s during each daily test, so far as to symbolically compare them with the animal of the day being hunted by Bercilak and his troop. For all purposes Sir Gawain maintains his courtesy with Jones 4the lady during each day, but he looses ground, too, in that she receives one more kiss each successive day.On the first day, Gawain is quite shy towards the lady's advances. His replies to her are jumpy and skittish like the hunted deer's movements. He fends her off with his courteous words, holding true to his chivalric principles. Gawain finally escapes by granting the lady a kiss, which he then, as the rules of the game demand, gives to the lord. The second day brings with it the struggle to maintain the knights virtue. Once again Gawain attempts to hold off her advances, but in the end he surrenders two kisses. It is on the third day that Gawain fails the test. He finally succumbs to the lady's will and relinquishes the ideas of the virtuous pentangle. Gawain has not just broken the covenant between him and the lord of the castle, but also the Green Knight's compact. The whole thought of a scheme being noble is ludicrous, for cheating is both dishonorable and spiritually wrong. Gawain has diminished the religious portion of the pentangle for fear for his own skin. Gawain did far better on the impassable test than any other knight or man could do. Also importantly, Gawain goes to confession the first chance he gets before leaving - he is not wholly reduced to a despicable liar and cheat. Gawain still attempts to hold on to the virtuous aspects of the design on his shield. He then prepares to set off for the Green Chapel.Jones 5Once again Gawain arms himself and sets off on his quest. The second arming scene parallels the first arming scene in all but one important detail. W. Bryant Bachman observes in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: The Green and Gold Once More" that the emphasis on the first arming is Gawain's shield, and on the gi...
