This story of the Arthur and the knights of Camelot is a bewildering one. Starting as they always do, Arthur throws a big party, (to which I am never invited) all of the knights and ladies of the land are there drinking mead and playing games. During the festivities Arthur, who although constantly gets whatever he wants, demands to hear a grand story. Just as he speaks his request, a bold knight clad in all green strides through the door on his horse inquiring about the leader of the house. First of all, usually Arthur has many guards watching the gates and surroundings of his castle, but I guess they were all too drunk to notice this man gallop through in all green. For he just busts into the party like he owns the place and starts presenting his own little game. Which hardly seems like a game to me.
When the green knight asks Arthur and his knights to hit him with his own huge axe and that he will repay the blow a year later, one of them should have stopped, sat down, and thought about the fact that one does not usually have the benefit of being alive a year later if hit by a giant axe. Unless of course, they have some sort of power that allows them to not die. If a man was so sure of himself that the best knight in the land could hit him without armor with his own axe and live a year later to fight him again, I for one would question such a challenge. But of course Arthur jumped right into the ring, only to give up the challenge to one of his knights, Gawain, a smart decision, but not a very honorable one. I think Arthur should fight more of his own battles himself, but I also respect the fact that his knights are willing to do anything to fight for him, even if its to accept a crazy challenge from a crazy dude dressed in all green.
Gawain gets trapped in this year long bet with a knight who cannot die. Talk about stressful. When New Years comes around the story follows his journey to find the green knight, but never does it really talk about how he plans to defeat the knight. I mean, the man had his head chopped clean off and still proceeded to gallop out of the castle basically saying, "see ya next year buddy." I mean how do you beat that? I dont care how shiny your armor is, or who is painted on the inside of your shield, your gona need alot more than courage and a good sword to defeat a guy who doesn't flinch when his head gets wiped clean off. I just hope this time he uses his own weapon.
Good luck Sir Impetuous
Ysbaddaden
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ReplyDeleteAll these stories of knight are odd to those of us on the outside, are they not? You mention the predicament Sir Gawain is "trapped" into. But I think that the word trap implies a clever plot. A better word might be "stumbled." To the untrained eye, it seems that Sir Gawain walked headfirst into a brick wall that he should have seen coming.What do we know? We are not knights.
ReplyDelete-Lady Bertilak
You bring up a good point - why do Arthur's guards let such a strange man into the gate? Perhaps it was his possession of holly or an explanation for his visit that the guards based their decision on, or perhaps they were hungry and knew Arthur would find the Green Knight exciting enough to satisfy his "pre-dinner" needs! You also mentioned that you wish Arthur would fight more of his own fights. With inferences about the author's intentions, why do you think he didn't? What do you think would have been different if Arthur were to have accepted the challenge?
ReplyDelete-Lady of the Lake
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