Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- Why is Sir Gawain and the Green Knight set during the Christmas season? What might this time represent?
- Why does the poem wait until the end for the "big reveal" – that is, the fact that Sir Bertilak and the Green Knight are the same person? How would the poem be different if we knew this all along?
- Do you buy the motives the Green Knight gives for Morgan le Fay’s actions? Why or why not?
- What do you think Lady Bertilak’s motives are for agreeing to seduce Gawain?
- Whose interpretation of the green girdle do you agree with – Gawain’s or the rest of the court’s? Why?
- If you could choose an object to represent something important to you, as Gawain does, what would it be and why? How does the meaning of your object compare with the meaning of Gawain’s?