ch violates their agreement. While he may be wining in the game of courtly love, he is failing the test of loyalty and honor miserably. Looking at Mary as a symbol of obedience and Eve as one of disobedience, Gawain has chosen disobedience, proving that courtly love will break male social bonds and cause a society to crumble. These broken social bonds, however, are reaffirmed with the banishment of courtly love at the end of the story. Because of the outcome of the beheading game is dependent on Gawain’s behaving regarding the “exchange of winnings” agreement, there is an implication that the power has been shifted back to the men. When the power is shifted, Bertilak changes the purpose of the game from destroying Arthur’s court to prolonging its existence by teaching Gawain a lesson, which may then be carried back to the other men. Although Gawain has clearly learned a lesson and has taken up the girdle as a symbol of his shame, the other knights have not. They laugh at Gawain and wear the girdle as a symbol of honor. This leaves the entire court open to the dangers of chivalry and courtly love, eventually causing Camelot to fall. This parallels the creation myth in that God warned Adam not to eat the apple just as Gawain warns the other knights of the dangers of courtly love. The fall of man and the fall of Arthur’s kingdom can be paralleled in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight for many reasons. In the story Gawain takes on a transition from a knight to an almost god-like figure to the knights. He is the best and most virtuous of the knights of Camelot, but he is not perfect. Gawain must learn from his imperfections in order to reach a higher moral level. When God created man, he created him in his own image, but for God to make a being to whom he would still be superior, he must give this being a flaw, the flaw being temptation. Gawain serves as both the Adam figure in the begin...
