Role in Arthurian Literature
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Green Knight plays the role of challenger to King Arthur's court. He appears before the court during a Christmas feast, and is described as being completely green: skin, hair, dress, and all. He holds a bough of holly in one hand, and an enormously menacing battle axe in the other. He is dressed in garments, signifying his peaceful approach as he does not intend for violence, however, the knight issues a challenge: he will allow one man to strike him one time with his axe, under the condition that he be allowed to return the blow the following year by New Years. At first, Arthur takes up the challenge, but Gawain pulls him aside and pleads for him to give him the opportunity. Arthur gives him a chance and Gawain accepts the challenge. In one swoop, to the exposed neck of the Green Knight, he decapitates the giant, only to have the strange Knight calmly stand, retrieve his head, and tell Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel at the stipulated time.
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No, I seek no battle, I assure you truly: |
| — The Green Knight addresses Arthur's Court in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight |
The next time the Knight appears, he is in the form of Bercilak de Hautedesert, lord of a large castle, who freely invites Gawain to lodge there as he prepares to complete his journey to the Green Chapel. Gawain, unaware of his lord's true identity, is submitted to a series of tests of his loyalty and chastity (Bercilak even sends his wife to seduce Gawain). Bercilak arranges a wager with the unknowing Gawain to hand everything that he receives that day over to the other man; they drink a toast to the agreement. But, as the time approaches for Gawain to meet with the Green Knight, he asks to depart and is asked by Bercilak not to leave just yet. Fearing that he will not make it, he asks if his host knows where the Green Chapel is located. The King knows of its location and tells him that it is a mere two miles away; Gawain agrees to remain for a few more days, enduring the tests until his departure. Gawain departs to the Green Chapel, which is really a mound of grass. When Gawain arrives, the Knight is sharpening his axe. Gawain bends to receive his blow, only to have the Green Knight feint two blows, then barely nick him on the third. He then reveals that he is Bercilak, that he sent his wife purposely to test Gawain, and that Morgan le Fay had given him the ability to be the Green Knight in order to test Arthur's court. He and Gawain part on a positive note.
The Greene Knight tells basically the same story as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, with a few differences. Notably, the knight is only said to be wearing green, not to actually be green himself. The poem also explains more of the motives behind the Knight's game: the knight has been asked by his wife's mother (not Morgan in this version) to play a joke on Gawain. He agrees because he knows his wife is secretly in love with Gawain, and hopes that he can make a fool of them both by involving them in his game. Gawain falters in his knighthood in accepting a girdle from her, and the Green Knight's purpose is fulfilled in a small sense. In the end, however, he acknowledges Gawain's overall ability and asks to accompany him back to Arthur's court.
In King Arthur and King Cornwall, The Green Knight appears as Bredbeddle, and is depicted as one of Arthur's knights. He offers to help Arthur fight a mysterious sprite (under the control of the magician, King Cornwall) which has entered his chamber. When physical attacks fail, Bredbeddle uses a sacred text to subdue it. The Green Knight eventually gains so much control over the sprite through this text that he convinces it to take a sword and strike off its master's head.
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