s not at all flawless when he lies to the Green Knight. Gawain also is more intimate with Lady Bercilak than he shows. Gawain only exchanges a few innocent kisses with the Green Knight knowing there was more. Lady Bercilak becomes a very important character as the story evolves. She obviously represents a certain theme within the story. Lustful greed penetrates Gawain's shield during the time with Lady Bercilak. His pride reaches far beyond that when he takes her sash only for his own survival reasons. He takes the green sash with the understanding that it represents the relationship he had with Lady Bercilak. She offers it to him, knowing he will only take it with the incentive she adds to it at the end their conversation. She promises him it will protect him from any man, and that no man on earth shall kill him (Gibbons 2).In addition to specific characters, The Gawain poet also uses medieval symbolism to portray the many diverse themes. The poem begins within a symbol. It opens within the Christmas season, which is inevitably followed by New Year’s. This concept of a year and a day is rhetorical and symbolic throughout the poem. As the Green Knight once says, “…for well you deserve to be readily requited on New Years morn” (162). In fairytales, legends, and mythology this concept tends to represent the same idea. This idea of birth, re-birth, new beginnings, end of one cycle, and the beginning of a new cycle creates the concept of one of the symbols in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Samuels). There is also another symbol in the beginning of the poem. The challenge offered by the Green Knight is symbolic of King Authur’s court being tested. The test symbolizes Authur’s court maturing from an age of early innocence to the reality within experience. Courage, virtue, and chastity of the ideal knight are being challenged by beheading, hunting, and temptation from the Green Knight (S...
