Sir Gawain & the Green Knight - From Poem to Film: Mother, or Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Potentially nothing excites the Medievalist in me more than a new film adaptation of a Medieval poem. I am fascinated by the ways in which we re-invent these tales to suit our own current needs. We can read much from these adaptations about our contemporary struggles with identity, masculinity, femininity, gender in general, power, and so much more. Directed by David Lowery and starring Dev Patel as Gawain, The Green Knight (2021) is a stunning film with great performances and its own, unique, take on the Middle English (ME) poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (SGGK). Composed roughly around 1400, the poem survives in a single manuscript, Cotton Nero MS A x, currently held in the British Library. The below summary is from the British Library website:

Gawain is a story of knightly deeds, sexual enticement and wild landscapes. It tells the story of the young Gawain, who is a knight at the legendary court of King Arthur. The poem opens with a description of a Christmas feast at Camelot, the Arthurian court. During the feast a mysterious knight, with green hair and green skin, riding a green horse, arrives and challenges the assembled crowd to a bizarre game, which sets off a chain of events in which Gawain faces trials and temptations. - British Library

In this series of posts I will address a number of themes that occur in both the poem and film. A full "review" may follow. I would love to know your thoughts on the things I highlight and discuss, so feel free to air your thoughts in the comments! It is by no means my intent to paint the poem as the "original" or the "benchmark" against which the film must be compared. A key aspect of Medieval literature is its variance, by which we Medievalist denote the fact that no two manuscripts of the "same story" actually contain the same story. Each manuscript has variant words, spellings, and even story details. So I will be following in the footsteps of other academics in considering the ME poem and Lowery's film as two variations on a theme.

Note: I will be referring to the film by The Green Knight and to the poem by its academic abbreviation SGGK.

Note 2.0: Inevitably these posts will contain spoilers although I do my best to limit them. Read at your own discretion.

Mother, or Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Gawain's Mother looms large in The Green Knight. While she seems to be an affectionate mother, she also seems more in the know than any other character in the film. Whether it is through knowing glances or in the way that the actress, Sarita Choudhury, carries herself, there is a presence to Mother that exudes power and knowledge. Despite only being named Mother, she is clearly the character Morgan le Fey. A little background on Morgan! In Arthuriana, she is commonly considered Arthur's step-sister and a powerful enchantress. In early lore, however, this familial link to Arthur is not yet present. Rather, she is a mostly benevolent enchantress who aids Arthur occasionally. As the lore develops, however, her role becomes more ambivalent, at times even malevolent. Once she becomes the step-sister of Arthur, through his mother's previous marriage, some lore also sees her as the mother of Yvain, another Knight of the Round Table, or as the mother of Gawain. Key to know is that whether she is shown as a positive or negative character, her magical powers are impressive and untamed. She also stars in the ME SGGK, where she appears all the way at the end. More on that later. 

In the beginning of The Green Knight, Mother/Morgan absents herself from the Christmas Party, but reminds Gawain to make the most of it, to not waste this chance. The way it is presented it almost seems as if, through her own absence, she hopes he can shine more brightly. This is where I want to refer back to the previous post on the faded glory of Arthur's court. As I discussed there, Camelot is not presented as a very inspiring place. No great knights roam its halls and Arthur himself is old and feeble. While he has hopes for Gawain, he seems to be in no position to nurture him into greatness. He even calls Gawain to him and tells of his sadness and not having been present during Gawain's childhood. He has a fondness for him as his sister's son, a relationship that was crucial in much Germanic mythology, but he has not fostered and educated him the way he should have. While he and Gawain converse, we see glimpses of what Mother is up to. Together with three sisters, she performs a magic ritual during which she, while blindfolded, composes a letter, which then burns, suspended in the air. As it burns, the Green Knight appears in at Court, holding the very same letter. The Green Knight makes no mystery of who is the triggering force behind Gawain's adventure.

Let's switch to SGGK. As I mentioned above, Morgan does make an appearance in this poem, but it happens at the very end. In SGGK, the adventure is revealed to indeed be a magical trick by Morgan le Fay, who has been hiding in plain sight as an old lady at Bertilak's castle. Her goal was to test Arthur's knights, but also to put a fright on Guinevere, who she despises in many Arthurian texts. This reveal, however, is almost an afterthought and doesn't, really, undermine the efforts Gawain has made, in my opinion. She has set up a test and he has, mostly, met it. He has also acknowledged his failures and continues to carry those with him in the shape of the green sash. Morgan has no personal squabble with or hopes for Gawain, rather she is a staple of the lore that is tacked on. The Green Knight complicates this, significantly, by having her be present and involved from the very beginning. Her power is not only shown directly, through some absolutely stunning cinematography, may I add, but it has become even more impressive in the absence of any other powerful personages at Court.

Once Gawain has accepted the challenge, The Green Knight shows Mother and her Sisters sowing him a green sash which is meant to keep him safe. While it is Mother that has created this adventure for him, she has in no way softened its dangers. It can very well lead to his death and she does her best to prepare him for it. She is willing to cheat the potentially primal force she has called upon. What really struck me about Choudhury's performance as Mother is that you can see her doubt every time she looks at Gawain. She clearly loves him, but she also sees him as he is: a little lazy, unmotivated, unfocussed. She has high hopes for him but is also aware that he is unable to reach his potential without multiple pushes from her. And so Gawain sets off, in danger but with protection. Things quickly go downhill for Gawain and it is shown repeatedly that he is not as knightly nor as prepared as he should be. One scene during his misadventures on his way to the Green Chapel truly stands out.

While SGGK casually mentions Gawain encountered all kinds of things along his way, The Green Knight actually shows us these encounters. One of them is an encounter with a group of giants. They are stunningly shown and it is one of my favourite scenes in the film. While they look human, they are clearly separate, awe-inspiring. Gawain asks one of them, a female giant, if he could ride along on her shoulder. As she slowly reaches out her hand Gawain seems to realise just how vulnerable he is. As her hand, slowly, comes closer, he flinches and turns away, at which point she herself halts her movement. What we have here is a moment in which Gawain is confronted with greatness and he flinches. I don't think the fact he has this encounter with a female giant is accidental. Rather, I believe she is meant to echo his relationship with his mother. Mother/Morgan is an intimidating character as well and perhaps Gawain is aware to what extent he has been carried by her so far. He shies away from this kind of greatness, too aware of his own lack of it, perhaps. This would also be a great place for a psychoanalytical analysis, since we are unaware of Gawain's father in the film. While I don't want to go into psychoanalysis too deeply, a few things stands out. Mother/Morgan is a mother who brings both life and death, who can give and take away, which links her strongly to the Shadow side of the Mother archetype. She is clearly a greater force than her son and he, perhaps, fears this feminine power. He also fears the female giant, another representation of the feminine mystique. Instead of riding on the giant's shoulder, Gawain ends up following the, on foot. While he remains solidly human, he also doesn't soar. It seems to suggest he is unable to build on what has come before. He is not standing on the shoulders of giants, rather he is running after them.

A final note to make here is about the two other appearances Mother/Morgan makes in The Green Knight. When he reaches Bertilak's castle, where he rests a few days before setting out to meet the Knight, an old lady is present. Similarly to Mother at the beginning, she wears a blindfold over her eyes and is largely ignored by everyone else. At various points she seems to be focusing in on Gawain, once even stroking his cheek. She is also present for a rather dicey moment with Lady Bertilak. Mother is keeping tabs on Gawain. Even if he isn't aware of it, the audience, I would argue, knows enough to notice this. She, again, does not interfere, but she does see. The blindfold, if anything I believe, allows her to see him and what is happening more sharply. We see her one final time, which more actively enters spoiler territory than anything above, so be warned!

Towards the end of the film, we see Gawain flinch repeatedly from the Knight's axe before running away, leaving him behind. When he returns to Camelot he is knighted and eventually becomes king. We see that Essel, the sex worker he kind of had a relationship with, is pregnant and rather than do the honourable thing, he has the child, a son, taken away from her and raised at court. He engages in a political marriage and eventually loses his son at war. With the enemies at his gate, it becomes time for Gawain to face his mistakes. During this sequence, Mother is consistently at his side. But while he has arguable returned "heroic" and is achieving what he should, there is no pride there. She, of course, knows that he has actually failed. While she is the last to leave him, she knows that what he has gained has been gained dishonourably. While this is all revealed to be a vision of Gawain's future, if he does indeed run from the Knight, it still gives us an insight into the powerful role Mother plays in his narrative. As the main powerful force in Gawain's life, she shapes his adventure. Is his final act of removing the sash a way of rebelling against her control? Or is it an awareness that he can no longer ride her coattails and needs to face his own destiny? Lowery doesn't give us any answers on this, but that is what makes The Green Knight so fascinating.

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- From Poem to Film: Arthur's Court and Fading Glory