The Importance of Being Red: A Symbolic Guide to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is filled with symbolic meanings and motifs, such as the reoccurrence of colors such as red. Attempting to determine the meaning and connections was the color is no easy task. The tale is not easily displayed for any casual reading to pick up on its significance. There are many passages that contain mention of the color red; generally I have found the color to be most associated with Sir Gawain himself. Red can be the color of rage, passion and conflicting emotions. These descriptions aptly apply to Gawain during his quest to meet the Green Knight, whether when Gawain sees the Knight in the beginning of the story, to the seduction of Bercilak's wife.

The first major reference to the color is the most gruesome of the poem, when Gawain chops the head off of the Green Knight the "blood gushed from the body, bright on the green" (429). Red is suddenly spewed forth -perhaps a representation of Gawain's poor heart attempting to burst from his chest in fright. Gawain's color had been marked upon the Green Knight, "bright on the green" (429).

When red is once again of major significance is with Bercilak's wife and her attempted seduction of Gawain. When Gawain first sets his eyes upon the Lady she was "bedecked in bright red" (952) and was the most beautiful woman he had ever encountered. Perhaps Gawain is personally drawn to the color, as she wore that day, or perhaps it is a presage of his approaching shame and cowardice. When the Lady enters his chamber for the last time, she questions Gawain on who his true love is. He answers that he has none and she offers him her ring, "wrought all of gold, / With a splendid stone displayed on the band / That flashed before his eyes like a fiery sun" (1817). The stone is, of course, the color red, a test for Gawain. He refuses the ring and instead offers him her green girdle which she assures him has a special power that won't let him be killed. When she gives him the girdle we see a glimpse of red cloth -a conflict against the green and what Gawain knows to be right. However the promise of emerging from the encounter with the Green Knight, unscathed, is too much for Gawain to pass up. He accepts the belt, promising not to tell Bercilak. Meanwhile, as Bercilak hunts for the feast he chases down a red fox. Foxes are usually represented as being dishonest and deceitful, as Gawain was when he accepted the gift of his host's wife and then did not repay Bercilak for it.

The next day Gawain when he meets with the Green Knight, he receives two "pretend" blows of the axe to Gawain's shoulder, the third cutting a gash into his shoulder "and a little blood lightly leapt to the earth" (2314). The Green Knight drew his red blood because of Gawain's dishonesty towards Bercilak (who is in fact the Green Knight). After the Green Knight lays out Gawain cowardice in front of him, the "blood of his body burned in his face" (2371). Again, shame turns Gawain's face to red.

Red was a dominant theme for Gawain in this story. It represented his shame and embarrassment, but also his passion and perhaps his bravery at the beginning of the story when he first rides out of Camelot with his red-gold banners gleaming. Understanding the significance of the color is important to comprehend, without it a reader might not, for example, realize the meaning behind the red fox as Gawain accepts the green girdle. The color is bright and full of emotion as the authors reveals it to the reader, using subtle meanings to help grasp the importance of Gawain's emotions and choices.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Middle Ages. Ed. David Damrosch. 2^nd ed. Vol. 1A. New York: Addison-Wesley, 2003. 192-248.