Chengcong Zhu
27 July 2014
EN 205
“Animals” Paper In Part 3 of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” the host of the castle and Gawain have a pact. For three days, the host goes out hunting, and at the end of the day he brings his winnings back to Gawain. During these three days Gawain is to sleep late and relax all day, then exchange his earnings of the days with the host. Throughout this section of hunting scenes and bad scenes, there are many parallels that can be discussed. The hunting scene from the first day greatly resembles the talk between Sir Gawain and the host’s wife from that same day, and the hunting scene from the second day matches up with the conversation between Sir Gawain and the lady on that day. Much can be learned about Gawain, the host, and the lady through these three days. The first day of hunting and the first day of Sir Gawain’s meeting with the host’s wife are very similar. During the first day, the host and his men were hunting deer. Deer are not very dangerous, and are hunted because it is considered a fun and enjoyable sport. The host and his men began their hunting expeditions with a simpler task and animal to kill. One way that the first day is related is how a deer is described and thought of as. Since deer aren’t dangerous, there is little possibility that anyone will get hurt or that any harm or bad stuff will occur. It is the same way with Gawain and the lady’s interaction on the first day. The lady had been instructed by her host to go to Gawain every day to test him and to test chivalry. The first day, she was not trying to impose upon him too much, and her talking to him for a while was fairly harmless. When she told Gawain that her body was at his exposal in lines 1230-1240, he had little trouble rejecting it and moving on. Just as the hunters had a pretty simple time slaying the deer in lines 1167-1173,