Sir Gawain And The Green Knight Similarities Between The Hunting And The Seductions Scenes‏

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:
Similarities Between the Hunting and the Seductions Scenes
“More than a code of manners in war and love, Chivalry was a moral system, governing the whole of noble life. . . .” . According to Adams, chivalry was a set of behaviors that people (especially knights and gentlewoman) followed; these behaviors were called codes. Some of those conducts included loyaltyto the lord, rules for war, and adoration to a specific lady (Adams, 71).The system of codes described by Adams was in effect during the Middle Ages (1066-1485) and followed by knights, lords, and ladies. Over time, fewer and fewer people followed the code to the letter. By the time chivalry was coming to a close, the “Pearl Poet” wrote Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This is an alliterative poemin which chivalry is tested at every turn. This is best pondered when comparing the three hunting scenes: deer, boar and fox to the three seduction scenes. But how can a hunting be similar to a seduction? Especially when one is about seducing a person and the other is about chasing and killing a wild animal? The similarities are manifested within the characteristics of the animals being huntedin juxtaposition to the seduction scenes in regards to the chivalric code within the romantic genre which is best seen when analyzing the beginning, middle and ending of each scene.
The first of the three seduction/hunting scenes is in regard to the hunt of a deer. This noble beast is considered to be shy, innocent, and weak. As such, the first hunt begins Gawain’s first test of chivalriccharacter as he is attempted to be seduced by Morgana Le Fay, Bercilak de Hautdesert’s wife. A juxtaposition may be seen throughout the two scenes – the hunt of the deer and the seduction in composition with the characteristics of the deer itself. At the beginning of the first hunt, the deer’s shyness is portrated when it tries to escape from the hunters as “they drove does deeper / Into valleys. . .(1159-1160) . Placing the hunt side by side with Gawain’s first seduction by Morgana Le Fay one sees the similarities between the two:
Waiting, hiding his head, wondering
Why she had come, and what she meant
To do. He thought it a strange adventure
Indeed ---- but said to himself, “Better
To ask, and know, than hide in sleep.” (1195-1199)
The does themselves also wondered why the men anddogs were in the forest, their bedroom, as they were “dazed” (1151) by “the cry of the hounds” (1150), while Gawain was in a state of paralysis as he feared he himself was being hunted. In the middle of the seduction/ hunting scenes, the resembles is to the innocence of the animal and Sir Gawain. (According to Morgana La Fey);T he deer’s innocence helps the hunters track and kill the animal’s:Great broad arrows flying at every
Turn, cutting deep in brown hides.
Hah! They screamed, and bled, and high
On slopes they died. . . . (1161-1164)
Regarding Sir Gawain`s innocence, it is illustrated when he pretends to be asleep. He seems so innocent that anyone could hunt him much like a deer. Morgana approaches Gawain’s bed as he pretends innocents to her presence to hunt him or even hissoul: “Your sleep is so innocent that anyone can catch/you--(1209). At the end of the first hunting and seduction, the similarities between the two is actually a test of weakness for both the deer and Sir Gawain. The deer was found to be actually easy to “cut down and killed” (1168) due to its weakness and innocence to man. Sir Gawain is being tested by Morgana Le Fay for his own innate weakness as ahuman being. This is best seen in the following quote where Morgana addresses Gawain in his room:
And here you are, and we’re alone,
My lord and his men away in the woods,
All men asleep, and my maids too,
Your door shut, and locked with a bolt
----And having in my house a man so loved
I refuse to waste my chance, for as long
As it lasts. (1230-1235)
The hunting of the deer...