Gawain's First Failure: The Beheading Scene in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

Author(s): Victoria L. Weiss

Source: The Chaucer Review, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Spring, 1976), pp. 361-366
Published by: Penn State University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25093365
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GAWAIN'S FIRST FAILURE:

THE BEHEADING SCENE IN

SIR GAWAIN AND THE

GREEN KNIGHT
by Victoria L. Weiss
Many interpretations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight are based
on a careless reading of what has unfortunately come to be called
the "Beheading Game" in the first fitt. A number of critics tend to
read the Green Knight's challenge for someone to exchange blows
with him as if he were asking someone to chop his head off in ex
change for the privilege of doing the same. As early as 1888 Gaston
Paris noted that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight differed from its

earlier analogues in that the strangers challenge is presented only

as an exchange of blows rather than as an invitation to chop off his
head. But Paris found his observation significant only in so far as it
allowed him to argue in favor of a lost French source for the poem.1
A closer look at the terms of the challenge reveals that Gawain's
temptation begins before he ever leaves Arthurs court, and that his
first failure comes when he impetuously chops off the head of the
Green Knight. Gawain's aggressive response to the strangers chal
lenge provides an important clue to the development of the hero's
character in this poem.
In spite of Paris's early observation, several significant critics con
tinue to misread the Green Knight's challenge. As excellent a critic
as Larry Benson states: "[the Green Knight] proposes that someone
cut off his head now in exchange for a return-blow a year later."2
Similarly, Albert B. Friedman notes: 'Tie offers to allow any one of
the knights present ? not specifically Arthur ? to chop off his head
with the ax he carries, providing the knight will contract to seek
him out a year hence to receive the same blow in return."3 Alain
Renoir likewise misreads the challenge: "suddenly an almost gigantic
Green Knight rides into the hall and dares anyone present to behead
him and receive a return blow a year and a day later."4 Countless
others content themselves with references to this portion of the nar
rative as the "beheading game."
Nowhere in the first scene of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is
THE CHAUCER REVIEW, Vol. 10, No. 4. Published by The Pennsylvania State
University Press, University Park and London.

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362 THE CHAUCER REVIEW

the exchange of blows referred to in terms of chopping off another's

head. The Green Knight presents his challenge to Arthur's court in

this fashion:

If any so hardy in J)is hous holdez hymseluen,

Be so bolde in his blod, brayn in hys hede,
Pat dar stifly strike a strok for an o?>er,
I schal gif hym of my gyft ]?ys giserne ryche,
Pis ax, J)at is heue innogh, to hondele as hym lykes,
And I schal bide J)e fyrst bur as bare as I sitte.
And 3et gif hym respite,

A twelmonyth and a day. . . .5

The Oxford English Dictionary defines strok as "an act of striking;
a blow given or received/' Strok also meant "a blow with the hand
or a weapon (occasionally with the paw of an animal, the claws or
beak of a bird, etc.) inflicted on or aimed at a living being." The
Middle English Dictionary defines bur as "(a.) an armed assault or
sally; a clash or encounter; (b.) a blow or a stroke." Hence, Gawain
is told that he need only strike a blow; nothing is said of chopping off
the Green Knight's head.
Whatever the source of the critics' confusion,6 we should notice
that this rendering of the challenge leaves Gawain free to determine
the kind of blow he should deliver?the ax is his "to hondele as hym
lykes" (289). One wonders at Gawain's impetuosity and lack of re
straint here in chopping off the Green Knight's head, since the Green
Knight, who is dictating the terms of the challenge, seems to be
suspiciously placing himself at a disadvantage by allowing Gawain to
wield the first blow. One wonders also at Gawain's impulsive decision
to strike a death blow, since the Green Knight's statement seems to
indicate that Gawain will receive the same kind of blow as he de

livers. In order to understand why Gawain hears the challenge and

thinks in terms of wielding the ax with all his strength, it is im
portant to look at what the poet tells us about Arthur's court prior
to the Green Knight's arrival on the scene.
The poet early in the poem provides a clue to the great importance

placed on knightly valor, aggressiveness, and their resulting pride

in Arthur's court by alluding to their Trojan forefather "Ennias" and

"his highe kynde" (5). These heroes were all great and proud war
riors, and by mentioning them the Gawain poet draws our attention

to the importance of valor in Arthur's court. The active, youthful

Arthur ("So bisied him his }onge blod and his brayn wylde" [89])
delights in combat for sport, even when it involves human lives.
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VICTORIA L. WEISS 363

As the story begins on New Year's Day at Arthur's court, we find

that the king refuses to eat until he has heard of some adventure:
Of sum mayn meruayle, J)at he my3t trawe,
Of alderes, of armes, of oJ)er auenturus,
0{)er sum segg hym biso3t of sum siker kny3t
To joyne wyth hym in iustyng, in joparde to lay,
Lede lif for lyf, leue vchon o])er,
As fortune wolde fulsun horn, JDe fayrer to haue.
(94-99; italics mine)

When the Green Knight appears on the scene, he tells the king and
the court, "I passe as in pes," and "I wolde no were" (266, 271). But
in spite of the Green Knight's assertions, Arthur responds with:

... Sir cortays kny3t,

If ]dou craue batayl bare,
Here faylez J)ou not to fy3t.

(276-78)
Arthur seems unable to grasp the concept of game without dangerous

combat. The Green Knight reasserts the peaceful nature of his mis

sion and belittles the value of the deeds of arms performed by

Arthur's court, calling them "bot berdlez chylder" with "my3tez so

wayke" (280, 282). He thus makes Arthur's claims to knightly valor
appear ridiculous.
Arthur's marked concern for valor is picked up by Gawain, the
knightly exemplar of the court. Though he hesitates like the rest of

the Round Table to accept the challenge of the exchange of blows,

he eventually moves forward to spare his king. It is quite possible
that it is the Green Knight's attacks on the knightly prowess of
Arthur's men that prompt Gawain to chop off the Green Knight's
head. But whatever the reason, his action demonstrates a lack of
concern for human life.

As Gawain moves forward to accept the challenge for Arthur, he

has already impulsively associated the rendering of the blow with

death:

And lest lur of my lyf, quo laytes \>e so?>e?

Bot for as much as je ar myn em I am only to prayse,
No bounte bot your blod I in my bode knowe. . . .
(355-57)
The statement obviously displays Gawain's humility, but it also dem
onstrates an excessive adherence to valor and a lack of concern for

life. Gawain, the perfect Christian knight who wears the pentangle
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364 THE CHAUCER REVIEW

as a sign of his perfection, aggressively and impulsively wields the

ax, failing to consider that he is attempting to kill someone in the
course of "a Crystemas gomen" (283). The Green Knight has not
asked for a death blow. Gawain, in his impetuous desire to demon
strate his knightly valor and (moved also by considerations of cour
tesy) to rescue his uncle from a dangerous challenge, fails to see that
he can fulfill the terms of the challenge and still spare lives.

His failure to see an alternative to his action is striking, especially

since indications that he might emerge from this situation honorably
and unharmed are offered to him prior to his chopping off the Green

Knight's head. One of these comes from a most unlikely source,

King Arthur himself, who blesses his nephew and observes:
Kepe J)e, cosyn, . . . \>a? J)ou on kyrf sette,
And if J)ou redez7 hym ry3t, redly I trowe
Pat J)ou schal byden J?e bur J)at he shal bede after.

(372-74)
There is a suggestion here that Gawain is free to choose how he will
wield the ax, and a hint that there may be more to the acceptance
of the challenge than simply demonstrating one's strength. The same

sort of hint is given by the Green Knight when Gawain, just prior
to delivering the blow, asks him who he is:
3if I J)e telle trwly, quen I ]?e tape haue
And ?>ou me smokery hatz smyten, smartly I {>e teche
Of my hous and my home and myn owen nome. . . .

(406-08)

At this point, Gawain could not have known that the knight would
be able to withstand the blow of this huge ax. The fact that the
Green Knight promises to tell Gawain all after he "smokery hatz
smyten" should have caused Gawain to hesitate, even if concern
for life did not. If Gawain assumes "smokery . . . smyten" to mean a

death blow, then how would it be possible for the Green Knight to

identify himself after the blow has been delivered? Gawain seems to
be unaware of this difficulty.

The Green Knight is obviously tempting Gawain and the court.

He questions the fighting prowess of Arthur's knights, and laughs at

their failure to live up to their reputation when no one comes for

ward to take up the challenge. After these devilish taunts, the Green

Knight temptingly stretches out his neck for the blow, an action

which the poet describes in great detail. But this action by the Green

Knight only foreshadows that of the final episode in which the

Green Knight demonstrates that a "strok," even to the neck, need
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VICTORIA L. WEISS 365

not result in a beheading. Gawain succumbs to the temptation to

decapitate the Green Knight and thereby fails his first test. The verbal
assault on his knightly prowess has proved to be more than Gawain's
pride can withstand. Even at the Christmas season, knightly prowess,

valor, and aggressiveness have taken priority over the Christian

virtue of concern for human life.

It is in Gawain's second failure that, ironically, a concern for human

life takes precedence over other considerations. Confronted with the

temptation to save his own life and still retain his reputation as a
knight, Gawain commits his greatest sin by accepting the green
girdle and failing to give it to Bertilak. The intervening year, the
deprivations suffered in the forest of Wirral, and the menacing ap
proach of the time when Gawain must receive the blow which he
presumes will be his death, have given him a new sense of the value
of life?his own.

When Gawain finally arrives at the Green Chapel, the Green

Knight, by feinting twice and ultimately delivering only a scratch

to Sir Gawain, demonstrates a concern for life that Gawain himself
did not display a year before. When Gawain feels the cut, he jumps

up, brandishing his blade once again in the spirit of impetuous

knighthood:

I haf a stroke in ?>is sted withoute stryf hent,

And if J)ow rechez me any mo, I redyly schal quyte. . . .

(2323-24)

Gawain recognizes now what he did not recognize when presented

with the challenge in the first fitt?that the terms of the agree
ment do not call for decapitation. Gawain realizes that by sustain
ing a mere nick, he has fulfilled the terms of the challenge. The
slight scratch represents a viable alternative to the attempted death
blow Gawain delivered in the first fitt.

But it is only when Gawain discovers that his deceptive act of

taking the girdle to preserve his own life is known to his host that he
realizes all of the pride, impetuosity, and duplicity that he has been

guilty of. When Gawain assumes the wearing of the girdle as a sign
of his imperfection, his concept of knightly virtues has changed: no
longer does he speak of deeds of arms and knightly aggressiveness,
but rather "larges and lewte J)at longez to kny3tez" (2381). This new
concern with "larges" or generosity marks a concern for others that is
significantly different from the concerns of the early arms-wielding

Gawain, who was quick to chop off an opponent's head.

The uneasy anticipation of death that Gawain is forced to live
with through the course of most of the narrative points to the evil
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366 THE CHAUCER REVIEW

inherent in rashness and excessive valor, and the relationship of

these to the chief of the seven deadly sins, Pride. At the end, Gawain's

concern with "larges" and "lewt6" reveals a new respect for the life
and well-being of others.

Lehigh University

1. Gaston Paris, "Roman en vers du cycle de la table Ronde," Histoire Litter

aire de la France, 30 (1888), 76-77. M. Paris states: ". . . dans toutes les

versions autres que le poeme anglais, l'&ranger propose au heros de lui couper
la t&te et de se la laisser couper ensuite; cette maniere de formuler la proposition
est evidemment absurde, car on voit tout de suite dans celui qui la fait un etre
surnaturel de la part duquel on ne peut accepter un pareil d?fi; ici, au contraire,

la proposition de dormer un coup a condition d'en recevoir un autre est ac

ceptable. . . ."

But Paris draws attention to this distinction simply to justify his claim that
"Le Vert Chevalier est la version plus ou moins fidele d'un poeme francais ou
anglo-normand derivant directement du meme theme que les autres, mais l'ayant
mieux conserved"

2. Larry Benson, Art and Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (New
Brunswick, N. J.: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1965), p. 26.
3. Albert B. Friedman, "Morgan Le Fay in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,"

Speculum, 35 (1960), 261.

4. Alain Renoir, "An Echo to the Sense: The Patterns of Sound in 'Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight,'" English Miscellany, 13 (1962), 10-11.
5. J. R. R. Tolkien and E. V. Gordon, eds., Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
rev. Norman Davis (London: Clarendon Press, 1968), lines 285-90, 297-98. All
quotations are from this edition.
6. Part of this confusion with the terms of the challenge may have resulted
from the familiarity of most critics with one of the poem's acknowledged
sources, the Fled Bricrend. In this tale, Terror, son of Great Fear, attempts to
settle a dispute by setting forth this challenge: "I have an axe, and the man
into whose hand it shall be put is to cut off my head today, I to cut off his
tomorrow" (Benson, Art and Tradition, p. 12). Benson has argued persuasively
in favor of a recently edited "long" version of the French Le Livre de Caradoc
as the immediate source of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

7. The OED defines rede as "to bring, deliver" or "to direct (oneself) to a

place."

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