Sexuality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Essays Papers

The Complications of sex in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawains travels in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight put forward a solid ground in which home--i.e., Camelot--is normal, small-arm away--the opposing castle of Hautdesert where Gawain perforce spends his Christmas vacation--is other, characterized by unfamiliarity, dislocation, perversity. And in fact the melodic phrase at Hautdesert appears somewhat peculiar, with miscellaneous challenges to normal sexual identity, and with permutations of physical intimacy, or at least the mesmerism of such intimacy, that are, to say the least, surprising. The typical pilgrimage of medieval romance juxtaposes a real world where things and people turn out according to expectation with a magical world in which the public rules are suspended. According to this paradigm, we superpower expect that this poem would place Hautdesert removed the bounds of tradition, separated by its difference from the expectations that govern Camelot an d the remainder of the Arthurian world. However, Gawains journey away from Camelot and sand is framed by references, in the scratch line and last stanzas, to the journeys into exile of Aeneas and of Brutus, the fabled founder of Britain, that complicate this apparent opposition. As this paper will argue, this mannequin complicates the poems expressation of gender and sexuality. Rather than a clear opposition between, say, marital sexuality and e trulything else, we find a perspective in which potentially illicit acts and kisses among men are vested with varied--and shifting--values. The poem characters references to the (imagined) British past to complicate all simple interlingual rendition of the tale it tells in terms of sexual devotion or sin.1 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens with a summary of the events leading from the lead of Troy to the establishment of BritainSien e sege and e assaut watz sesed at Troye,e borgh brittened and brent to brondez and aske z,e tulk at e trammes of tresoun er wroghtWatz time-tested for his tricherie, e trewest on ertheHit watz Ennias e athel, and his highe kynde,at sien depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicomeWelneghe of al e wele in e west iles.Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swye,With gret bobbaunce at burghe he biges vpon fyrst,And neuenes bring in his aune nome, as hit now hatTirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes,Langaberde in Lumbardie lyft... ...e is once again surrounded by the familiar faces of Arthurs knights, this return cannot give away what he has experienced, does not unwrite what the poet has written. The return of the undying knot to the place of its generator does not negate the existence of the exemplar that has been created. Bertilak reads the ominous and the disruptive in Layamons depiction of the origins of Britain. By locating the taradiddle of Gawains flirtation with Lady Bertilak at bottom the context of Layamons chronicle of treason in Troy as well(p) as at Cam elot, the Gawain-poet complicates any reading of Camelot and Hautdesert as debate places with opposed valuations. Treason is already and always present at Camelot, named with obscure denotative in the first stanza of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--and this very obscurity points to the difficulty of arrival any conclusions surrounding gender or sexuality in the poem. The use of history shows that femininity, masculinity, normative sexuality and transgression are all difficult, possibly impossible, to define. Gawain, of course, does not read Brut, and is therefore go away floundering in search of a finality which is unobtainable within the world of this poem. Sexuality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay -- Essays PapersThe Complications of Sexuality in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Gawains travels in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight suggest a world in which home--i.e., Camelot--is normal, while away--the opposing castle of Hautdesert where Gawain perfor ce spends his Christmas vacation--is other, characterized by unfamiliarity, dislocation, perversity. And in fact the atmosphere at Hautdesert appears somewhat peculiar, with various challenges to normal sexual identity, and with permutations of physical intimacy, or at least the suggestion of such intimacy, that are, to say the least, surprising. The typical journey of medieval romance juxtaposes a real world where things and people behave according to expectation with a magical world in which the usual rules are suspended. According to this paradigm, we might expect that this poem would place Hautdesert outside the bounds of tradition, separated by its difference from the expectations that govern Camelot and the remainder of the Arthurian world. However, Gawains journey away from Camelot and back is framed by references, in the first and last stanzas, to the journeys into exile of Aeneas and of Brutus, the legendary founder of Britain, that complicate this apparent opposition. A s this paper will argue, this framework complicates the poems presentation of gender and sexuality. Rather than a clear opposition between, say, marital sexuality and everything else, we find a situation in which potentially adulterous acts and kisses among men are vested with varied--and shifting--values. The poem uses references to the (imagined) British past to complicate any simple reading of the tale it tells in terms of sexual morality or transgression.1 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight opens with a summary of the events leading from the fall of Troy to the establishment of BritainSien e sege and e assaut watz sesed at Troye,e borgh brittened and brent to brondez and askez,e tulk at e trammes of tresoun er wroghtWatz tried for his tricherie, e trewest on ertheHit watz Ennias e athel, and his highe kynde,at sien depreced prouinces, and patrounes bicomeWelneghe of al e wele in e west iles.Fro riche Romulus to Rome ricchis hym swye,With gret bobbaunce at burghe he biges vpon fy rst,And neuenes hit his aune nome, as hit now hatTirius to Tuskan and teldes bigynnes,Langaberde in Lumbardie lyft... ...e is once again surrounded by the familiar faces of Arthurs knights, this return cannot undo what he has experienced, does not unwrite what the poet has written. The return of the endless knot to the place of its beginning does not negate the existence of the pattern that has been created. Bertilak reads the ominous and the disruptive in Layamons depiction of the origins of Britain. By locating the story of Gawains flirtation with Lady Bertilak within the context of Layamons chronicle of treason in Troy as well as at Camelot, the Gawain-poet complicates any reading of Camelot and Hautdesert as opposed places with opposed valuations. Treason is already and always present at Camelot, named with obscure referent in the first stanza of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight--and this very obscurity points to the difficulty of reaching any conclusions surrounding gender o r sexuality in the poem. The use of history shows that femininity, masculinity, normative sexuality and transgression are all difficult, perhaps impossible, to define. Gawain, of course, does not read Brut, and is therefore left floundering in search of a finality which is unobtainable within the world of this poem.