(Caxton) In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Reynard uses various tricks on the hunters as well. When one trick fails him he tries another such as back tracking, looping and hiding, hoping one will finally fool the hunters. (Borroff, 55) In the end, it is not Lord Bertilak who kills Reynard, as is noble, but rather the hounds rip out his throat, bringing the hunt to an unsporting close. This can be applied to Lady Bertilak who when trying to seduce Sir Gawain, she gives up on physical temptation and tries offering him gifts instead, hoping to appeal to another side of him that may give in. She offers him a priceless golden ring that might appeal to his greed, but Sir Gawain refuses. Then she tries to offer him the green girdle, appealing to his sense of self preservation. This succeeds, and Sir Gawain’s pure character is finally corrupted by Lady Bertilak’s tricks when seduction fails. The fox, nicknamed Reynard after the French trickster and folk hero, is the third animal hunted in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It is established through adjectives used to describe the fox that this particular animal is regarded as “a thief,” “wily,” and “cunning.” (Borroff, 55) One representation of the fox is not mentioned though, the seducer. In the English language, a seductive and often untrustworthy woman is described as ‘foxy’ or a vixen. (Tattoo Designs and Symbols) This interestingly parallels Lady Bertilak, who enters Sir Gawain’s chamber dressed to seduce. “Her fair face and her fair throat freely displayed Her bosom all but bare, and her back as well.” (Borroff 56) While the deer and the boar, noble prey, were being hunted, Lady Bertilak is much less brazen. Sir Gawain also mentions that women seduce men from their noble goals, much like how Reynard kept the hunters occupied all day while they could have hunted nobler and more worthy prey such as deer and boars. In this way, the presence of a fox, the wicked seducer, gives insight into Lady Bertilak, and even Morgan Le Fay’s intentions to sway men through seduction.įoxes are also known throughout literature as tricksters, particularly in the French tales of Reynard the Fox. He joked in class about how no minor character was off limits and jokingly said to the class, "You can even write about the fox.what's his name." I nearly jumped out of my seat and squealed, "Dude!! I'm writting about the fox!!"Īn animal that is hunted, killed and skinned may not seem like the most important thing in a story about a knight and his vow. However, the hunting of animals, how they reacted, how they were killed, the quality of their skins and their symbolism has great importance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. We gain insight into how the human characters think and how they act through the animals. The fox’s presence reinforces the characters’ more devious thoughts and feelings while resonating the themes of seduction, sin and treachery the prose. ![]() We were talking about how it was silly that the Lady (Lord Bertilak's wife) didn't get a name, but the fox did. I got the bunny to write this from my professor actually. Having foxes on the brain *cough*Gin*cough* I wrote about the fox, nicknamed Reynard after the French folk hero, from the Romantic poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. This essay topic was to write about a minor character in one of the pieces studied. A little essay I wrote in my first year of University for my English course called "Epic to Film." In this course we studied forms of narative from The Odyssey to The Dark Knight.
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