The Beheading Game
GAME I
When Arthur’s court opens in perfect harmony, those familiar with the literary conventions will be expecting the introduction of some note of chaos, for feasts were the acknowledged setting for such upheaval. It comes in the form of the Green Knight’s challenge to a ‘Christmas game’, where he offers an axe to any of Arthur’s knights to deal him one blow. When the Green Knight picks up his head and insists that Gawain should return in a year and a day to receive a similar blow it raises unease and anxiety, for the mortal knights of Arthur’s court do not have the magic powers of this giant. A death-challenge is issued and what might appear as a conventional romance motif (the Beheading Game) ensues.
GAME 2
When Gawain dutifully arrives at the Green Chapel there is much dramatic suspense. The Green Knight deals his two mock blows, causing Gawain with cold fury to cry ‘Are you heartless or fearful?’ before his neck is grazed by the third blow. Only after the ritualistic game is performed are we, and Gawain, told that it is not a straightforward game that has been played. The Beheading Game is the judgement and penance for Gawain based on his behaviour during his real quest, in the Exchange of Winnings game that took place in Hautdesert.
The Beheading Game has been in earnest. Gawain feels ashamed at his failure to uphold the ideal of knighthood. This shame, however, we are told by the Green Knight is not necessary as he has paid his penance in the Beheading Game. Arthur also insists that Gawain is the most noble of all his knights. Gawain blames himself for coveting the girdle, but also attacks the deceptiveness of women and the unfair nature of the quest. He has failed to keep his ‘trouthe’ to his host, but he fails only in attempting to preserve his own life. A graze on his neck is all that he suffers even though it is a beheading that Morgan La Fay has planned. Why Gawain wears his badge of shame, therefore, has provoked diverse responses among modern readers.
BADGE OF HONOUR/SHAME
Many critics have remarked that the response of Arthur’s court to Gawain at the end reveals immaturity, when they laugh at his trial and agree to wear a green sash as a common badge of honour rather than viewing it with the shame that Gawain feels.
It is also possible to read their responses as a mark of their maturity, above and beyond Gawain’s. Like Arthur, they see Gawain’s reaction of shame as excessive; Gawain judges himself against the impossible virtues of perfection, against the interconnectedness of the pentangle.
Arthur’s court, on the other hand, are quite prepared to recognise and mark as their common identity their knowledge of their imperfect ability to achieve the absolute ideal of knighthood. They can acknowledge their earthly imperfection in contrast to the perfection of the Christian ideals that act as their guide.
