|
|
Gawain
Sir Gawain, son of king Lot and Morgause (Arthur’s sister). His brothers were Agravain, Gaheris, and Gareth. The traitor Mordred was his half-brother, being the adulterous offspring of Morgause and prince Arthur. Lot was king of Orkney. Gawain was the second of the fifty knights created by king Arthur; Tor was the first, and was dubbed the same day.
When the adulterous passion of sir Launcelot for queen Guenever came to the knowledge of the king, sir Gawain insisted that the king’s honour should be upheld.
Accordingly, king Arthur went in battle array to Benwicke (Brittany), the “realm of sir Launcelot,” and proclaimed war. Here sir Gawain fell, according to the prophecy of Merlin, “With this sword shall Launcelot slay the man that in this world he loved best” (pt. i. 44). In this same battle the king was told that his bastard son Mordred had usurped his throne, so he hastened back with all speed, and in the great battle of the West received his mortal wound. Le Morte d'Arthur By Sir Thomas Malory.
Of Arthurian knights, Gawain is called the
“Courteous,” sir Kay the “Rude and
Boastful,” Mordred the “Treacherous,” Launcelot
the “Chivalrous,” Galahad the “Chaste,”
Mark the “Dastard,” sir Palomides the
“Saracen” i.e. unbaptized, etc.
"Upon the more personal incidents connected with Arthur, Geoffrey openly professes to keep silence, possibly regarding them as not falling within the province of his history, but we are told shortly how Mordred took advantage of Arthur's absence on the Continent to seize the throne, marry Guanhamara (Guinevere), and ally himself with the Saxons, only to be defeated at that fatal battle called by Geoffrey "Cambula", in which Mordred, Arthur, and Walgan--the "Sir Gawain" of Malory and the Gwalchmei of the earlier legends--all met their dooms." Celtic Myth and Legend Poetry and Romance by Charles Squire
"Such an adventure befalls Gawain on his way to the Grail Castle.[1] He is overtaken by a terrible storm, and coming to a Chapel, standing at a crossways in the middle of a forest, enters for shelter. The altar is bare, with no cloth, or covering, nothing is thereon but a great golden candlestick with a tall taper burning within it. Behind the altar is a window, and as Gawain looks a Hand, black and hideous, comes through the window, and extinguishes the taper, while a voice makes lamentation loud and dire, beneath which the very building rocks. Gawain's horse shies for terror, and the knight, making the sign of the Cross, rides out of the Chapel, to find the storm abated, and the great wind fallen. Thereafter the night was calm and clear." From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston. The Perilous Chapel
"Yet, withal, he makes no boast; on the other hand, he says that he fully expects the stranger knight will have all the advantage with the lance; but it may be that with the sword he will not be his superior (for with the sword Gawain had no master). Now it is Gawain's desire to measure his strength on the morrow with this strange knight who changes every day his arms, as well as his horse and harness. His moultings will soon be numerous if he continues thus each day, as is his custom, to discard his old and assume new plumage. Thus, when he thought of the sword and the lance respectively. Gawain disparaged and esteemed highly the prowess of his foe. The next day he sees Cliges come back whiter than the fleur-delis, his shield grasped tight by the inside straps and seated on his white Arab steed, as he had planned the night before. Gawain, brave and illustrious, seeks no repose on the battleground, but spurs and rides forward, endeavouring as best he may to win honour in the fray, if he can find an opponent." Cliges by Chretien DeTroyes. Part III: Verse 4575 - Verse 6784
"‘I sware a vow before them all, that I,
Because I had not seen the Grail, would ride
A twelvemonth and a day in quest of it,
Until I found and saw it, as the nun
My sister saw it; and Galahad sware the vow,
And good Sir Bors, our Lancelot’s cousin, sware,
And Lancelot sware, and many among the knights,
And Gawain sware, and louder than the rest.’"
Idylls of
the King by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The
Holy Grail
