Commentary on Passus I
Feb. 19th, 2009 12:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gawainandthegreenknightSince we're at the end of Passus I, let's pause a moment and look back at the scene we've just witnessed.
The first character the poet draws in detail for us is Arthur, and what we're told about over and over again is his gentleness and courtesy. The boldness and strength of his knights are stressed, but Arthur is the force that holds the Round Table together: boldness and strength are nothing without courtesy. Courtesy, the basic rule of which is that you treat your fellow-humans well, is one of the few things that stand between civilisation and chaos at this point. (Another is the ability to make and keep promises and bargains, which we'll get plenty of later on.)
So into this charmed circle crashes the Green Knight-- who surely has the best introduction of any character ever! First, the poet calls him "an aghlich mayster" (I think of aghlich as "like ugly but more so"); then he is "half ettayn on erde" [half-giant on earth] and then "man most" [which could mean "mostly human," or "the largest of men."] Then we get a description of what a handsome figure he has! All this, I think, is meant to stun the reader somewhat; it does so rather more effectively than simply saying "He was frightening!" It leaves the reader not knowing what to make of the Green Knight-- the same position, effectively, as the knights of Camelot. Then we get that zinger of a final line, casually dropped in there: "...And overal, enker grene."
So when this figure that's just invaded the poem starts to speak, he doesn't do reverence to the king or bid the Round Table a merry Christmas. He just says "Wher is/ The governour of this gyng?" Once Arthur has greeted him and invited him to dine with the company, he becomes no more gracious: the most significant thing about his speech is that he calls Arthur "thou."
French, German and other languages preserve the distinction between the familiar and the formal ways of addressing someone, but modern English has lost it, so modern English readers have become deaf to its significance. A medieval reader, though, would have been alert to the deliberate slight of the Green Knight calling King Arthur by the familiar "thou", which would ordinarily be used to address friends, family members, lovers-- and social equals and inferiors. The only person who can "thou" a king is another royal, and then only in private: in public a king is always "you." The Green Knight's line "and here is kydde cortaysye, as I haf herd carp" only rubs the insult in. So we are getting more clues as to the Green Knight's nature: this is a knight, but one not bound by courtesy or the code of the Round Table; and therefore a dangerous and unpredictable man. The Green Knight's speech effectively strips Arthur of his royalty, and Arthur falls for it: the courtly king loses his temper and briefly becomes an axe-wielding warrior.
At this point, Gawain enters the story. From the outset the poet establishes that this is a courteous, chivalrous knight, loyal and respectful to his king. His first words to Arthur translate literally as "I beseech you, with reason seen, that this combat might be mine." By invoking sagesse (reason, wisdom), he puts an end to the savagery on display; his modest, courtly address to Arthur places the king back on his throne. Rather than loudly claiming the right to answer the Green Knight's challenge, Gawain gently suggests that since he is the humblest and most expendable of knights, perhaps the king could command him to undergo the test instead? (If it's all right with Guinevere, that is.) Arthur agrees, calling Gawain "thou" as friend, family member and liegeman; and soon the Green Knight and Gawain are calling each other "thou" as equals with just a dash of oh-yeah-bring-it-on.
I regret not always being able, in my translation, to preserve the original text's usages of "thou/thee" and "you/ye". If there's a "thou" in my translation, it's in the original; but where it would alter a verb-form or make things too clunky and archaic, I've substituted "you." I hope I've preserved enough "thou"s to indicate who is being overly famliar with whom.
The first character the poet draws in detail for us is Arthur, and what we're told about over and over again is his gentleness and courtesy. The boldness and strength of his knights are stressed, but Arthur is the force that holds the Round Table together: boldness and strength are nothing without courtesy. Courtesy, the basic rule of which is that you treat your fellow-humans well, is one of the few things that stand between civilisation and chaos at this point. (Another is the ability to make and keep promises and bargains, which we'll get plenty of later on.)
So into this charmed circle crashes the Green Knight-- who surely has the best introduction of any character ever! First, the poet calls him "an aghlich mayster" (I think of aghlich as "like ugly but more so"); then he is "half ettayn on erde" [half-giant on earth] and then "man most" [which could mean "mostly human," or "the largest of men."] Then we get a description of what a handsome figure he has! All this, I think, is meant to stun the reader somewhat; it does so rather more effectively than simply saying "He was frightening!" It leaves the reader not knowing what to make of the Green Knight-- the same position, effectively, as the knights of Camelot. Then we get that zinger of a final line, casually dropped in there: "...And overal, enker grene."
So when this figure that's just invaded the poem starts to speak, he doesn't do reverence to the king or bid the Round Table a merry Christmas. He just says "Wher is/ The governour of this gyng?" Once Arthur has greeted him and invited him to dine with the company, he becomes no more gracious: the most significant thing about his speech is that he calls Arthur "thou."
French, German and other languages preserve the distinction between the familiar and the formal ways of addressing someone, but modern English has lost it, so modern English readers have become deaf to its significance. A medieval reader, though, would have been alert to the deliberate slight of the Green Knight calling King Arthur by the familiar "thou", which would ordinarily be used to address friends, family members, lovers-- and social equals and inferiors. The only person who can "thou" a king is another royal, and then only in private: in public a king is always "you." The Green Knight's line "and here is kydde cortaysye, as I haf herd carp" only rubs the insult in. So we are getting more clues as to the Green Knight's nature: this is a knight, but one not bound by courtesy or the code of the Round Table; and therefore a dangerous and unpredictable man. The Green Knight's speech effectively strips Arthur of his royalty, and Arthur falls for it: the courtly king loses his temper and briefly becomes an axe-wielding warrior.
At this point, Gawain enters the story. From the outset the poet establishes that this is a courteous, chivalrous knight, loyal and respectful to his king. His first words to Arthur translate literally as "I beseech you, with reason seen, that this combat might be mine." By invoking sagesse (reason, wisdom), he puts an end to the savagery on display; his modest, courtly address to Arthur places the king back on his throne. Rather than loudly claiming the right to answer the Green Knight's challenge, Gawain gently suggests that since he is the humblest and most expendable of knights, perhaps the king could command him to undergo the test instead? (If it's all right with Guinevere, that is.) Arthur agrees, calling Gawain "thou" as friend, family member and liegeman; and soon the Green Knight and Gawain are calling each other "thou" as equals with just a dash of oh-yeah-bring-it-on.
I regret not always being able, in my translation, to preserve the original text's usages of "thou/thee" and "you/ye". If there's a "thou" in my translation, it's in the original; but where it would alter a verb-form or make things too clunky and archaic, I've substituted "you." I hope I've preserved enough "thou"s to indicate who is being overly famliar with whom.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 01:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 01:09 am (UTC)Tolkien has characters use the familiar "thou" at times-- Eowyn to Aragorn, for example.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-20 01:27 am (UTC)