Knight has a challenge, and he demands to speak to the head of the court. King Arthur, being the head of the court, answers the call of the Green Knight. The Green Knight proceeds to tell Arthur that it is his court who are the best and most noble knights in the land, and he has come here with a challenge. He begins to taunt Arthur's knights, and King Arthur becomes outraged and accepts the strangers challenge. The Green Knight will allow someone to strike him with an ax, as long as they agree to find him in one year to accept the return blow. Before King Arthur can chop the Green Knight's head off, Sir Gawain stands up, and asks if he can replace the King instead. The court agrees to let Gawain take the challenge, so Gawain swings the ax, and chops off the knight's head. As soon as his head gets chopped off, the Knight picks it up and mounts his horse. He tells Gawain to meet him at his house, the Green Chapel on New Year's Day the following year. He rides away, and the court proceeds to finish their feast. I guess the court is used to people having their heads chopped off, and then riding away on their horse. An excellent line in this poem was the line "The blood gushed from the body, bright on the green"(428). The red obviously, symbolizes blood, but it is interesting how the author takes time to tell how the red and green contrast. I see the contrast as blood, which is a certainty-a certainty of death, and the green, as the unpredictable nature, which is also death in many forms. Time goes by, and the seasons pass, as well as the year. Sir Gawain gets ready for his departure from King Arthur's court in the fall. On his neck he has a pentangle, which is a five- pointed star. It is also called the endless knot, and it's five points symbolize the 5 senses, the 5 fingers, the 5 wounds of Christ, the 5 joys of Mary, and the 5 aspects of gentlesse. The author also seems to take great pains in describing the elaborate ar...
