ourtly dalliance" (1011-12). When Gawain was alone in the forest, fearing death, he could only think of one thing, that Mary should lead him to a place to say mass on Christmas. Now, instead, the Lady has drawn him away from Mary and made him forget the significance of the day. The bedroom, however, is the true testing ground. From the first day of their bedroom sessions, the Lady subtly establishes a bargain of her own with Gawain; one based on his prowess in courtly love. By becoming her knight Gawain has entered into another bargain, but now Gawain's bargain is with a woman rather than a man, and his ability to please her with his talk is being tested rather than a "true" chivalric value such as loyalty, valor or truthfulness. This bargain, compared with Gawain's exchange of winning bargain with Bertilak and beheading game Bargain with the Green Knight, highlight the conflict of values in chivalry. In contrast to Arthur's classic values, the Lady believes that "the choicest thing in Chivalry, the chief thing praised, / is the loyal sport of love" (1512-13). This points out a serious conflict; in the game of courtly love, a man is forced outside of the traditional male hierarchies, placed on equal footing with a woman, and not subject to the feudal loyalty system. Above all, unlike the other contests established by men where the rules are clearly defined, the Lady's game is ambiguous. It is meaningful that the bedroom scenes are juxtaposed with scenes from Bertilak's hunts. It seems as if this is what the Gawain poet intended to suggest when he positioned the bedroom scenes within the hunt scenes. The hunt scenes show an unambiguous world of men and an appropriate venue for male chivalric action. The men are outside, in vigorous, heroic, manly pursuit, training for what is really the purpose of chivalry--the defense of the land and the service of the Church. Clear hierarchies and rules are meticoulously explained; the lord is in the l...
