Sir Gawain and that Other Weird Knight

Stanza 5 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides one of the most detailed descriptions of Arthur to date. As the title suggests the epic poem focuses on Arthur's cousin, Gawain; however, the first five lines of the fifth stanza provide some of Arthur's important character traits. To this point in the semester our readings have either depicted Arthur as an all great and powerful King or have provided no personality traits whatsoever. These lines stood out to me because finally Arthur is attributed with having two flaws: his youth and flair for grandeur. These lines also foreshadow Arthur’s decision to allow Gawain to be the knight to face the Green Knight. This is evidenced by “his young blood and restless brain kept him busy” (89). Because of his age he is not fully considering the consequences of sending Gawain on this mission. Later in stanza 16 Gawain plainly states that facing the knight is essentially a death sentence, but the naive Arthur does not fully consider this when consenting to Gawain’s request. Despite his folly, I personally appreciate Arthur's faults because for once he seems to be a real figure, rather than a mythological one. This reading, in contrast to the previous ones, has a tone of honesty. The epic possesses the same fantastic qualities of the past texts; however, the speaker’s tone has a note of self mockery which makes it more believable. My favorite line of the epic so far is 239 when the speaker states, “for they'd witnessed a lot of weird things, but never one like this.” The speaker exactly captures exactly my sentiments.