Symbolism In Sir Gawain's Journey

496 Words2 Pages
Gawain’s journey has a great deal of symbolism. His journey to meet the big Green Knight was very treacherous and lonely. He battled natural elements such as weather and he dealt with actual living things such as animals and people. It was clearly stated a few times that he felt very alone. For example, the quote “Passing long dark nights unloved and alone.” on page 200 line 693 illustrates that he indeed felt alone and unloved. A few lines further down he says something about not having any friends except for his horse, Gringolet. I find it ironic that he felt so alone knowing he had everyone back at Camelot supporting him. Another form of symbolism I see within the text is the mentioning of so much green. Many other sources I have observed…show more content…
Both of these objects connect him to nature, particularly the woods” (Shmoop Editorial Team). I believe this observation explains some of the natural elements that Gawain and his horse faced during the two month journey. In lines 720 through 722 he is describing how he faces serpents, snarling wolves, bulls, and bears. Then again a few lines down he began to talk about how harsh the weather becomes for him. The passage states “clouds shed their cargo of crystallized rain, which froze as it fell to the frost glazed earth” (Page 201 lines 727-728). Another thing that I observed, and that was distinctly brought up in the text, was the fact that Lady Bertilak gave the green belt to Gawain as a “lovers token” which truly confirms a hidden meaning. She presses him to accept it telling him it will make him invincible which is a symbol or Gawain’s true survival skills (citation). Perhaps the most significant piece of symbolism in the text is Christ’s cross, a symbol I had not previously considered before discussing it in class. Not only does the cross symbolize faith, but now we see it in a whole different perspective. When we say “Christ’s cross” we are talking about the motion a believer preforms when praying to a
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