Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late-14th-century novel. The author is unknown, and the title was given decades later, and it is one of the most well-known Arthurian legends. Although not written in the post-modern era, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight utilizes many post-modern literary devices, such as, intertextuality, metafiction, and irony.
SUMMARY OF ELEMENT ONE: INTERTEXTUALITY
KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is filled to the brim with intertextualities, including literary, historical, and biblical references. In this quotation from the end of the poem, “David thereafter/Was beguiled by Bathsheba, and bore much distress…And one and all fell prey/To women they had used;/If I be led astry,/Methinks I may be excused.”(2414–2419, 2422–2428), Gawain likens himself to great biblical figures who were misled by women. However, the instances Gawain provides gradually dissociate from him, weakening his case until it collapses altogether when he compares himself to David.
David saw Bathsheba, a married woman, bathing on top of her roof and had her delivered to his castle, where he slept with her. She conceived a child, and David sent her husband, into combat to be murdered. And as a result, God murdered David's kid as a punishment for his wrongdoing. Given that the men Gawain describes, particularly David, are all partially responsible for their own downfalls, Gawain's effort to shift the guilt for his transgression onto Bertilak's wife is undermined by these biblical figures.
LYRICAL TEXT
In Semantics, Nnamdi uses a lot of intertextuality throughout the song, from his reference to the bible, “Push apart in the light/Like red sea when I'm near," to WWE, “Living like WWE/Get the belt, put it on me”. Both times this is used in the song, he is expressing how he has overcome his life challenges on his own. He is able to push through his problems, similar to how Jesus split the red sea, and his strength to keep pulling through these issues is deserving of a reward like the belt earned in WWE.
He also makes reference to the Grinch to represent how the words of his father have effected him emotionally. The Grinch is known for his 2 times 2 small heart, but by the end of the movie, he was able to heal through the kindness of Whoville. I believe Nnamdi makes this reference because he needs to heal his heart, which has shrunken due to ridicule from his father.
MY TAKE
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, intextuality is used as a comparison between characters to show how they were betrayed similarly. In Semantics, intertextuality is also used as a comparison, as Nnamdi compares himself to Jesus and WWE wrestlers. Both works make biblical illusions, one in order to defend themselves when they broke their morals in the face of struggle and another to show how they have overcome their struggle.
SUMMARY OF ELEMENT TWO: MAGICAL REALISM
MAGICAL GIRDLE
The magical realism in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight plunges reader into the world of magic and the supernatural to encourage them to reflect on their own lives, attitudes, and actions. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight reinforces its themes of chivalry and mortality by the use of metafiction through the green girdle that is gift to Gawain.
When Bertilak’s wife offers Sir Gawain the girdle, it is said, “to protect him in the peril appointed him When he gained the Green Chapel to be given checkmate: It would be a splendid stratagem to escape being slain.”(281-284), Gawain excepts it exemplifying the ultimate betrayal of his own morals in the face of death. Bertilak's wife believes it has the ability to protect its owner from danger, but in the end, we discover that the girdle lacks magical abilities. This is a strong example of magical realism, since Gawain is blinded by his own fear and believes that the fantastical might help him escape reality, but he is eventually forced to face reality again when he confronts the Green Knight.
MAGIC OF 2D
When you watch the music video for Humility, the first thing that stands out is the 2D animations brought to life in our 3D world. This mix between the 2D and 3D worlds is a great example of magical realism. Fantastical imaginary elements are put into a real world setting. This makes the characters of the band starkly stand out compared to if they were animated within their own 2D world. This shows how 2D is trying to escape his own reality by mixing it with ours and having him clearly look out of place.
At the end of the music video, Russel decides it is time to “wake up” 2D from his trance by tripping him while he is skating by. This is a great example of metafiction, as Russel acknowledges that there is something not quite right with this world that 2D is painting a picture of, and that it is best for him to face the truth of reality in the real world. We can see that after this, 2D’s eyes shift back to his normal black eyes after they were white throughout the whole music video. This could symbolize his waking up from this bright world of delusion and accepting the dark reality we live in.
MY TAKE
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight magical realism is used by making Gawain and the reader believe a normal, powerless object could protect him from harm. In Humility magical realism is used to show how inflated 2D ego has gotten and how he believes he can live life without stress or worries, but is hit back into reality once Russell trips him. In both cases, the characters let themselves believe that they do not have to deal with reality and truth, but they are faced with it whether they like it or not.
SUMMARY OF ELEMENT THREE: IRONY
SUIT OF IRONY
The central irony of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is that Bertilak and the Green Knight are one and the same. Gawain does not realize this until the end of the text, "...When you kissed my lovely wife and gave me those kisses./You failed me the third time/And took that blow therefore."(2345 - 2356), that the Green knight was merely testing Gawain to keep his promise. It is ironic, as Gawain believe he was the one fooling Bertilak by taking something from his home when he promised not to, when in reality he was the one being fooled.
Earlier on in my blog, I mentioned examples in both intertextuality and metafiction, which can both be seen as ironic as well. For intertextuality, Gawain compares himself to biblical figures, but lists those that lead to their own downfall, which immediately refutes any message he tries to convey. In the metafiction section, I discuss the green girdle given to Gawain by Bertilak’s wife that is said to protect the wearer from harm, but ironically, it does nothing, and he is still hurt while wearing it.
BLACK KNIGHT OF IRONY
This is reflected within Sure, the Velociraptors are Still on the Loose, but That’s no Reason not to Reopen Jurassic Park when we describes the velociraptors as “intelligent, shifty creatures” that cannot be “contained anytime soon”, making a satire out of the ironic statement. This is a perfect example of his use of intertextuality that he uses through out the essay, making references of different outside medias.
In this next segment, we are met again with his dark humor, but this time he adds a bit of irony to the mix. Again, he describes the EMTs getting brutally mauled by the velociraptors, and proposes a solution of merely painting encouraging words, “Hero Mobile” on the side of their truck. There is irony in the situation because the “heros” are in fact not “mobile” because they were mauled to death.
MY TAKE
The Gawain Poet uses irony in order to further push the over arching theme of morality by the Green Knight testing Gawains honor through offering him the protective girdle through his alias wife, which break the deal between Gawain and the Green Knight. While in Sure, the Velociraptors are Still on the Loose, but That’s no Reason not to Reopen Jurassic Park irony is used throughout the essay in a humorous way to display the absurdity of Ludlows claims and the real life claims of politicians. Although irony is used in to separate way it is ultimately used in both the push the main themes of the two works.
