Oh, That Jolly Green Giant :: King Arthur Literature Essays

Oh, That Jolly Green GiantIn a take of magic, love, betrayal, hat redness, loyalty and mystery, there exists a kingdom c in tout ensembleed Camelot. At the heart of Camelot be the Knights of the Round Table who maintain their loyalty to King Arthur. From the famed knights emerges one knight, who stands out as being traditionally the most loyal, chivalrous, and courtly of all Sir Gawain. It is during one of Arthurs New Years feast, that a stranger rudely gallops into the great student residence and begins what will be a yearlong test for Sir Gawain. His colouration, physical stature, baron, and magic are astounding to the Knights of the Round Table. Only one knight dares to deport the challenge of this light-green giant. This is the paper of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a fourteenth hundred Arthurian romance by an anonymous poet. Great wonder grew in hall/At his hue most strange to see,/For man and monger and all/Were green as green could be. (Norton, 161) Throughout t his text, great wildness is placed on the color green and the f characterization that great source is associated with the color. Green will again be emphasized at the fire of the story when Lord Bercilaks wife gives Gawain a magical green girdle, which has the power to protect Gawain from the Green Knight. The green of everything about the knight is then countered by the red glow of his eyes. In these times, dragons and monsters are green with glowing red eyes. They are also powerful and serve as tests for true knights and heroes. The color green is given a mystical power in this story because not only do the girdle and the Green Knight act as green symbols of magic, but the Green Chapel is also a powerful image of magic. While it is not a traditional Judeo-Christian chapel, but rather it seems to be a prehistoric cave. It can be viewed as a holy place simply because it is the only green life that exists in the suffocating white snow of the winter. This alone should stimulate al terted Gawain to believe that magic was afoot. It is the sheer size of the Green Knight that intimidates many of the Knights of the Round Table As lightning quick and light/He looked to all at hand/It seemed that no man might/His deadly dints withstand. (Norton, 162) Because Gawain moldiness uphold his knightly duties, he alone takes on the Green Knights plot of land and presents himself as the student of humility.