In the world of Camelot, as presented in the tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the knights are upholders of Christian virtues and social courtesy. The knights must always be on their guard against evil—and due to the unique Christian concept of original sin, evil comes primarily from within. Thus, a godly knight must constantly watch his own actions and intentions. This moral stance creates a rigid mindset that is never accepting of oneself or others in their full, however sordid, humanity. Sir Gawain, the most virtuous and mannerly of the knights, is always on the defensive and hides his fear and desire at all times as well as ignores the presence of fear and desire within others—for to do either would be both impolite and sinful.
The Green Knight serves as Sir Gawain’s personal inquisitor, putting Sir Gawain through a psychic test that reveals just how greatly Sir Gawain conforms to the religious and mannerly ideals of his society. Sir Gawain fares quite well in this trial, such that he is proven nearly flawless; however a “flaw” is revealed when he displays the desire to live when confronted with the prospect of death. For this quite understandable sin, he is mocked by the Green Knight with a knick upon his neck and sent back home to Camelot with his tail--or, in this case, girdle--between his legs. If this tale is read with the perspective that it is in agreement with the religious and social ideals of Camelot, than it would seem that it’s moralizing message is that one must be perfect in order to be without shame. Perfect, in this sense, meaning that one never displays fear or desire. What this would reveal about the Arthurian Christian mentality is that “God” is seen as an essentially inhuman God and that he expects his followers to repudiate their own humanity—or else they will be punished. However, the lesson here is less anal than that—the Green Knight in this tale serves not as an avenging angel of the lord, but rather as a wise trickster playing a prank on the snobs at Camelot.
Sir Gawain’s defense is impeccable—there is noone who can obtain a response from him that reveals his own mortality. Just as he wears his armor and bears a shield proclaiming his faith in order to ward off harm, so he uses words to mask himself from “evil” intentions. The Green Knight’s wife tries with all her art to seduce Sir Gawain, but by adhering to his strict rules of courtesy, he is able to successfully pretend that he never really notices what her intent is. The narrator is certainly mocking the social courtesies which force the Green Knight’s wife and Sir Gawain to circle around the issue of sex without ever talking directly about it; the Green Knight’s wife is trying to make him sleep with her without saying so and Sir Gawain is trying to refuse without saying so. If they were both honest about it, the whole matter would have been settled in a matter of minutes—but then, Sir Gawain wouldn’t have been able to get those kisses—and it would have forced Sir Gawain into the position of being impolite. The Green Knight’s wife is also setting Sir Gawain up for self-mockery as well, for she is simply playing his own game and pretending to be a seductress, which is perhaps one of the greatest of an anal Christian’s social fears and secret desires (just listen to any modern day member of the modern day Christian Coalition going off about “evil women”).
The Green Knight is able to penetrate Sir Gawain’s inner reality by putting him in a position where he can no longer defend himself. He does this through the beheading contest, which takes place at the beginning of the tale. According to the rules, one man allows the other to take a swing at his head, and if that man survives, than he gets to return the blow to other guy. A pretty ridiculous game, which suits very well for the Green Knight’s purposes. Sir Gawain is bound by “honor” to uphold his end of the bargain after he chops off the Green Knight’s head and discovers that the Green Knight has supernatural power and has not died. Thus, Sir Gawain is put in the position of inevitable death. There is no avoiding his situation, and thus, there is no defense. This places Sir Gawain in a position unlike any other he’s been in before.
When Sir Gawain sees the chance to avoid his death through the girdle offered by the Green Knight’s wife, he takes it. And he further ravages his honor by not giving it to her husband as agreed in the bargain that they made, where they had to share all that each other had obtained in a day. Sir Gawain is finally compromising his ideals, in order to live. He at last displays a human quality.
The Green Knight thus forces Sir Gawain into acknowledging his own humanity. He is only able to do this by placing Sir Gawain in a position where he cannot pretend any longer. The Green Knight lays open Sir Gawain’s vulnerability and Sir Gawain ends up getting quite angry and impolite in his embarrassment, for he knows that he’s got nothing to hide behind any longer. The Green Knight has successfully made a laughingstock of Camelot’s moral and mannerly ideals by demonstrating just how far Sir Gawain would go before compromising them. If Sir Gawain had not accepted the green girdle, and had gone forward to meet his fate with full acceptance in his heart, than he would have been a saint--he would have been as spiritually pure as Jesus Christ himself. And this is indeed the ultimate lesson behind the Green Knight’s game—that no man can ever achieve, nor be expected to achieve, the heights of self-abnegation to which Christ aspired, and that this is not a sin—this is what it means to “be human.”