Morgan the Crone

I was happy to read in Heng's article that so many have been puzzled by Morgan le Fey's sudden and unexpected responsibility for the action of the romance of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It is certainly a tricky interpretive mystery, one that leads to a lot of interesting questions about her intentions and her success that are, to allude to Heng's title, knotty.

One knot in particular that interests me, however, is that of Morgan's evident old age. When she is described, ever so briefly, her main characteristic is that of her great age, especially in contrast with the youthful and beautiful Lady. Since Arthurian legend tells us that Morgan is Arthur's half sister, and that he, in this poem, is barely out of his youth, her apparent age is something of a mystery.

It could be that her age is a disguise, meant to conceal her presence in the castle and her control over the plot. After all, Sir Gawain shows himself to be more likely to pay attention to the young ladies than his venerable elders. The lack of unveiling of that aspect of the disguise would seem to weaken this theory, however, especially given the "reveals" that occur in this tale and that of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell.

Another theory is that she is meant to contrast to Gawain's patron, the Virgin Mary, who is often depicted as youthful and maidenly, and Guenevere the young queen. Morgan could be meant to be the wicked old witch preying on young ladies, in the same way that the stepmother in Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnell preyed on her youthful stepdaughter.

Whether either of these, or some unknown third option, was the intent of the author is obviously impossible to know, but in any case, her age lends yet another layer of mysterious on top of the already enigmatic Morgan.

Sir Gawain the Other

I found the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to be a curious triumph for Sir Gawain. Gawain seems to display noble behavior throughout the poem, he steps up and somewhat courageously takes the Green Knight’s challenge, he keeps his promise and seeks out the Green Knight a year later, and he honors his deal with Lord Bertilak until the green girdle is introduced.

To me the green girdle is a humanizing moment where he follows human instinct instead of perfect knightly behavior. It seems as though fear was always in the background (who wouldn’t be at least a bit afraid of a beheading Green Knight?), however it wasn’t the authority directing Gawain’s decisions—he was pursuing the Green Knight regardless. It seems in the moment he decides to take the green girdle he went from being idyllic—a sort of other—to human. And perhaps this complexity is one of the brilliant achievements of this poem, Gawain who is a type of other becomes one of us.

In the end, although Gawain’s life is spared, we aren’t presented with a traditional triumph or tragedy. There is no fight, no blood, no struggle. Again, this pulls Gawain closer to human than was the dragon slaying Beowulf, perhaps. It’s almost ironic that it all ends in Gawain realizing that he was acting on human instinct, not living up to the reputation of Arthur’s knights. These ironic strands of Gawain’s shame are teased even further when the court laughs and all decide to wear a green sash in honor of his adventure. Perhaps this is the poet revealing his suspicion of ideal Knightly behavior.