/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7345102]

So what does the Green Knight represent? Repressed paganism? Nature? Jesus? Satan? Death? Oppressed Wales? Or is he just the medieval equivalent of Old Man Withers from the abandoned amusement park?

[Anonymous No.7345110]

He represents Darth Vader.

[Anonymous No.7345114]

He represents the springtime, rebirth, the end of the old year and the beginning of a new one.
And Gawain is a bitch for not giving up the girdle.

[Anonymous No.7345124]

>>7345114
Oh yeah, how fair would it be otherwise? You can chop of my magical head but then I get to chop of your human head because you're not a pussy.

[Anonymous No.7345127]

>>7345124
it's all about that honor/chivalry senpai

[Anonymous No.7345135]

>>7345127
I'm aware, Gawain is supremely noble for feeling as if he failed but the rest of the round table rejoices and wears silk girdles in his honor. Are you not a knight of the round table? Gawain is the shit, rejoice in his pimpness.

[Anonymous No.7345148]

al-Khidr. Tarot's Fool, the caprice of the inhuman world.

[Anonymous No.7345276]

>>7345135
Gawain a shit. Parsifal a best

[Anonymous No.7345286]

That poem is from a time before we were obsessed with symbolic literature. He represents a fucking Green Knight.

There are readings you could perform on it to make him symbolize various things, and the fact that you can probably speaks to the reasons it has endured, but if you can't accept it as a work of literature and art when the Green Knight is just a damn Green Knight you probably are going to have a lot of trouble with medieval and pre-novelistic literature in general.

[Anonymous No.7345375]

>>7345286
have you actually read any pre-modern texts

[Anonymous No.7345378]

>>7345286
>before we were obsessed with symbolic literature

this is absurd

[Anonymous No.7345391]

>>7345286
Even Homer was obsessed with symbolics.

I'm sure those before him were too.

[Anonymous No.7345556]

>>7345102
He's a Christmas tree

[Anonymous No.7345573]

>>7345286

>That poem is from a time before we were obsessed with symbolic literature

Literally the stupidest thing I've read on /lit/ in two weeks. We were more obsessed with allegory/symbolism in the Middle Ages than at any other time.

[Anonymous No.7345791]

>>7345286
if anything we've become less symbolic, those guys had so many symbols in their literature, it was like 80% symbols. The Farie Queen is 90% symbolism.

[Anonymous No.7345798]

this story turned me into a c uck

[Anonymous No.7345827]

>>7345286
you fucking imbecile, every medieval writer was working on like four different layers of allegory and religious symbolism (the three poems preceding gawain in the manuscript are literaly theoretical tracts about christian virtues)
you complete fucking twonk

[Anonymous No.7345866]

berdilak de hautdesert in disguise

[Anonymous No.7345908]

>>7345114
Kinda.

About the girdle thing -- did you notice how it contrasts with the pentagram semiotically? the girdle is a special type of symbol. It is esoteric and contingent. You had to be there, as we say.

The pentagram, by contrast, is non-arbitrary and contains the elements of its meaning that can be deciphered by anyone.

In a very important way, this is a story about the encroachment of literacy upon the spoken word tradition. Think about Gawain's devotion to the girdle in that context and see if your evaluation is any different this time around.

[Anonymous No.7345953]

>>7345908
The spread of literacy in the late medieval period, mostly the legacy of Charlemagne's doing, also threatened the institution of chivalry, as it existed literarily if not actually. Notice how the code of the knights is altered by this encounter.

Does Gawain look more like the old guy yelling at the kids to stay off his lawn, or like a man of some gravitas trying to retain his dignity while also trying to adapt to the changing world so as not to go extinct altogether?

[Anonymous No.7345994]

Green man may be based on a celtic god but the author was likely unaware of this.

[Anonymous No.7346400]

>>7345375
>>7345378
>>7345391
>>7345573
>>7345791
>>7345827
cool how mad people are at this yet no one can fucking agree what he symbolizes

[Anonymous No.7346550]

>>7346400
ignore the actual quality content:
>>7345908
>>7345953
for a cheap troll bump.

why do you live? traffic and gravity are readily available.

[Anonymous No.7346818]

>>7345102
Clearly oppressed whales.

[Anonymous No.7347600]

>>7345102

>be in high school
>teacher asks, "What does the green knight represent?"
>someone says "Money"

[Anonymous No.7347605]

>>7347600
>mfw "trees" is a legitimate answer

[Anonymous No.7347629]

>>7346400
Whole story is about Christianity homie, use of 3 representing the Holy Trinity and even though he fails the test he is forgiven; although scribes alter the original tale and are able to put their skew of religion on it, but in the end Gawain is forgiven and proven to be noble. That green night is big money pimpin though

[Anonymous No.7347650]

>>7345286
For god fucking sakes dude. Even if that were true, the work doesn't dictate the presence of symbols. Certainly not the year it was written

[Anonymous No.7347743]

>>7345102

read the text closer

he's green (though some say it might be grey, it's hard to read the manuscript in that part I hear) and carries a sprig of holly.

Gawain carries the five-sided star of solomon and an image of marry on his shield.

The green sash protects him from death.

His penance is to wear the sash and to have the small cut on his neck from the axe never heal.

Now go back, add that together, and make something of it.

[Anonymous No.7348261]

Well, for one thing, Gawain represent his ancestor Aeneas... It's probably a way of saving face, because the story emphasises both shame and success.

I'll search for the Green Knight next.

[Anonymous No.7348279]

>>7345286
Are you a retard?

[Anonymous No.7348293]

His character is ironically described as both a powerful knight in his right, but also a judge of those who would be Knights.

Consider his introduction, where he is carrying an axe in one hand and an olive branch in the other.

[Anonymous No.7348307]

Actually it's a bough of Holly.

In French, it may be translated as "bright, sporting rogue"... Since the character is too strong for the court, he instead decides to test them and play mind games on them.

"No, I seek no battle, I assure you truly:
Those about me in this hall are but beardless children.
If I were locked in my armor on a great horse,
No one here could match me with their feeble powers.
Therefore I ask of the court a Christmas game…"

[Anonymous No.7348356]

It's also a story taking place in the later 14th Century, where the Green Knight may represent something about the 'Norman Decline' and Black Death.

The Green Knight doesn't clearly represent Celt *or* Norman, but the end result of 200 years of multiculturalism from 1150 to 1350, which then grew unstable as a result of the Black Death.

[Anonymous No.7348357]

>>7345286
>That poem is from a time before we were obsessed with symbolic literature.

You absolute fucking retard.

Literature was *FAR* more allegorical in pre-modern times. *FAR* more.

[Anonymous No.7348358]

The contemporary parallels were of course anachronistic, as it takes place in the earlier Medieval era, but the text itself tells us a little about the 14th Century as well.

[Anonymous No.7348437]

>>7348293
>>7348261

Which edition is that?

[Anonymous No.7348451]

>>7345102
characters in green are always representative of death

[Anonymous No.7348466]

>>7348357
Yeah, people are so stupid nowadays that half the time they can't even understand allegory.

Then there are these people who wore bear skin into battle because they thought it might offer them the strength of the bear.