Shakespeare

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Throughout this poem, the theme of love is portrayed through the use of powerful adoring terms to describe the feelings the male protagonist has for ‘the woman’; this is conventional of a 14th century poem as poetry was performed due to the fact many people could not read or write, allowing the audience a real insight into the feelings of the narrator. ‘A passionate heat takes hold of his heart.’, the sense of urgency reflected through the strong overpowering imagery seen through the use of ‘takes hold’ conveys that the feelings experienced by the protagonist were almost immediate, perhaps relating to the cliché of ‘love at first sight, and the theme of courtly love. Additionally, the alliterative h’s in ‘heat takes hold of his heart’ could possibly emphasise the immediacy of the emotions, illustrated through the way the h’s seem to roll of the readers tongue; this could also foreshadow that the emotions were going to continue. On the other hand, the ‘heat’ could be symbolic of pain, this is demonstrated through the idea that the love is forbidden as the woman is already ‘tied’, implying that this love would be improper and against a Knight’s code. However, the Knight recognises that this encounter is forbidden and so attempts to ‘avoid uncouthness, /cautious that his conduct might be classed as sinful’. The enjambment across two lines could convey a fall to reality, as he realises just how ‘sinful’ this action, if undertaken would be. Additionally, the repetitive alliteration of the c’s in ‘caution’, ‘conduct’ and ‘classed’ comes across as harsh when spoken, perhaps highlighting the catastrophic results the sexual encounter would cause.