Literary heroes in Middle English romances often go on great quests, which can be both internal and external tests. The heroes often face many obstacles before their final tests. In Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain's external quest to find the Green Chapel is complicated by harsh weather and "met with many mishaps and mortal harms" (725):

Now with serpents he wars, now with savage wolves,
Now with wild men of the woods, that watched from the rocks,
Both with bulls and with bears, and with boars besides,
And giants that came gibbering from the jagged steeps. (720-723)

These obstacles that Gawain faces are not described, which emphasizes the obstacles complicating Gawain's internal quest. The greatest obstacle Gawain faces is a woman, who he will blame for causing his downfall, which results when he fails his internal quest to be a courteous and loyal knight.

Gawain begins his internal quest when Bercilak proposes a game, "'Whatever I win in the woods I will give you ate eve, / And all you have earned you must offer to me...'" (1106-1108). This game will test Gawain's morals by challenging his duty as a courteous knight to do as a lady wishes, even though this violates his loyalty to Bercilak. Gawain is tested for three days as the lady of the house attempts to seduce him, while her husband is in the woods hunting. The lady blatantly states:

'My body is here at hand,
Your each wish to fulfill;
Your servant to command
I am, and shall be still'. (1237-1240)

While it is clear that the lady wishes to give her body to Gawain, he does not accept her, thus she appeals to his courteius knighthood and asks for a mere kiss. Gawain responds, "'Good lady, I grant it at once! / I shall kiss at your command, as becomes a knight, / And more, lest you mislike, so let be, I pray.'" Gawain happily upholds his knightly duty to do as the lady requests, as well as enjoys listening to her constantly praise him. In his A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, J.A. Burrow states, "...the poet makes us aware-though only vaguely as yet-of the moral issues stirring beneath the surface of the dialogue....The knight faces a challenge in the lady's compliments." (83). That night when Bercilak gives Gawain the ribs from the days hunt, Gawain gives Bercilak the kiss that he received from the lady. While it seems that Gawain has past the test, it can be argued that he did not give Bercilak the praise that he received from the lady. Because Gawain does praise the game Bercilak killed, failing to praise Bercilak further may be viewed as a minor mistake, which does not deflect from Gawain's moral character.

In both the first and the second temptation scenes, the lady presents sex as her objective. As in the first scene, Gawain resists sexual temptation the second day and merely kisses the lady. As Burrow states, "Notice that there is no question...of Gawain's being wrong to accept the lady's kisses. They are not in themselves adulterous, and-always providing Gawain pays them over at the exchange-they do not, apparently, involve any breach of faith with his host" (85). That night, Gawain kisses Bercilak, but fails to return the praise that he gained. This ethical shortcut does not concern the poet because he writes:

Thus she tested his temper and tried many a time,
Whatever her true intent, to entice him to sin,
But so fair was his defense that no fault appeared,
Nor evil on either hand, but only bliss they knew. (1149-1153)

Once again, an ethical shortcut allowed Gawain to pass the moral test by being courteous to the lady and remaining loyal to the lord.

The obstacle becomes more difficult in the third seduction scene when the lady changes her strategy. She no longer offers love or sex, instead she offers life with the green girdle, "'If he bore it on his body, belted about, / There is no hand under heaven that could hew him down, / For he could not be killed by any craft on earth.'" Gawain accepts the girdle and promises the lady that he will not tell the Bercilak about the gift. That night when the men exchange gifts, Gawain kisses Bercilak three times, while the girdle hides under his bed. Burrow explains that "...in the third temptation scene, the lady gives up trying to seduce Gawain, she is not conceding defeat in the main battle-which, indeed, after a tactical withdrawal to better ground, she goes on to win. The main point is that Gawain should be faithful" (96). Although Gawain is unaware, he has just failed his moral test of remaining "faithful" to his lord.

Gawain remains oblivious of his failure until after he completes his external quest to reach the Green Chapel. Gawain reaches the chapel where the Green Knight fails to behead Gawain in three attempts. After realizing that the Green Knight is Bercilak, it is possible to infer that he did not touch Gawain with the ax the first two times because Gawain passed the first two moral tests. The Green Knight's third attempt results in a small nick, which is a physical reminder that Gawain failed to be loyal in the third seduction scene. The Green Knight tells Gawain how he is a fallen man because he failed to give the girdle to Bercilak:

'She made trial of a man most faultless by far
Of all that ever walked over the wide earth;
As pearls to white peas, more precious and prized,
So is Gawain, in good faith, to other gay knights.
Yet you lacked, sir, a little in loyalty there,
But the cause was not cunning, nor courtship either,
But that you loved your own life; the less, then, to blame.' (2362-2368)

The Green Knight emphasizes the fact that Gawain failed the test in order to save his life, not to purposefully defy his host. Burrow states, "...the poet devotes a good deal of attention, once Gawain has 'fallen', to ensuring that the reader understands what, morally speaking, he did and why he did it; and he insists, among other things, that his hero was quite unmoved by the costliness and beauty of the girdle" (102-103). Gawain's deception did not result from materialistic selfishness, rather it results from a sincere attempt to save his life. While the poet and the Green Knight justify Gawain's actions, Gawain cannot forgive himself for being unfaithful to his host.

Although Gawain accepts his failure, he does not accept responsibility for his actions. Instead, our hero blames his imperfection and downfall on the lady. Gawain continues by comparing himself with other great men who also suffered at the hands of women:

...And through the wiles of a woman be wooed into sorrow,
For so was Adam by one, when the world began,
And Solomon by many more, and Samson the mighty-
Delilah was his doom, and David thereafter
Was beguiled by Bathsheba, and bore much distress;
..................................................................
For these were proud princes, most prosperous of old,
..................................................................B And one and all fell prey
To women that they had used;
If I be led astray,
Me thinks I may be excused. (2415-2428)

Gawain considers himself the fifth great man to fall because of an evil seductress. As Burrow explains, "...Gawain refers to Solomon and the rest not as famous sinners but as great men beguiled by women..." (147). While Gawain believes this, one must question whether Gawain is actually the fifth fallen man or if it is in fact King Arthur. Since the scheme was constructed by Morgan le Faye in attempt to show the self-delusion of Camelot, perhaps King Arthur is the fifth fallen man. Like Gawain, King Arthur believes that he is a perfect king who rules a court that compares to no other. The people in Camelot celebrate with songs, dance, and story telling, instead of adventuring beyond their society to do noble deeds. When Morgan le Faye reveals Gawain's imperfection, she also proves that King Arthur's court is not a perfect society.

Another question that must be addressed is whether Gawain and those in King Arthur's court are bettered by these events. Gawain proves to be the greatest knight in the court because he is the only knight who volunteers to fight the Green Knight. Gawain leaves the court to fulfill his obligation as a brave and noble knight, while the others remain in the safety of the court telling stories about others' noble deeds. Gawain is bettered by Morgan le Faye's plan because the quest ends his self-delusion. Gawain also realizes that like himself, King Arthur's court is not a perfect society. Gawain explains how his quest failed to the court upon his return:

'This is the sign of sore loss that I have suffered there
For the cowardice and coveting that I cam to there;
This is the badge of false faith that I was found in there,
And I must bear it on my body till I breathe my last.' (2507-2510)

The scar from the Green Knight's ax, as well as wearing the girdle, will remind Gawain of imperfection or reality. While Gawain is bettered by his failure, the court remains oblivious to reality. They are unaware of Gawain's sadness as they

...Agree with gay laughter and gracious intent
That the lords and the ladies belonging to the Table,
Each brother of that band, a baldric should have,
A belt borne oblique, of a bright green,
To be worn with one accord for that worthy's sake. (2514-2518)

When Gawain adopts the girdle in the end, it is apparent that he is the only one who realizes the court's shortcomings. Although Gawain views his internal quest as a failure of his perfection, Gawain successfully completes each quest. He successfully completes his external quest by reaching the Green Chapel and living to complete his internal quest. Then he fails to be a courteous and loyal knight, which reveals that even those in King Arthur's court are human.

http://rodent.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/green.htm

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