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Article: Frustrated readers and conventional decapitation in 'Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.'(Critical Essay)
- Article from:
- The Modern Language Review
- Article date:
- October 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Recent criticism of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has emphasized the instability of signs throughout the poem. Is the host Bertilak, or the Green Knight? Is the old woman a guest of the house, or Morgan la Faye? Are the games of exchange Christmas interludes, or tests of character? Is the green lace a magical talisman, or the decoration on an axe, a mark of shame, or a mark of honour? The poem's hero is faced with a dizzying array of ideas, people, and items, each of which require explanation, and the various challenges confronted by Gawain led R. A. Shoaf to say that there is a 'crisis of interpretation' throughout the poem. (1) Even the identity of the poem's hero is ...