Topic Research: Gawain

Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Jessie Weston

Because this one is so long, I would want to split it up into 3/4 parts and focus on the key moments of it. There's a lot of failing to meet expectations, anxiety, temptations, and games. I think that Gawain is sort of a flawed hero and towards the end of it he's understanding that more about himself. I find it compelling because he cares about his reputation, but it's really just his own standards that he's trying to live by and then fails to meet his own expectations. I wanted to tell this maybe after he gets back from the mission and is sort of downcast after his failures. He strikes me as someone who would try to save face and would possibly embellish the story a bit to impress others, but would ultimately tell the truth because chivalry and honor. It would be fun to tell this from someone trying to mend that gap in their self esteem. 

The Marriage of Sir Gawain from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child

Okay, honestly I didn't know what some of this was saying, but I tried my best. I keep trying to think of gimmicks for these, but I think this would be another one that would be fun to retell in in its original setting, but with modern language. The whole thing is very fun, keeping with the theme of challenges and games. I like that he lets the "hag" choose which form that she wants. I know that he's a knight of maidens, but it's nice to see him paired with someone, though the circumstances are not typical. I would like to tell this from King Arthur's perspective, possibly. Because of the beginning with the challenge thing at the beginning, I almost would have to or choose a third person narrator. I think that I could also split this one up into all of the parts that I need, but I'm not sure. 

Gawain's Adventure in Search for Owain by Lady Charlotte Guest

I like that there are so many colors included in these stories... The green knight, the yellow man. That's fun. I also am enjoying the magical quest thing. I enjoy the appeal of that for this story a lot.  That could be the theme that I do and just pick parts of each of these to retell. Anyway, I found the match that went on for a very long time to be quite amusing. They really did not know that they knew each other. I like that there's so much dramatic irony in all of these. There's at least one little twist like that in each of the stories I picked out. I think that this is also something to consider...

Gawain and the Green Knight (Wikipedia)