“For man’s
crimes can be covered but never made clean;
Once sin is
entwined it is attached for all time.” (2510-11)
This quote by Sir Gawain as he woefully displays his green girdle of
shame to Arthur’s court has a lot to say about his view of sin. At first glance, it sounds odd for a
purportedly Christian hero to say.
Doesn’t Gawain model of piety as he is, know that the whole point of
grace is to atone for sin? It seems that
Gawain doubts the power of forgiveness to remove his guilt. However, a consideration of the contemporary
values suggests another explanation for his lament.
During Middle English England, virtue was key to the chivalric code – and
virtue meant total purity, down to the smallest action. That is why Gawain is dismayed at his small
indiscretion in the first place. It is a
flaw in his carefully maintained perfection, the root of his honor. Still, why wouldn’t he recognize the power of
God’s grace to purify him after this mistake?
Of course, one explanation could be simply that Gawain is not truly as
Christian as he seems at first glance.
After all, he sometimes trusts more in magic than in God’s power, as shown
by his choice of shield symbol and his ready acceptance of the magical girdle
to protect him from the knight. However,
I think it also possible that Gawain’s definition of grace and forgiveness is
what causes the discrepancy. Steeped in
the Christendom of his day, Gawain would no doubt recognize the salvific power
of the atonement. That does not mean,
however, that he would understand (or accept for himself) the power of grace to
really cleanse him from the guilt of sin in this life. Perhaps, despite his Christian doctrine that
Jesus had bought his salvation for after death, he still labored under all the
guilt that imperfection inspired for a knight in this life. To me, his view seems a misinterpretation of
the gospel. However, this explanation can
make Gawain’s attitude seem less blatantly heretical and more just ignorant or
struggling.
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