"First he was judged perfect in his five senses,
And next his five fingers never lost their dexterity;
And all his earthly faith was in the five wounds
That Christ suffered on the cross, as the creed declares.
And wherever this man found himself in battle
His fixed thought was that, above all other things,
All his fortitude should come from the five joys
That the mild Queen of Heaven found in her child.
[...]
The fifth group of five that the man respected, I hear,
Was generosity and love of fellow-men above all;
His purity and courtesy were never lacking,
And surpassing the others, compassion: these noble five
Were more deeply implanted in that man than any other.
Now truly, all these five groups were embodied in that knight,
Each one linked to the others in an endless design,
Based upon five points that was never unfinished,
Not uniting in one line or separating, either;
Without ending anywhere at any point that I find,
No matter where the line began or ran to an end.
Therefore, the knot was fashioned on his bright shield
Royally with red gold upon red gules,
That is called the true pentangle by learned people who know." (640-664)

Sir Gawain has just made what might be considered a rather foolish bargain: he's agreed to play a game with the Green Knight that involves each of them taking a swipe at the other's neck with a sharp axe. Lucky Gawain got to go first, right? Well, maybe not.

After Gawain lops off the Green Knight's head, that fellow casually picks it up and rides out of Arthur's court. D'oh. It seems the Green Knight has some magical powers, and Gawain is in for major trouble now.

Ugh, we hate it when people can have their heads lopped off and seek retribution. Actually, never mind—it's pretty entertaining.

This excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight occurs right before Gawain sets out to find the Green Chapel, where the rascally Jolly Green Giant of the Middle Ages lives. While Gawain is arming himself, the narrator gives us a glimpse into Gawain's superior knightly traits and the equipment he carries.

Oh Gawain, you're such a grand guy.

Give That Boy a Gold Star... or Pentangle

What's the deal with all these fives here? Let's skip down to the very bottom of the passage in order to answer that question. Did you catch the reference to the "pentangle," that old five-pointed star symbol?

Gawain uses it as his own personal chivalric symbol. It's supposed to sum him up as a knight. And we don't have to do much work to figure out what that means, because the poet walks us through the symbolism. (Thanks, Gawain Poet.)

Here's what we're told the Gawain's pentangle represents:

• His five senses are super-keen—he's got awesome sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
• Gawain gets an A+ in dexterity from his teachers.
• This knight shows his piety by placing his faith in Jesus, who's represented by his five wounds of the crucifixion: two in the wrists, two in the ankles, and one in the side.
• Gawain meditates on the five joys that Mary has in her son: the Annunciation (Jesus's birth was announced to her by an angel); the Nativity (the famous birth scene in the stable); the Resurrection (Christianity teaches that Christ will return at the end of time to judge people); the Ascension (the belief that Jesus's body was taken up to heaven); and the Assumption (some Christian sects teach that Mary, alive in her body, was taken up to heaven when she reached the end of her life).
• The dude embodies the five key characteristics of an ideal knight: generosity, charity ("love of fellow-man"), purity, courtesy and compassion. Win, win, win, win, and win.

So, this all seems really straightforward, right? Hold the phone. While the five fives are fairly clear, the way they interact may not be quite so obvious. Since each of these groups of five are represented by one point of the pentangle, the poet suggests that all of these traits are interrelated:

Each one linked to the others in an endless design, / Based upon five points that was never unfinished.

Each point supports and leads to the other, got it?

Gawain's pentangle, then, suggests that the best of knights will always excel in each of these areas. But the connectedness of these five fives has a real downside. If Gawain fails in any of the areas, the entire "knot" can unravel, making him a less-than-perfect knight.

The non-idealistic knight is something that medieval romance, as a genre, is keenly interested in exploring. Can you think of other works that explore how knights fail to uphold these virtues? Is it true that when one of these virtues falls, the others soon topple?

Not The Weakest Link

This focus on how all of Gawain's chivalric virtues are neatly linked together also tells us something about the text's structure. As the Gawain Poet says, "Each one linked to the others in an endless design, / Based upon five points that was never unfinished."

See, not only are all of Gawain's knightly qualities intertwined, but the story is structured to parallel the tidy linkage of the pentangle's five principles. Allow us to flesh it all out for you.

Consider, for a moment, how the tale's three main plots are linked together. Although Gawain doesn't realize it until the very end, the beheading game, exchange of winnings, and chastity tests are all part of the greater game Morgan le Fay is playing with Arthur's court. When things go awry in the chastity test—and Gawain takes the dreaded girdle—he violates the other two games and their rules as well.

All three games fit together, just like the principles of the pentangle.