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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dioltach" data-source="post: 8251469" data-attributes="member: 21843">Does he? As far as I recall, the test is all about honour -- and related to that, courage -- not faith. Will Gawain show up to have his head chopped off? That's a big one: whether he has the honour and courage to fulfil his end of the deal, even though no-one would blame him for backing out when he learns that the Green Knight is a supernatural/enchanted being.But the actual test is with Bertilac's wife. For three days, Bertilac goes hunting and Gawain stays in his castle, and they agree to give each other whatever they acquire during the day. So the first day Bertilac gives Gawain what he brings home from the hunt, and Gawain gives Bertilac a kiss (having fended off Lady Bertilac's advances except one kiss). Second day it's the same. The third day, Lady Bertilac gives Gawain a girdle that will make him invulnerable. So where Gawain fails the test is in not giving that girdle to Bertilac. (And the poem ties this in with the founding of the Order of the Garter, I seem to remember -- again, honour, not faith.) It still takes courage to go and meet the Green Knight though. It's one thing to accept a girdle that will supposedly help you survive, it's quite another to actually sit there and wait while a giant swings his axe at you (another quibble: in the write-up, the Green Knight is a medium humanoid, but as far as I recall he's supposed to be larger than man-sized). Gawain passes this test, and the verdict is that he's as honourable and courageous as it's possible for a human to be in the face of the supernatural. It's one of the reasons why Sir Gawain and the Green Knight remains popular: it portrays Gawain as a flawed, more human hero than you usually see in Medieval Romance.(There's a mention of Gawain having a portrait of Mary on the inside of his shield, so there's a case to be made that he draws his courage from his faith in her, but I don't remember anything else that can be described as a test of faith.)Disclaimer: I studied Middle English poetry at length in uni, but that's 25+ years ago. I might be misremembering some of the details.</blockquote>

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