Sir Gawain’s Green Knight is a heroic story about a brave knight who resists temptation. But the story has interesting lines that discuss sexuality. The poem’s positive outlook on homosexuality can be seen from King Arthur’s “ebullience”, (line 86), to the sexually charged transactions with the lord close to the Green Knight’s home. It is important to examine the role of the men and women in this story. This thread can then be taken to its many logical ends.
Sir Gawain (Anglo-Saxon poem) often portrayed women in a Medieval context as being less than men. Guinevere is a social construct of what a man-dominated society should look like. These social constructs were remarked at King Arthur’s Christmas celebration. The Green Knight and Sir Gawain’s women allude to the men who saw them as objects. These views are not the same as those held today. Guinevere’s role in the poem is made clear by her appearance. It is a way for women to feel marginalized in Medieval society, where silence was a norm. Guinevere feels almost alien and otherworldly when her eyes are portrayed as quartz. This description can be compared with King Arthur’s complete one. According to the poem Arthur is described as charming and handsome. Although this would not be surprising, since Arthur is a British mythical hero, it is quite interesting that his description is the only one given in the poem.
The poem’s next major character, the Green Knight, is introduced. “A mountain of man, immeasurably large/a hulk a human from the head to the hips/so tall and thick in the loins of his limbs/I would genuinely judge him a halfgiant” The description of each garment worn by this knight, as well as how beautiful the man is, takes over a whole page. He has only described the knight about a quarter through the whole poem. This description gives the knight a life-size appearance and makes him more appealing as a character. Because he appears to just appear out of the blue, or even green, he becomes the most interesting character of the poem. After some prodding by King Arthur, the Knight presents his challenge and Sir Gawain agrees to accept it. (Lines 354-355). This distinction between Sir Gawain’s superhuman nature as well as Sir Gawain’s heroic, modest knight status sets the stage for the conflict in this story. Gawain cuts off the head of the Green Knight, but it doesn’t seem that fazes him. He then waits for his return blow for nearly a year.
We are given a brief description of the time between Knight’s challenge to Gawain’s departure. Then we are shown Gawain putting on his armor. (Line 579) He talks about his “thick-set legs” (line 579), and how his armor made him “seem fabulous, famous.” (Line 599) Again, this sequence shows a fascination with masculinity and the male body. Gawain’s armor seems to show him as the epitome male virtue and masculinity, in contrast to the nearly monstrously masculine Green Knight. The scarlet shield of Sir Gawain is next. The shield is adorned with a five pointed star. The narrator explains the fifth reason for the star’s five points. “The fifth group of five that I heard knight follow/included friends and fraternity between fellow men/purity und politeness which impressed at every time/and pity which exceeded any pointedness.” (Lines 651-654) While it may seem virtuous, friendship and fraternity are important things. However, to understand the meaning, one needs to look closer. The term “fellow man” may not refer to all men. This is because all the women in this poem seem either completely devoid or subversive.
Gawain must be a pure, noble knight and not allow himself to be influenced by femininity. Instead, he must find solace in the comparatively upright company of men. It’s a strange idea that male sexuality is an enemy. This is what Gawain declares to the Green Knight at the end. Adam fell because a woman/and Solomon due to several, and Samson/Delilah’s downfall was Samson/Delilah’s. (Lines 2416-2426). Gawain here clearly views female sexuality as foreign and hostile to his goals as a knight. Gawain is, however, not the only one with this heroic mentality. Arthur’s knights love to play games with their wives and to kiss them as forfeit. Gawain’s lack of interest in female sexuality is what is used to portray him as a pure knight. It is possible that the knights are exhorting God to love Gawain at this moment, but it is reasonable to assume that this is because of how they speak about Gawain almost in reverent tones.
Gawain has a great time with his friends after the dinner and continues to drink and feast for many days until the Christmas festivities are over. After that, he vows to start looking for the Green Knight. Gawain’s lord interrupts him and says that the Green Knight’s castle is just a few minutes away. Even if Gawain stays only until New Year’s Day though, the Lord would ensure that Gawain gets to the Green Knight’s safe haven. Gawain’s success is celebrated by them playing a game that sounds strangely absurd. Gawain will have to go fishing every day, so the lord is going out hunting. Gawain will remain at the court and will give to the lord any items he finds. Gawain wakes up in the morning and is immediately accosted by his wife, the lord. She tries to seduce her husband. Gawain is however incorruptible and his wife only manages to coax him to share a kiss. It’s here that the story gets really interesting. Gawain must tell the lord the things he got while the lord wasn’t there, according to the rules. Day after day, Gawain is seduced by the beautiful lady, who only receives kisses. Gawain kisses happily the lord, who is already clearly attracted to the princess, day after day. This, coupled with the previously mentioned condemnation towards women as serpents near the ending of the poem, makes it seem that Sir Gawain is quite against female charms, no matter who they may be given to.
Gawain can be read as a gay, closeted knight. Sir Gawain the Green Knight is all about masculinity. Gawain even suggests that he would prefer to kiss a man rather than a women. This complete acceptance of masculinity, as well as the very homoerotic undertones through the majority, seem to be strong arguments for Sir Gawain being gay in King Arthur’s court. It could be that the temptation he had to resist wasn’t quite as strong as he thought.