Oh, That Jolly Green Giant :: King Arthur Literature Essays

Oh, That Jolly blue jet monstrosityIn a land of magic, love, betrayal, hatred, consignment and mystery, there exists a ground called Camelot. At the heart of Camelot be the Knights of the Round Table who maintain their loyalty to King Arthur. From the famed knights emerges one knight, who stands out as being traditionally the approximately loyal, chivalrous, and courtly of all Sir Gawain. It is during one of Arthurs New Years feast, that a peculiar rudely gallops into the great hall and begins what will be a long test for Sir Gawain. His color, physical stature, power, and magic are astounding to the Knights of the Round Table. that one knight dares to accept the challenge of this commonality giant. This is the story of Sir Gawain and the kibibyte Knight, a fourteenth Century Arthurian ro military mance by an anonymous poet. Great wonder grew in hall/At his hue most strange to see,/For man and gear and all/Were colour as green could be. (Norton, 161) Throughout this text , great emphasis is pulld on the color green and the fact that great power is associated with the color. Green will again be empha size of itd at the end of the story when Lord Bercilaks wife gives Gawain a magical green waistband, which has the power to protect Gawain from the Green Knight. The green of everything roughly the knight is then countered by the red glow of his eyes. In these times, dragons and monsters are green with glowing red eyes. They are also powerful and serve as tests for true knights and heroes. The color green is given a unknown power in this story because not only do the girdle and the Green Knight act as green symbols of magic, but the Green Chapel is also a powerful image of magic. While it is not a traditional Judeo-Christian chapel, but rather it seems to be a prehistoric cave. It can be viewed as a holy place simply because it is the only green life that exists in the suffocating neat snow of the winter. This exclusively should have alterted Gawa in to believe that magic was afoot. It is the sheer size of the Green Knight that intimidates many of the Knights of the Round Table As lightning vigorous and light/He looked to all at hand/It seemed that no man might/His deadly dints withstand. (Norton, 162) Because Gawain must uphold his knightly duties, he alone takes on the Green Knights game and presents himself as the student of humility.