UNDERSTANDING

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Robert A. Albano

MERCURYE PRESS

Los Angeles

UNDERSTANDING

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Robert A. Albano

First Printing: December 2016

All Rights Reserved © 2016 by Robert A. Albano

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.

MERCURYE PRESS

Los Angeles

TABLE OF CONTENTS

7       Introductory Comments

11       The Language and Date of the Romance

15       The Prologue: England and Troy

18       The Challenge of the Green Knight

22       The Beheading Game Motif

24 Beheading in Another Gawain Romance

25 Two Other Gawain Romances

29       The Arming of the Hero: Oral Formula

33       Christian Elements in the Romance

39       Pagan Elements in the Romance

44       The Lack of Digressions

46       Hunting and Seduction: The Structure of Part III

52       The Role of King Arthur

55       A Handbook for Seduction

58       The Theme of Fidelity