Utopia by St. Thomas More, Part 4

This is the fourth and final post in a series on St. Thomas More’s Utopia. 

You can find the first post here.

Second post here.

Third post here. 

 

This brings Utopia to a close with my Goodreads review.

Goodreads Review

 

Ultimately this grew to a rating of three and a half stars but I rounded down.  It grew to that (it could have been lower) because I think I finally understood it, but even now I have some lingering doubts.  Even if I do understand it correctly, I think there is an inherent flaw that prevents me from a higher rating.

First, it was only after I understood Thomas More’s life leading to the writing of Utopia did I find that so much of his prior experiences are developed in the book.  He spent part of his early life living with religious clerics and even at a monastery, and he writes of the Utopians’ religious practices.  He was well educated, especially in the classics, and he writes of the Utopians’ love of education and classical philosophy.  He was a member of parliament, and brings up the Utopians’ civil organization.  He was a sheriff and lawyer, and he brings up the Utopians’ justice and jurisprudence.  He was a legal representative for merchants across international barriers, and he speaks of the Utopians’ trade policies.  He was in midlife at the time of the writing, having married, fathered four children, and lived through the passing of his wife in childbirth, and he writes on the Utopians’ household, marital, and social conventions.  The only aspect of life he describes that he personally did not seem to personally experience was of the Utopians’ military practices.  One assumes, though, that a man at the service of the king and parliament would have picked ideas on warfighting.

The key to understanding the book I think lies in understanding the mouthpiece for all of the Utopian practices.  Despite Thomas More the author creating the character Thomas More in the book, the mouthpiece for the advocacy of Utopian life is the character Raphael Hythloday.  Do Raphael Hythloday’s opinions and values represent the author’s?  Or is Raphael Hythloday just a foil for More the author to knock down and satirize?  The fact that he does not have his stand in be the mouthpiece should tell us something.  Clearly there are passages that could not rationally be supported by More, but then there are passages that might.  The ambiguity is perplexing.

Even the name Raphael Hythloday is ambiguous.  Raphael alludes to the archangel, and so on one hand his name may be suggesting the bringing forth of divine wisdom.  But Hytholday means (I am told) in classical Greek “speaker of nonsense.”  So which is it, wisdom or nonsense? 

I’m not going to get into the details here in a summary review but one over time can only come to the conclusion that Hythloday is at best an eccentric and at worst a kook.  He advocates the Utopian practice of being married naked, and checking the body of one’s spouse as a prospective buyer checks out a horse.  He advocates limiting the size of cities to a specific population, and that you need a passport to travel within the country.  He says the Utopians economy is built on agriculture but yet most of the people don’t actually work, and those that do only work six hours per day.  In what farming community could that possibly be true?  It’s impossible.  It’s nowhere! 

So what are we to make the book?  The book fails for me because it is impossible to distinguish what are serious propositions to improve society and what are “nonsense” ramblings of an eccentric old man, and if all is to be taken as nonsense ramblings, to what end?  “Utopia” means “nowhere.”  So why should we read about this nonexistent and not even possible ideal?  Ultimately then it would be a farce, but the tone of the work doesn’t feel like a farce.  Why should we go through a 134 pages of silly notions?  Is More satirizing the Utopians?  Is he satirizing the exploration writings that was becoming a formal genre in his day?  Or is he satirizing philosophic treatises with kooky old Hythloday as a silly savant?  Ultimately I can’t tell.

But on a second read, I have to admit, I was entertained.  Once I came to the conclusion that Hythloday is just an oddball not to be taken seriously I enjoyed the zaniness of the monologue.  As a philosophic work, Utopia has its issues.  As a tongue-in-cheek farce I found it a worthwhile read which allowed me to raise the rating.

2020 Reads

Completed First Quarter:

“Leaf by Niggle,” a short story by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

“The Turkey,” a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

“The Trouble,” a short story by J. F. Powers.

Magnificat, January 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Theft,” a short story by Katherine Ann Porter. 

Book of Baruch, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

Magnificat, February 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, March 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Completed Second Quarter:

Gospel of John, a book of the New Testament, RSV Translation.

Introduction to the Devout Life, a non-fiction work by St. Frances de Sales.

“The Blue Hotel,” a short story by Stephan Crane.

Magnificat, April 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find, a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

Oronooko or The Royal Slave, a novel by Aphra Behn.

“The Magic Paint,” a short story by Primo Levi.

Magnificat, May 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Lord of the World, a novel by Robert Hugh Benson.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV translation.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV translation.

Magnificat, June 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Completed Third Quarter:

“God Rest You Merry Gentleman,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

Educated, a non-fiction memoir by Tara Westover.

Magnificat, July 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Brideshead Revisted, a novel by Evelyn Waugh.

Utopia, a novella by St. Thomas More.

Magnificat, August 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV Translation.

Last Post, the 4th novel of the Parade’s End Tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

Magnificat, September 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Completed Fourth Quarter:

Catherine of Siena, a biography by Sigrid Undset.

“Hermann the Irascible—A Story of the Great Weep,” a short story by Saki (H.H. Munro).

“The Thistles in Sweden,” a short story by William Maxwell.

Magnificat, October 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, KJV translation.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, RSV translation.

Justification by Faith and Works?: What the Catholic Church Really Teaches, a booklet of theology by Jimmy Akin.

Quas primas, an encyclical by Pope Pius XI.

“Blessed Harry,” a short story by Edith Pearlman.

“Times Square,” a short story by William Baer.

“The Androgynous Papa Hemingway,” a review of Kenneth S. Lynn’s Hemingway by James Tuttleton.

Magnificat, November 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

I Am Going: Reflections on the Last Words of Saints, a non-fiction devotional work by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Marie Borroff.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Simon Armitage.

The City of God Books 1-10, by Augustine of Hippo, translated by William Babcock.

Magnificat, December 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

“Dédé,” a short story by Mavis Gallant.

 

Currently Reading:

Dominican Life: A Commentary on the Rule of St. Augustine, a non-fiction work by Walter Wagner, O.P.

Catholicism: A Journey to the Heart of the Faith, a non-fiction work by Robert Barron.

Prince Caspian, a novel from the Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis.

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I think this was a good year of reading.  Perhaps a little short of the amount from last year, but last year was exceptional.  This year I think I can say was still at or above average.  One thing you will find added to my listing this year are the listing of Magnificat, a monthly devotional that provides the daily Mass readings, lives of saints, and devotional articles.  I read most of it every month.  I have been doing so for years, so this is not additional reading material.  I just never thought about listing it here.  A typical edition runs about 450 pages every month, and I read at least half of it.  That’s quite a bit of reading I never documented.  You can assume that most of the years I have been keeping this blog I have also been reading the monthly Magnificat.

On a comprehensive level, I read twelve books and twenty-four “shorts,” a short being lesser than a book length work.  That’s one book per month and two shorts per month, which is spot on my intended annual goal,  I should also state that three books are still being read and are more than half way through.  When I finish, they’ll wind up being counted into next year’s reading but if you consider them here they pushed my overall reading above my goals.

Of the books completed, five were non-fiction and seven were fiction.  Let’s start with the non-fiction.  Of those, one was a work of theology (Part 1 of St. Augustine’s City of God), one a biography (Sigrid Undset’s Catherine of Siena), one a memoir (Tara Westover’s Educated), and two devotional books (St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life and Kathleen Glavich’s I Am Going: Reflections on the Last Words of Saints). 

My edition of City of God, translated by William Babcock, is physically two books, which I call the first, Part 1 (Books 1-10).  The entire City of God is over a thousand pages, so you can see why I count it as two separate books.  And to complicate matters, what we might call chapters within the work, St. Augustine calls “Books.”  Part 1 deals with the history of Rome, her pagan religion, and Greco-Roman philosophy as it relates to Christianity.  It can be a bit dry reading, but if you have an interest in classical Rome it can be quite fascinating.  It’s a great classic of philosophy and theology and a core part of the Western intellectual tradition.  Part 2 deals with Judaism and Christianity itself, so I can’t wait.

Sigrid Undset’s Catherine of Siena should be familiar to readers here.  It’s my second read of this superb biography.  I don’t think I have actually blog posted on the same book on separate occasions.  This is the first time.  As you know if you go back to my 2013 posts, this was a transformational book for me. Not only did it make me more devout but it led to my devotion to St. Catherine as my patron saint.  I think I have called her the patron saint of this blog.  The book is just as superb on a second read.

If you read reviews of Educated, Tara Westover’s memoir of her upbringing to get an education when her father refused to send her to school (she ultimately went to college and then earned a Ph.D. from Cambridge in United Kingdom), you will see reviews at the two extremes: either you loved it or did not think it great.   I ended up with those that didn’t find it well put together, but it does hold your interest.  She’s a smart young lady but if you check my review here on my blog you’ll see I think she left too many answered questions.

The two devotional books were both great reading.  St. Francis de Sales’ Introduction to the Devout Life is the absolute best work on spiritual direction.  Actually I would consider this a manual for spiritual direction.  In my posts I said I was sorry I had bought this as an eBook.   A physical book should be kept on one’s bedside for frequent review.  Kathrine Glavich’s devotional I Am Going uses famous saint’s dying last words as a starting point for a devotional reflection.  There are about one hundred saints whose last words are identified and, with the background and reflection, amount to a couple of pages for each saint.  That provides a nice bedtime reading where if you read one saint per night, you can finish in just over three months.

It is interesting that the fictional works divide between those written in the 20^th century and those written in pre-modern times.  Though I claim seven fictional works, there are six actual works since I count Sir Gawain and the Green Knight twice because I read two different translations.  Sir Gawin is also not an actual novel but a long narrative poem that reads like a novel.  The three pre-modern works were Sir Gawain (written around 1370), St Sir Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), and Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave (1688).  Sir Gawain in any translation is a joy to read, while Utopia and Oroonoko are a bit more problematic.  Once I understood them I appreciated them more.  Read my blog entries.  You can search them in the search box at the top left of the blog page.

The more contemporary works were Robert Hugh Benson’s dystopian novel, Lord of the World (1907), Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisted (1945), and Ford Madox Ford’s Last Post (1928), the fourth and last novel in Ford’s Parade’s End tetralogy.  Brideshead is a great classic of the 20^th century, and deservedly so, and Lord of the World is an underrated novel which should be considered a classic.  Last Post brought to a close my reading of Parade’s End, and while I think Parade’s End as a whole as a classic of the 20^th century, none of the four novels on their own holds up as a great work.  The tetralogy is really one novel divided into four books.  You need to read all four to appreciate the work. 

Biblical reads were Books of Baruch, Ezekiel, and Daniel for the Old Testament, and Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation for the New Testament.  Ezekiel, Daniel, and Revelation were read twice for the King James and RSV translations.  (Note: I have mentioned my desire to have a complete read through in the KJV for English language appreciation purposes; that’s why I read two translations.)  Baruch is only in Catholic Bibles, so no KJV.  I had already read the Gospel of John before in the KJV; no point in reading it again.  The reading of Revelation in KJV completes the New Testament in KJV.  I am now just left with the prophets after Daniel and I will have accomplished my KJV goal.

Last year I started assessing the short stories in their own blog post, and I will do that again this year.  But I should note the non-fiction shorts I read this year.  There were three: Pope Pius XI’s 1925 encyclical, Quas primas, establishing the Feast of Christ the King, an essay by James Tuttleton titled, “The Androgynous Papa Hemingway,” on the hidden sexuality of Ernest Hemingway, and a booklet by the Catholic Apologist, Jimmy Akin titled, Justification by Faith and Works?: What the Catholic Church Really Teaches, on the Catholic understanding of the difficult theological term “justification.”  All three were worthwhile reads. 

Finally I should mention the three books I’ve not finished.  Bishop Robert Barron’s Catholicism is one of the best contemporary books on understanding the faith.  I’m about 70% completed according to my Kindle.  C.S. Lewis’s Prince Caspian is the fourth book of the Chronicles of Narnia series.  I had pledged to read one book of the series per year with my son.  You have to pull teeth to get my son to read.  We’re 78% done.  Dominican Life by Fr. Walter Wagner, O.P. is a book reflecting on life in the Order of Preachers using the elements of their Rule as a taking off point for discourse.  I’m 62% into the book.

Here is the same reads listed above chronologically now listed by type of work.  Some may find this is easier to read.

Full Length Books: 12

Non-Fiction: 5

Introduction to the Devout Life, a non-fiction work by St. Frances de Sales.

Educated, a non-fiction memoir by Tara Westover.

Catherine of Siena, a biography by Sigrid Undset.

I Am Going: Reflections on the Last Words of Saints, a non-fiction devotional work by Mary Kathleen Glavich, SND.

The City of God Books 1-10, by Augustine of Hippo, translated by William Babcock.

 

Fiction: 7

Oronooko or The Royal Slave, a novel by Aphra Behn.

Lord of the World, a novel by Robert Hugh Benson.

Brideshead Revisted, a novel by Evelyn Waugh.

Utopia, a novella by St. Thomas More.

Last Post, the 4th novel of the Parade’s End Tetralogy by Ford Madox Ford.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Marie Borroff.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long narrative poem by an anonymous author, translated into contemporary English by Simon Armitage.

Bible: 8

Old Testament: 5

Book of Baruch, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV translation.

The Book Of Ezekiel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV translation.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, KJV Translation.

Book of Daniel, a book of the Old Testament, RSV Translation.

 

New Testament: 3

Gospel of John, a book of the New Testament, RSV Translation.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, KJV translation.

The Book of Revelation, a book of the New Testament, RSV translation.

 

Magazines: 12

Magnificat, January 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, February 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, March 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, April 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, May 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, June 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, July 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, August 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, September 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, October 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, November 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

Magnificat, December 2020, a monthly Catholic devotional.

 

Short Works: 23

Non-Fiction: 3

Justification by Faith and Works?: What the Catholic Church Really Teaches, a booklet of theology by Jimmy Akin.

Quas primas, an encyclical by Pope Pius XI.

“The Androgynous Papa Hemingway,” a review of Kenneth S. Lynn’s Hemingway by James Tuttleton.

 

Short Stories: 13

“Leaf by Niggle,” a short story by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

“The Turkey,” a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

“The Trouble,” a short story by J. F. Powers.

“Theft,” a short story by Katherine Ann Porter. 

“The Blue Hotel,” a short story by Stephan Crane.

“A Good Man is Hard to Find, a short story by Flannery O’Connor.

“The Magic Paint,” a short story by Primo Levi.

“God Rest You Merry Gentleman,” a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

“Hermann the Irascible—A Story of the Great Weep,” a short story by Saki (H.H. Munro).

“The Thistles in Sweden,” a short story by William Maxwell.

“Blessed Harry,” a short story by Edith Pearlman.

“Times Square,” a short story by William Baer.

“Dédé,” a short story by Mavis Gallant.

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I have written blog posts on most of these works.  I may never have pointed this out before, but up on the top left corner of the blog is a search feature.  Type the name of the work or the author and the various blog posts will come up. 

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I've posted on the details on the short story read: Part 1 here and Part 2 here. 

Music Tuesday: "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"

While I was researching about the internet on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, I came across this lovely song by Heather Dale based on the tale.  I’ve never heard of Heather Dale nor this song.  I hope you like it too.

Heather Dale, “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

You can read my posts on Sir Gawain here  and here. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Post #2

This is the second and final post on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.  You can read the first here.  

There are two motifs in Sir Gawain that I find captivating.  One is the shaming motif.  At various key points in the narrative, shame is used to challenge Sir Gawain and prod him to action.  If the central theme of the story is knightly courage, shame at failing to live up to that courage is the motivation that keeps Gawain courageous.  The other is feminine motif that contrasts against the more masculine acts of manhood and courage. 

Let me explore the shaming motif first.  When the Green Knight shows up at King Arthur’s feast, he challenges with a particular bravado.

 

But it’s Yuletide—a time of youthfulness, yes?

So at Christmas in this court I lay down a challenge:

if a person here present, within these premises,

is big or bold or red blooded enough

to strike me one stroke and be struck in return,

I shall give him as a gift this gigantic cleaver

and the axe shall be his to handle how he likes. (283-9)

I’m quoting from the Simon Armitage translation, which by the way is excellent.  The Green knight could have just said is there anyone willing to play this game with me?  That would have been more well-mannered, or even courteous, as knights were supposed to behave.  But he comes out like a low brow, street fighter.  “Are you red-blooded enough?  Are you bold?  Do you have what it takes?”  He is framing the challenge to their masculinity.  So when there is some hesitation, he continues by increasing the bravado. 

 

“So here is the House of Arthur,” he scoffed,

“whose virtues reverberate across vast realms.​

Where’s the fortitude and fearlessness you’re so famous for?

And the breathtaking bravery and the big-mouth bragging?

The towering reputation of the Round Table,

skittled and scuppered by a stranger—what a scandal!

You flap and you flinch and I’ve not raised a finger!”

Then he laughed so loud that their leader saw red.

Blood flowed to his fine-featured face and he raged inside.

His men were also hurt—

Those words had pricked their pride.  (309-20)

The Green knight “scoffs” them into embarrassment.  He laughs at the great Knights of the Round Table, whose reputation is apparently just talk.  That shame leads Arthur to rise up and then Gawain to take the challenge for his uncle.  So Gawain agrees to the deal and lops the Green Knight’s head off, only to be shocked that the Green Knight is still alive and speaks through the mouth of the decapitated head.  And before the Green knight goes away, carrying his head, he pins Gawain down to maintain the deal.

“Sir Gawain, be wise enough to keep your word

and faithfully follow me until I’m found

as you vowed in this hall within hearing of these horsemen.​ 

You’re charged with getting to the Green Chapel,

to reap what you’ve sown. You’ll rightfully receive

the justice you are due just as January dawns.

Men know my name as the Green Chapel knight

and even a fool couldn’t fail to find me.

So come, or be called a coward forever.”  (448-56)

Be there or forever be labeled a coward.  It would tarnish a knight’s reputation into eternity if he would be labeled such a coward.  That threat of everlasting shame is the motivating factor that propels Gawain from here on out.  He must meet the Green knight on New Year’s Day.  He cannot compromise on it.

 

What is interesting is that Gawain makes two promises in the story.  One that he will return to the Green knight to receive his blow on the neck, and that he will exchange with Bertilak everything Gawain wins while Bertilak is hunting.  The first promise Gawain keeps, and that is the one that is linked to shame.  The second promise he compromises on.  He give Bertilak the kisses he receives but he doesn’t give him the green girdle, which saves Gawain’s life.  So when Gawain finally finds the chapel of the Green knight, a forest “wildman” tries to persuade Gawain to flee, but Gawain again is pricked by shame of such an action.

 

I’m sure such a secret would be silent in your keep,

But as faithful as you are, if I failed to find him

and lost my mettle in the manner you mentioned,

I’d be christened a coward, and could not be excused. (2128-31)

So when he meets the Green knight and is about to take the blow, Gawain flinches, and the Green knight resorts again to his shaming ethic.

 

“Call yourself good Sir Gawain?” he goaded,

“who faced down every foe in the field of battle

but now flinches with fear at the foretaste of harm.

Never have I known such a namby-pamby knight.

Did I budge or even blink when you aimed the axe,

or carp or quibble in King Arthur’s castle,

or flap when my head went flying to my feet?

But entirely untouched, you are terror struck.

I’ll be found the better fellow, since you were so feeble

and frail.”  (2270-9)

He calls Gawain “such a namby-pamby knight.”  That’s funny.  The Armitage translation really plays the Green knight as a brawler.  Shamed Gawain steadies his head to receive the blow and the Green knight misses.  Then on the third attempt, Gawain is only nicked on the neck.  And with that Gawain learns that the Green knight is Bertilak, and that Gawain is shamed for withholding the green girdle.  Though Gawain had the manly courage to take the Gren knight’s blow, in the end he is shamed for not being honest.

 

“My downfall and undoing; let the devil take it.

Dread of the death blow and cowardly doubts

meant I gave in to greed, and in doing so forgot

the fidelity and kindness which every knight knows.

As I feared, I am found to be flawed and false,

through treachery and untruth I have totally failed,” said

Gawain.

“Such terrible mistakes,

And I shall bear the blame.

But tell me what it takes

to clear my clouded name. (2378-88)

So in the end, his reputation is still on his mind.  While the shame in the end has to do with Gawain’s honesty, it too is linked to courage.  He lied because he didn’t have the courage to take a death blow.  While I think the shame here is mitigated (he had no idea if the girdle would actually protect him) the scar on his neck will remind him and every one that he did chicken out somewhat.

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The second motif that fascinated me was what I’ll call the feminine motif.  Prominent of this motif are the seduction scenes by the unnamed Bertilak’s wife.  But I count three other women in narrative.  At Bertilak’s castle alongside Bertilak’s wife is an old crone who we later find out is Morgan le Fay.  Morgan le Fay is a sorceress, sometimes said to be the sister of King Arthur, and, depending in which tradition of the Arthurian legends you follow, can span from either a good woman—she has been a healer, especially to Arthur—to an evil woman, an enchantress of knights.  Though Morgan is only seen very briefly in the Gawain and the Green Knight narrative, we learn she is at the crux of all the events.  It was at her mischievous will and trickery to conceive and conduct the entire sordid events, the cutting off of the Green knight’s head, the challenge to Gawain, and the possible decapitation of a great Knight of the Round Table.  Why would she do this?  We are told Morgan wanted to frighten to death her object of loathing, Queen Guenevere.  

Which brings us to the third woman, King Arthur’s wife, Queen Guenevere.  What are we to make of Queen Guenevere?  If she can be mortified to the point of death by a decapitation, then she stands as a sort of innocent, a young bride of which the sophisticated old crone intends to despoil.  We see Sir Gawain sitting by the queen the whole time in that opening scene when the Green knight barges into King Arthur’s court.  Is Gawain the protector of innocence?  Medieval stories tended to work in allegory, and so I would conclude Gawain is the chivalrous protector of the purity of the young Queen.  So then these three women range from a young innocent woman, a middle aged seductress, and an aged evil crone.  The old crone is the emitter of evil, sending out devilry out into the world, using the middle aged woman to make Gawain morally succumb to sin, and thereby destroy the purity of the innocent.

But who is the fourth woman?  The Blessed Mother, the Queen of heaven herself.  Throughout the story we hear Gawain’s appeal to the Blessed Virgin.  We are told whenever Gawain was in a terrible fight, what pulled him through was the Blessed Mother.

And fourthly, if that soldier [Gawian] struggled in skirmish

one thought pulled him through above all other things:

the fortitude he found in the five joys

which Mary had conceived in her son, our Savior.

For precisely that reason the princely rider

had the shape of her image inside his shield,

so by catching her eye his courage would not crack.​  (644-50)

And when he is lost forest, he appeals to God and the Blessed Mother.

So in peril and pain Sir Gawain made progress,

crisscrossing the countryside until Christmas

Eve. Then

at that time of tiding,

he prayed to highest heaven.

Let Mother Mary guide him

towards some house or haven. (733-9)

He continues in prayer:

 

He prayed with heavy heart. “Father, hear me,

and Lady Mary, our mother most mild,

let me happen on some house where mass might be heard,

and matins in the morning; meekly I ask,

and here I utter my pater, ave

and creed.”

He rides the path and prays,

dismayed by his misdeeds,

and signs Christ’s cross and says,

“Be near me in my need.”  (753-62)

This appeal to Mary is quite frequent, and in essence the Blessed Virgin becomes the fourth woman in the story.

So we have Gawain being seduced by evil forces but he relies on the Blessed Mother for strength to resist the seduction.  It’s interesting that if Gawain falls for the seduction, then he is in an adulterous affair in the same way Lancelot and Guenevere will be in an adulterous affair later on Arthur’s reign.  As it turns out, it is Gawain who uncovers that adulterous affair.  I’m not sure if the author of this tale is aware of that, but certainly he had to be aware of Lancelot and Guenevere. 

So the feminine motif comprises a full range of female virtue: the purity of the Holy Virgin, the innocence of young Guenevere, which in time will be innocence lost, the devolving into evil of the seductress and adulterous wife, and finally the malicious evil of an envious old crone.

And what are we to make of Gawain under the stress of temptation?  While he does maintain his chastity, could one say he is entirely pure?  Receiving kisses from a woman who is not your wife and in your bedroom seducing you is hardly purity.  The increasing number of kisses suggest an increasing level of succumbing.  If the week had gone on longer than three days, who knows? 

One can see then the author of the tale uses the feminine to permeate evil into the world in order to test the knight’s virtue but he also uses the feminine as an antidote to that evil for him to uphold his virtue.  Through the feminine we have both goodness and malevolence.  Gawain is ultimately tainted with sin, but the level of sin is mitigated in the sense he succumbs to a venial sin rather than a mortal sin.  Perhaps this analogy follows the dramatic conclusion.  His head is not lopped off, which could be seen as a punishment for a mortal sin but his neck is nicked, which is akin to a venial sin. 

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I didn’t point this out earlier, but better late than never.  There are a number of free translations on the internet.  You can find J.R.R. Tolkien’s fine translation here.  

There is a BBC discussion on the poem with Simon Armitage on the panel.  It’s a fine discussion and definitely worth your time.

The BBC does these literary discussions so well.  I have to say though I disagree with Armitage on one thing.  He doesn’t believe that the poem is religious, and I disagree.  I think it’s profoundly religious as I have pointed out with the Blessed Mother as contrast to the women in the poem.  I still think his translation is the best that I sampled.

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My Goodreads Review:

This is a whole hearted five star ranking.  It’s a wonderful poetic classic of Middle English, full of knights, ladies, marvels, decapitations without death, bewitchments, and tests of courage.  Sir Gawain of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table is challenged and in one year’s time will have to face the cutting off of his head.  What saves Gawain is his faith in Christ and the Blessed Mother.  Along the way he is tempted, prays, maintains his virtue, and comes away keeping his head. 

The poetry is exquisite.  A lot does depend on the verse translation into modern English, but the alliterative verse form translates well into modern English.  I really enjoyed the Simon Armitage translation.  He simultaneously makes it sound contemporary while capturing the rhythm of the Middle English.  I also enjoyed the audiobook version of Armitage’s translation read by Bill Wallis.  The combination of reading and listening was a real pleasure.