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Gawain and the Image of the Wound

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Paul F. Reichardt
Paul F. Reichardt*
Affiliation:
Drury College Springfield, Missouri
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Abstract

The wounded neck of the hero in the Middle English Gawain and the Green Knight constitutes a subtle yet significant link in the chain of signs that shapes the poem's meaning. As illumined by the long tradition of commentary on the wound as moral emblem, the site of Gawain's nick draws on the Christian doctrine of the Fall, ancient philosophy's idea of the soul's anatomy, and the implications of the literary motif of beheading in order to suggest the nature of the hero's culpability. Gawain's fault, as signified by his wound, involves the disruption of reason's reign in the soul and is associated with the scriptural theme of stiff-necked pride. Paired and contrasted with Gawain's wound are the sacred wounds of Christ, signs of the remedy for the hero's fault and the basis of a parallel between the moral concerns of Gawain and its companion poem Pearl.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 99 , Issue 2 , March 1984 , pp. 154 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1984

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