate it would end it” (Brough 46). Lady Bertilak, well aware of this fact, attempts to

persuade Sir Gawain to defy the chivalric code by manipulating the clichés of courtly love,

and although Sir Gawain is able to politely reject her demands, he is very careful while doing

so. The language of courtly love between Lady Bertilak and Sir Gawain is marked by polite

manners, praise and one-sided gift giving. As Barnard states: “honour is linked to giving

(whether a blow, a kiss, or a gift), and Gawain must balance courtly love with chivalry in

order to maintain his honour” (53). Although at first one may conclude that Sir Gawain is

merely an indifferent recipient of Lady Bertilak's courtship, he also inadvertently seduces her.

Brough explains:

However, the Gawain poet makes reference to attitudes and desires that go above and

beyond the norms of hospitality, and all before Lord Bertilak officially awards

Gawain his wife as a “charming companion” while Bertilak is away hunting (1099).

For example, he mentions that, during the evening festivities, “Each man fulfilled his

wishes, / And those two followed theirs” (1018-19). Here, the two are not merely

participating in hospitality; they are pairing off and following desires. (43)
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In conclusion, courtly love is a codified concept of love between a knight and a

noblewoman that was widely used in mediaeval European literature, originally created by the

southern French troubadours in 11th century. While the primary purpose of this notion in Sir

Gawain and the Green Knight is to put his chivalry to the test, it nevertheless contains all the

elements of classic courtly love.

Works cited

Barnard, Laura. Courtly Constraints: Clothing, Gifts and Honour in Medieval Romance,

2018, p. 53. University of Cape Town, https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/27890.

Accessed 22 Dec. 2023

Brough, Daniel. Chivalry, Love Physiology, and a Reevaluation of Sir Gawain’s Sin, Vol. 21:

No. 2 , Article 4, 2001, pp. 43-46. Inscape,

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/inscape/vol21/iss2/4/. Accessed 20 Dec. 2023.

Dodd, George William. Harvard Studies in English, Volume 1: Courtly Love in Chaucer and

Gower, 2007, pp. 1-10. Internet Archive,

https://ia601602.us.archive.org/19/items/courtlyloveincha00dodduoft/

courtlyloveincha00dodduoft.pdf. Accessed 22 Dec. 2023.

Gawain poet, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 1967. W. W . Norton & Company, Inc.

James, Melanie. Displaced Blame and the Feminine Threat: Gender Conventions and

Gendered Authority in the Romances of Chrétien de Troyes and Sir Gawain and the

Green Knight, 2013, p. 12. California State University San Marcos,

https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/cv43nx28g. Accessed 21 Dec. 2023.

Kline, Anthony. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 2007, p. 3. Poetry In Translation,

https://www.la.utexas.edu/users/bump/303C17/Gawain.pdf. Accessed 21 Dec. 2023

Lewis, C.S. The Allegory of Love: A Study in Medieval Tradition, 1961, p. 2. Fourth Galaxy

Printing, https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.170836/page/n1/mode/2up.

Accessed 21 Dec. 2023.

Moore, John C. “‘Courtly Love’: A Problem of Terminology.” Journal of the History of

Ideas, vol. 40, no. 4, 1979, p. 622. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2709362. Accessed

22 Dec. 2023.