Fit 4

1.The journey from lefe to death and back again is seen in Gawain's journey to the castle. If you apply the Christian concept of death and going on to the promised reward with God, you can see how the castle and Gawain's time there would seem like he had died and gone to heaven. The way that the castle appears as a kind of oasis out of the miserable decay of human society makes it seem as though Gawain has crossed over some kind of line between worlds ("in the midst of the woods, he saw a moated castle" ln. 763). This is also reinforced by the fact that the only place where people know about the Green Knight is at the castle. The journey back to life, miserable as it may be, is seen after Gawain's failure in the contest with the Green Knight. He returns to the real world where he isn't as happy as he was in the castle with the lady and Bertilak. The people at Camelot can't understand how he has failed and learned because they weren't there when it happened. The author uses this to suggest that the only ones who can at least partially understand out struggles and failures are the ones who we meet in death.

2. Gawain is reborn physically as he escapes death at the hand of the Green Knight, as well as returning to Camelot. He is reborn spiritually after his failure to have faith in God. The author uses the physical rebirth to parallel the spiritual one as well as comment on it. The way he learns from his failure against the Green Knight is commented on by the way the people of Camelot seem to put it off. I think the author is suggesting that everyone gets so absorbed in their own life and entertainment that they don't take the time to understand the way others are learning and growing from their experiences.

3. If you look at the tone of the story as humerous, then you will probably come to the conclusion that the point of view taken by the end of the story is that of someone in Camelot. The people at Camelot are very fun-loving and youthful in spirit ("all in their Brotherhood should wear a baldric...be honored evermore" ln. 2516). It would make sense that it would be someone out of Camelot telling the story because of the way the tone makes Gawain's quest seem more like a game, something that can be failed and still laughed about.

4.I believe Gawain is ruined as a knight because he doesn't seem to be able to let go of his failure and this way of thinking will only bring himself down. He seems to want to cast his own blame off on other people ("Adam in Paradise...Bathsheba" ln. 2416) as well as raise himself up on a pedestal as being very faithful. He has lost everything in this one moment, so he has no real reason to continue trying to be perfect. There is no longer the motivation to be the most perfect knight to drive him to be a good one, so he will probably wind up becoming the opposite of what he has been striving to be for all these years.

5. I think the one in control of the events in this story is the old crone. You can see in the passage where we first meet her how she seems to have the controlling aspect over the lady ("led her by the left hand" ln. 947). It is even admitted by Bertilak at the end of the book that Morgana was the one who told him to go to Camelot and challenge the knights to a contest. It is suggested by the author that Bertilak goes along with this because he just wants to be involved in the fun. It seems like the Green Knight would fit in better in Camelot than Gawian because of his love of fun as well as his nobility and skill in battle.