Arthur, Ross G.. Medieval Sign Theory and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987.
Medieval Sign Theory and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, by Ross G. Arthur is separated into five main categories; Pure Signification; The Shield of the Truth, The Uses of Sign, Faith and Truth, The Girdle and the Wound, and Gawain as Exemplary Individual. The book is easily read, and does not require previous knowledge besides having read the text itself. Anyone could read this book and gain insight into Gawain’s story. Sign theory is something that I find very interesting, and I know many others do also. Learning about signs and their meanings make the reader feel as if they are solving an exciting mystery, using textual clues.
Throughout the book, Arthur offers examples from many texts that are often in Latin or Medieval English. Arthur always offers the original version, and immediately below a translated version. This is extremely helpful to the beginning scholar, such as myself. At the same time, the Latin or Medieval English scholar will appreciate having the original text on hand. Arthur uses so many examples from other texts though, I sometime felt as if he was straying from the focal point of Gawain.
The first section of the book, entitled Pure Signification: The Shield of Truth deals with the symbolism behind Gawain’s shield. The description of Gawain’s shield is very lengthy, showing the great importance behind it. The pentangle is of utmost importance to the storyline. Arthur states “The pentangle is connected with an idea of endless self-replication in a geometrical as well as an arithmetical fashion…From both an arithmetic and a geometric point of view the pentangle is a figure that keeps coming back to where it started, ‘usque in infinitum’.” This chapter goes on to discuss other infinite symbols, such as the infinite triangle, circle, and line. Nicholas of Cusa states, “By this method, and guided by infinite Truth, we note the difference of expressions used by saintly men and brilliant intellects who gave themselves to the study of figures. St. Anselm, for example, compared Absolute truth to infinite straightness.” Therefore, the pentangle in Sir Gawain’s shield signifies Absolute Truth.
The second section, entitled The Uses of a Sign, discusses the signs throughout Gawain, and some of their possible meanings. Most of them relate to Christian beliefs and have a very complex background. One of the most significant signs in the text is the pentangle. The poet of Gawain offers two arguments for the pentangles meaning. The first is, “It is a sign that Solomon once established as a token of trawp, which it has a right to be, because it is a figure that has five points, and each line overlaps and locks into another, and everywhere it is endless.” Next he states, “Therefore it is suited to this knight and to his bright arms, for, always faithful in five ways and five times in each way, Gawain was known as good and, like refined gold, freed of each villainy and adorned with virtues in the field. Therefore he bore the new pentangle on shield and coat, as a man most true of word.” The poet believes that the pentangle is a sign of Truth, and therefore Gawain is true.
In the following chapter, Faith and Truth, Arthur states, “When Gawain wears the Shield of Faith, he is not doing so simply for its evocative and communicative powers. In addition to declaring that Gawain trusts in the truth and in addition to instructing observers in the nature of truth, the shield labels Gawain as true in a relative sense, that is, faithful. In a proposition about God, either truth or the pentangle may be per se consideratum; but in a proposition concerning Gawain they are restricted in meaning and declare not that truth exists in Gawain but that Gawain exists in truth.” Gawain accepts the pentangle as a sacramental badge; it indicates the spiritual grace he has received for his quest.
In the chapter The Girdle and the Wound, two more symbols are explored. One interesting definition for the girdle is “an appropriate sign for a man’s desire for continued earthly life.” The exact symbolic meaning of the girdle is unclear within the text. Arthur states, “this attempt to make the girdle a sign does not even succeed with Gawain, who is its first intended audience: the girdle cannot be a simple memento for the affair at the Green Chapel, because it is not accepted as a stable sign with such a meaning.” The most obvious meaning is the girdle is a representation of the sin Gawain has committed. The wound is another symbol for the Gawain’s sin. The difference between the two is that the wound will heal while Gawain will always wear the girdle in remembrance.
In conclusion, the final chapter, Gawain as an Exemplary Individual, Arthur says that Gawain shows humankind that we are all sinners since even Gawain was capable of sin. Gawain is another story such as that of Peter, David, or Mary Magdalene. It is to remind us that we are all human and that “Excessive honour for human beings, on the ground that man was created in God’s image, is an indication of a deviation from orthodox distinctions between God and man, especially God and fallen man.” This poem should provoke “the reader to move towards the enjoyment of God for God’s own sake and to the enjoyment of one’s self and one’s neighbor for the sake of God.”
Medieval Sign Theory and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight did not intrigue me as much as I initially thought it would. I felt that Arthur used too many other sources, constantly citing another person and going off on another tangent. There was interesting material in the text, but I felt as though I found out more information from many of the articles, with fewer pages. I expected complex answers to the signs within the text. In the end, Arthur just stated the obvious as his conclusion quite often. The book was interesting, and easily read, but not my favorite text on Sir Gawain.
Cassia Herndon 10/06
