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hey all, i have some questions about the poem "sir gawain and the green knight" please help if you know any clue about the answers :)
1) what kind if narrator is created ion the first 36 lines of part one? and what is the effect of the opening?
2) in what ways is the description of the green knight ambivalent?
thankyou all :)
1) If I remember correctly, SGGK opens with a description of Troy's fall and Aeneas' journey to Italy to found Rome. The point is that the poet is trying to connect England's history with that of Rome's, and through it, right back to the ancient Greeks. So I think the narrator is trying to set his story, SGGK, partially (but not completely) in the line of the illustrious Greco-Roman classics. He's saying, hey the ancient Greeks were my literary forefathers and this poem is going to aspire to be as good as theirs.
Based on that, you might want to look for other epic conventions in the SGGK, or any other allusions to classic heroes.
2) Well, this one is subject to debate. In all the years of scholarship, nobody has firmly concluded exactly what the Green Knight symbolizes. But I think you could start by analyzing his green color. What might it mean? Is he somehow tied to nature? Also, he's described as a frightening individual, but is does that make him necessarily evil? (If you haven't read the whole thing, I don't want to give away the ending.)
Another way to approach this is to compare the Green Knight's description to Gawain's description in his arming scene (when he's putting on his armor). Notice how his dress is in some ways similar to the Green Knight's. Ask yourself why the author would bother to do that and how Gawain is similar to the Green Knight.
Good luck!