The Arthurian tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an intriguing story of chivalry and moral dilemmas. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains many literary devices such as foreshadowing and especially symbolism. The most in-depth form of symbolism is found in the obvious parallels between the two hunts. There are three attempts for each hunt. The lord of the castle hunts three animals: the deer, the boar, and the fox. Likewise, the lady of the castle tempts Sir Gawain three times. The parallels between these scenes exist in the behavior Sir Gawain exhibits. Though the literal animals do not hold any specific meaning, their instinctive behaviors hold the symbolic parallel to Sir Gawain.

The first animal the host hunts is the female deer. The deer is considered a shy and non-confrontational creature. Like many animals the deer takes flight in the occurrence that a confrontation might exist. The behavioral characteristic that Sir Gawain mirrors is the avoidance of a confrontation with the lady of the house. To avoid the confrontation Sir Gawain lay in his bed pretending to be asleep. The line "More seemly it were/ To try her intent by talking a little."(1198) indicates

that Sir Gawain is leery of awakening and having a confrontation with the lady. He does not want to offend the lady by rejecting her, yet he does not wish to be seduced by the lady either. If Sir Gawain allows the lady of the house to seduce him, he will not only break the chivalrous code but also he could possibly offend the lord of the house. Sir Gawain, acting like the deer, decides that it would be better to pretend to be asleep than to face the uncertain motives of the lady of the house.

To display the obvious parallels between Sir Gawain and the animals of the hunts, the author switches back and forth between the scenes and the persons whom are experiencing the scenes. For example, on the day of the third hunt the author begins with the view of the hunter searching for the fox. The scene then switches to the lady of the house and her view of Sir Gawain. The scene then switches back to the hunt in the woods, and the view is now coming from the fox. Once again the scene switches back to the castle and is seen through Sir Gawain's perception. The connection between temptation and the hunt is apparent. The reader can also see the lord and the lady of the house working as a team through this narration of the hunting scenes. In conclusion, the narration of this story is the tool used by the author to display the symbolic connection between Sir Gawain and the animals of the hunt.

There is another trait of the boar in which Sir Gawain is in correlation with. In the medieval era, the boar would be classified as a beast of venery. During this age the beast of venery class is the highest regarded class of hunted

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Approximate Word count = 1102
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)