In Part IV of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, landscape plays an important role when Gawain travels with his companion to the Green Chapel. The passage I’m interested in starts in stanza 4 at line 2077. We know we’re in winter thanks to phrases like “wintry season” (2085) and “snow all before the eyes” (2088). Winter usually signifies things like rest or death, which already feels ominous. Specific words and phrases within the passage about the landscape and the weather push this feeling even further.
The weather contributes to a sense of mystery: “Mist swarmed over the moors, then merged with the mountains” (2080). The mist is covering areas of the land, concealing them and blurring the lines between moors and mountains. Nothing is clearly defined, much like the Green Knight, who is still a question mark to Gawain and anyone who doesn't know what is coming next. The alliteration of the “m” sound in this line is rhythmic and spell-bounding. It pulls the reader further into the story and further into whatever may be lurking in this landscape.
Of course, we later come to find that the Green Knight is not exactly who or what we imagine him to be, which makes the threatening and omnious feelings evoked by this landscape a bit ironic. However, since the landscape is so hazy and mysterious, the landscape still foreshadows in this moment that maybe, just maybe, things aren't what they seem.
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