The Audience, the Pentagle and the Green Sash in Sir...

The Audience, the Pentagle and the Green Sash in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Works Cited Missing Although some early manuscripts of the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight still exist, nothing, beyond speculation, is known about the poet, which is a pity when considering its rich language and imagery. Believed to have been written between 1375 and 1400, and some 2500 lines long, the unknown poet blent a unique mixture of chivalry, the Beheading Game and the temptation of a knight called Sir Gawain into probably the best example of an Arthurian romance. In this essay, the alliterative language and style of this poem will be seen to reflect the period and place that it was written as well as†¦show more content†¦It is not known who the exact recipient or audience of this poem is. However, when looking at à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the forms in which they are preserved (Barron 1985, p 54), the manuscript offers clues about who the Sir Gawain audience was. The fact that such a long poem is written down at all, (Caxtons first printed texts came in the mid 1400s), and that it is illuminated, suggests a wealthy or important recipient. Barron offers tentative suggestions as to who they were: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦country gentry, or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦great noblesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (p 55), while Coleman (1981 p 44) suggests a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦local magnate with a family and manor in south-west Lancashire That the poet intended Sir Gawain for the educated audience of a northern court can be seen from the content of the poem. He wrote for an audience who wel l understood the conventions of court life, as described at Camelot and Bertilaks castle. Latin and French and would also have been familiar, as would the Beheading Game which appears in Part 1 and Part 4. The audience would need reasonable knowledge of the bible, because, apart from the overtly Christian language, the temptation of Sir Gawain is central to the whole poem. Conventions of courtly love are described within the poem, although the poet cleverly reverses the convention, with Bertilaks wife attempting to woo Sir Gawain, (the wooer is usually the knight). Within a