The story begins at Christmastime at King Arthur’s court in Camelot. The
knights of the Round Table join Arthur in the holiday celebrations, and
Queen Guinevere presides in their midst. The lords and ladies of Camelot
have been feasting for fifteen days, and now it is New Year’s Day.
Everyone participates in New Year’s games, exchanging gifts and kisses.
When the evening’s feast is about to be served, Arthur introduces a new
game: he refuses to eat his dinner until he has heard a marvelous story.
While the lords and ladies feast, with Arthur’s nephew Gawain and
Guinevere sitting together in the place of privilege at the high table,
Arthur continues to wait for his marvel. As if in answer to Arthur’s
request, an unknown knight suddenly enters the hall on horseback. The
gigantic knight has a beautiful face and figure. Every piece of his
elaborate costume is green, with flourishes of gold embossing. His huge
horse is green, and his green hair and beard are woven together with
gold thread. He holds a holly bob in one hand and a huge green and gold
axe in the other.
Without introducing himself, the knight demands to see the person in
charge. His question meets dead silence—the stunned lords and ladies
stare at him silently, waiting for Arthur to respond. Arthur steps
forward, inviting the knight to join the feast and tell his tale after
he has dismounted from his horse. The knight refuses the invitation,
remaining mounted and explaining that he has come to inspect Arthur’s
court because he has heard so much about its superior knights. He claims
to come in peace, but he demands to be indulged in a game. Arthur
assumes the knight refers to some kind of combat and promises him a
fight. However, the knight explains that he has no interest in fighting
with such young and puny knights. Instead, he wants to play a game in
which someone will strike him with his own axe, on the understanding
that he gets to return the blow in exactly a year and a day.
The strange conditions of the game shock the court into silence once
again. The Green Knight begins to question the reputation of Arthur’s
followers, claiming that their failure to respond proves them cowards.
Arthur blushes and steps forth defend his court, but just as he begins
to swing the giant axe at the unfazed Green Knight, Gawain stands up and
requests that he be allowed to take the challenge himself. The king
agrees, and Gawain recites the terms of the game to show the Green
Knight that he understands the pact he has undertaken. The Green Knight
dismounts and bends down toward the ground, exposing his neck. Gawain
lifts the axe, and in one stroke he severs the Green Knight’s head.
Blood spurts from the wound, and the head rolls around the room, passing
by the feet of many of the guests. However, the Green Knight does not
fall from his horse. He reaches down, picks up the head, and holds it
before him, pointing it toward the high table. The head speaks,
reiterating the terms of Gawain’s promise. The Green Knight rides out of
the hall, sparks flying from his horse’s hooves. Arthur and Gawain
decide to hang the axe above the main dais. They then return to their
feast and the continuing festivities.
Time passes, and in late autumn, on the Day of All Saints, the knights
of Camelot prepare to send a mournful Gawain off on his quest for the
Green Chapel. Worried but resigned, Gawain calls for his armor, which
the poet describes in great detail. He devotes space to each and every
piece, down to the shimmering skirts on Gawain’s horse, Gringolet. The
description lingers on Gawain’s shield, which depicts on its outside a
gold five-pointed star, or pentangle, on a red background. On the inside
of the shield is the face of Mary, Christ’s mother. Each of the five
points of the pentangle, which is described as an “endless knot",
represents a set of Gawain’s virtues: his five senses; his five fingers;
his fidelity, founded on the five wounds of Christ; his force, founded
on the five joys of Mary; and the five knightly virtues.
After dressing, Gawain says goodbye to his friends and leaves the court.
Sparks fly from Gringolet’s hooves as they ride off. He heads out into
the wilderness, traveling through North Wales and the west coast of
England in his search for the mysterious Green Chapel. He encounters
various foes—wolves and dragons, bulls and bears, boars and giants—but
always prevails over his enemies. He sleeps in his armor and has
frequent nightmares. As the winter grows colder, he nearly freezes to
death.
Finally, on Christmas Eve, the desperate Gawain prays to the Virgin Mary
that he might find a place to attend Christmas Mass. He repents his
sins, crosses himself three times, and, when he looks up, he sees a
beautiful castle. Surrounded by a green park and a moat, the castle
shimmers in the distance through the trees, and Gawain, full of thanks
to God for saving him, approaches the drawbridge. The castle is so white
and its crowns and turrets so tall and intricately carved that the whole
building looks as if it were cut out of paper. Gawain salutes, and a
guardian allows him to enter.
The porter welcomes Gawain warmly, inviting him in to meet the courtiers
and the lord of the castle. The host’s lords and ladies repeatedly
express their joy that Gawain (a minor celebrity because he is Arthur’s
nephew and a knight of the Round Table) can show them the latest in
knightly behavior and help them to become more courtly themselves. Like
Arthur’s followers, the courtiers seem inexperienced and carefree. But
Gawain’s host presents a much more imposing figure than Arthur. The lord
appears to be middle-aged, with a thick, gray-black beard and solid,
sturdy legs. Though the host’s fiery face and stocky figure make him
appear fierce, his speech reveals him to be gracious and gentle.
The lord takes Gawain to a rich chamber, where he feeds Gawain sumptuous
food and wine, and introduces Gawain to two women. The host’s wife is
young, beautiful, and elegantly dressed. The other, an old woman, is
wrinkled, stocky, hairy, black-browed, and covered entirely in clothing.
Only her nose, eyes, and blistered lips are exposed by the fabric. After
the introductions, the lords and ladies play games and celebrate late
into the night, when Gawain retires for bed.
Christmas morning and the two days following it pass in a similar
manner, but Gawain begins to feel the weight of his quest pressing on
him. With only three days remaining before his engagement with the Green
Knight, Gawain refuses his host’s offer of a longer stay, explaining
that he must search for the Green Chapel or else be judged a failure.
The host responds gleefully, telling Gawain he can send him to the Green
Chapel easily—it is only two miles away. Gladdened, Gawain thanks the
host and accepts the invitation to stay the three days until New Year’s.
The host proposes a game of sorts: during the day, he wants Gawain to
stay at court and linger in bed and around the castle, spending time
with the two ladies. Meanwhile, the host will go out hunting with his
men. At the end of each of the three days, the two men will exchange
whatever they have won. Happy to play along, Gawain accepts. The men
kiss each other, repeating their vows, and then go off to bed.
Early in the morning, the host and his guests get out of bed and prepare
to ride forth from the castle. They attend Mass, eat a small breakfast,
and leave with their hunting dogs as dawn breaks. They ride through the
woods, chasing after the deer and herding the does away from the bucks
and harts. In the fields, they slay the deer dozens at a time with their
deadly arrows. The hounds hunt down the wounded animals, and the hunters
follow to kill them off with their knives.
Back at the castle, Gawain lingers in bed until daybreak. While still
half asleep, he hears the door open quietly. Peeking out of his bed’s
canopy, he sees the host’s wife creeping toward his bed. Gawain lies
back down, pretending to be asleep. Stealthily, the lady climbs inside
the bed curtains and sits beside Gawain. Confused but curious, Gawain
stretches and pretends to wake up. Upon seeing the lady in his bed, he
feigns surprise and makes the sign of the cross. The host’s wife smiles
and greets him, teasing him for sleeping so deeply that he didn’t notice
her entering his chamber. She jokes that she has captured him, and she
threatens to tie him to the bed, laughing at her own game. Gawain laughs
and “surrenders” to her, then asks her leave to get up and put on his
clothes. She refuses, saying that instead she will hold him captive. She
tells Gawain that she has heard many stories about him and wants to
spend time alone with him. She offers to be his servant and tells him to
use her body any way he sees fit.
The two continue bantering, and the lady tells Gawain that she would
have chosen him for her husband if she could have. Gawain responds that
her own husband is the better man. Until mid-morning, the lady continues
to lavish Gawain with admiration, and Gawain continues to guard himself
while still being gracious.
When the lady gets up to leave, she laughs and then sternly accuses her
captive knight of not being the real Gawain. Alarmed and worried that he
has failed in his courtesy, Gawain asks her to explain what she means.
She responds that the real Gawain would never let a lady leave his
chamber without taking a kiss. Gawain allows one kiss, and then the lady
leaves. He dresses immediately and goes to hear Mass, then spends the
afternoon with the host’s wife and the old woman.
Meanwhile, the lord has been hunting deer with his men all day. As
evening comes on, the hunters begin to flay the animals, separating the
meat and skin from the carcasses. After they finish their bloody task,
the hunters return home with their meat.
The host greets Gawain and gives him the venison he won during the hunt
that day. Gawain thanks him and in return gives him the kiss he won from
the lady. The host jokingly asks where Gawain won such a prize, and
Gawain points out that they agreed to exchange winnings, not to tell
where or how they were acquired. Happy, the men feast and retire to bed,
agreeing before they part to play the game again the next day.
The next two days follow a similar pattern. On the second day, the lord
hunts a wild boar, risking his life as he wrestles it to the ground and
stabs it with his sword. At the castle, the lady continues to teasingly
challenge Gawain’s reputation, pressuring him into allowing her two
kisses and continuing to make convincing arguments for how his
acceptance of her love would be chivalrous. That night, the host brings
home the boar’s head on a stick and exchanges it with Gawain for the two
kisses.
On the third day the host hunts a fox, and Gawain, awakened by the lady
from horrible nightmares about the Green Knight, receives three kisses
from the lady during the course of their conversation. However, while
they banter, the lady asks Gawain for a love token. Gawain refuses to
fulfill her request, claiming he has nothing to give, so the lady offers
him a ring, which he also refuses. She then offers him her green girdle,
which she claims has magical properties: it possesses the ability to
keep the man who wears it safe from death. Tempted by the possibility of
protecting his life, Gawain accepts the girdle.
That afternoon, Gawain goes to confession. At the end of the day, he
gives the three kisses to his host but fails to mention the lady’s gift.
After the exchange, the host and his courtiers hold a farewell party for
Gawain, who later retires to his chamber, prepared to leave the next day
to seek out the Green Chapel.
Gawain lies in bed during the early hours of New Year’s morning,
listening to the harsh wind wailing outside the castle. Before the sun
comes up, he rises and prepares to depart, putting on his armor and
ordering servants to saddle his horse. Despite Gawain’s anxiety, his
armor shines as brightly as it did when he left Camelot. He does not
forget to tie the lady’s girdle around his waist. The girdle’s green
color stands out against the red cloth of Gawain’s surcoat.
As Gawain and Gringolet prepare to ride off, Gawain silently blesses the
castle, asking Christ to keep it safe from harm and wishing joy on the
host and the host’s wife. Accompanied by a guide, Gawain crosses the
drawbridge and rides back out into the wilderness, up to the heights of
the neighboring snowy hills. There, the guide turns to Gawain and
proposes a solution to his impending problem: if Gawain leaves now
without facing the knight, the guide promises not to tell anyone. No one
survives an encounter with the Green Knight, the guide informs Gawain,
so continuing is tantamount to suicide. Gawain thanks the guide for his
concern, but he refuses to be a coward. The guide wishes Gawain well and
leaves at a breakneck pace, afraid to go any farther into the woods.
Gawain strengthens his resolve and heads onward into the strange forest.
He sees no sign of buildings and searches without success for a chapel
in the wilderness. Finally he notices a strange mound and investigates
it. He spots a kind of crevice or cave, fringed with tall grass, and
realizes it must be the Green Chapel.
Suddenly certain that the place belongs to the devil, Gawain curses the
chapel and is proceeding toward the cave with his lance in hand when he
hears the horrifying sound of a weapon being sharpened on a grindstone.
Terrified, and fully aware that the sound means his own doom, Gawain
calls out to the lord of the place, stating that he has come to fulfill
his agreement. The Green Knight replies, telling Gawain to stay put, and
continues to sharpen his weapon. The Green Knight emerges from around a
crag, carrying a Danish axe. He welcomes Gawain warmly and compliments
him on his punctuality, then tells him he will repay him for his own
beheading a year ago. Gawain tries to act unafraid as he bares his neck
for the deadly blow.
The Green Knight lifts the axe high and drops it. When the Green Knight
sees Gawain flinch he stops his blade, mocking Gawain and questioning
his reputation. Gawain tells him he will not flinch again, and the Green
Knight lifts the axe a second time. Gawain doesn’t flinch as the axe
comes down, and the Green Knight holds the blade again, this time
congratulating Gawain’s courage. He then threatens Gawain, saying that
the next blow will strike him. Angry, Gawain tells the knight to hurry
up and strike, and the knight lifts his axe one last time. He brings it
down hard, but causes Gawain no harm other than a slight cut on his
neck. Gawain leaps away, draws his sword gleefully, and challenges the
Green Knight to a fight, telling him that he has withstood the promised
blow. The Green Knight leans on his axe and agrees that Gawain has met
the terms of the covenant, but refuses to fight. He points out that he
has spared Gawain. He feinted the first two times, in accordance with
their contract on the first two days, when Gawain gave him the gifts he
had received from the lady. The nick from the third blow was punishment
for Gawain’s behavior on the third day, when he failed to tell the truth
about the green girdle.
This speech reveals that the Green Knight is the host of the castle
where Gawain was staying. He again congratulates Gawain on his bravery,
calling him the worthiest of Arthur’s knights and excusing his
transgression on the third day. Gawain responds by untying the girdle
and cursing it, and asking to regain the host’s trust if possible. The
Green Knight laughs and absolves Gawain, now that he has adequately
confessed his sin. He gives Gawain the girdle to keep and asks him to
come back to the castle and stay there longer to celebrate New Year’s,
but Gawain refuses.
Gawain thanks the Green Knight and sends his best wishes to the lady and
the old woman, then complains about the deceitfulness of women, who have
brought about the downfalls of great men such as Adam, Solomon, Samson,
and David. He accepts the girdle, though, and asks that the Green Knight
tell him his true name. The knight agrees and reveals himself as
Bertilak de Hautdesert, servant of Morgan le Faye, who is the old woman
in the castle. Le Faye is also Gawain’s aunt and Arthur’s half sister,
as well as Merlin’s mistress; she sometimes helps and sometimes makes
trouble for Arthur. Bertilak reveals that Le Faye sent him in disguise
as the Green Knight to Camelot in order to scare Queen Guinevere to
death. One last time, Bertilak asks Gawain to return with him to the
castle and celebrate New Year’s with Morgan le Faye and the others, but
Gawain refuses and hurries back toward Camelot.
On his journey back to Arthur’s castle, Gawain’s wound heals, but he
continues to wear the green girdle on his right shoulder. When he enters
the court, he meets a gleeful reception and tells the story of his
encounter with Bertilak. He explains that he intends to wear the green
girdle forever as a sign of his failure and sin. Arthur and the court
try to comfort Gawain, and they decide that they will all wear belts of
green silk as a sign of respect and unity.