From the first time I read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I have been troubled by the question of whether Sir Gawain was right or wrong in lying in order to keep the girdle and save his life. He was torn between the preciousness of his own life, and the sanctity of chivalry and its codes. He was forced to ask himself what he valued more: his reputation or his life? Many scholars have struggled with this question for centuries, as well as the questions of how guilty he really felt for his actions, and what the poet is trying to tell the reader through Gawain's ordeal.

There is another side to the question about Sir Gawain's decision to use the green girdle. While honesty should be highly valued, it may be unwise to undervalue life itself. In almost every culture, as well as Sir Gawain's, death is recognized "as a terrifying thing which men and animals alike try to escape by every device in their power, regardless of dignity or duty" (Burrow, "The Third Fit" 37). It may be even more difficult to place an overriding significance on the value of honesty in light of life's alternative. "...images of death permeate the medieval world" (Clein, 55). A modern reader of Sir Gawain

J. A. Burrow dismisses Gawain's self-conviction of covetousness. The commentator argues that Gawain "is not vain or covetous: he does not wear the lady's gift 'for wele' (2037,2432). It seems clear, in retrospect at least, that the ring episode is designed to make the same point--to make sure in advance that the reader does not misunderstand the hero's motives....It clears the ground. Anyone who refuses such a ring is immune from covetousness at least" (Burrow. 42). The problem with this interpretation is that the writer defines covetousness too narrowly, moreso than the author intended. While it might be easy to say that Gawain just went crazy at the end of the poem, this only opens up a whole new set of questions. Why would he want Gawain to be seen in this light when he has been a symbol of the closest a human can get to perfection? Why would the author make the court which has appeared foolish and weak in the right while Gawain was in the wrong?

Benson, Larry. Art and Tradition in "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1965.

Burrow, John. "'Cupiditas' in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

There are a number of advantages to the spiritual life that Wendy Clein explores. One advantage that the spiritual world has over the warrior world is that it is not of an exclusive nature. In a battle to the death, only one warrior can win, while the other warrior must die. Whereas in the spiritual world, salvation is open to all and achievable by all who embrace the Christian way of life, because it is not of an exclusive nature. Rich and poor, as well as the strong and the weak, can achieve the riches of the spiritual world. According to Clein the fourteenth century culture points out to that another benefit of joining the Christian club is that it does not offer one of those measly lifetime memberships. By joining this club, all members automatically receive an eternal warranty on the human soul at no extra cost. A lifetime warranty expires way to early: Moralists turned various occasions into opportunities to reflect on death. John Mirk's sermon for the Feast of the Circumcision moves from considering Christ's mortality to exhorting listeners to think on their own. "... Images of decaying flesh provide the most dramatic examples of earthly transience. The corpse as memento mori appears early in a Christian context, transforming the Egyptian and Roman image from a carpe diem exhortation to an admonishment not to sacrifice eternal happiness for the fleeting pleasures of the body. The image pervades the later Middle Ages" (60-61). In light of this sort of imagery it is understandable how Gawain might have felt the guilt that appears to be extreme to most modern readers of the poem. Gawain's guilt is extreme when he at the end of the poem he discusses why he wears the band, "This band symbolizes the blame I bear on my neck; It signifies the sorrowful loss that I have suffered, Caught by cowardice and covetousness there; It is a token of the untruthfulness that trapped me, And I wear it for as long as I may live; For a man can hide his hurt, but never hurl it away, Since once it is attached, it will never disappear." (The Romance of Arthur, 465). It was believed that the pleasures of the court threaten men by distracting them from the truth that the corpses can now understand. In the culture of the Gawain poet, just as in our modern culture and every culture in between, there was hypocrisy and conveniently timed changes

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