Sir Gawain And The Green Knight By Burton Raffel

There are times in life when one must tell a little white lie, but there are other times that one may take their lie too far. In Burton Raffel’s translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Sir Gawain selfishly deceives the Round Table so that he may achieve his own ambitions. Gawain tries to show the Round Table that he is more courageous, capable, and chivalrous than he really is.

One of the motives behind Gawain’s deception is that he wants to be accepted by the other knights in the Round Table. This is is exemplified through when he takes the Green Knight’s challenge from King Arthur. While King Arthur is about to give the blow to the Green Knight, Sir Gawain sees this as an opportunity to show that he belongs in the Round Table

For one reason, he is the king’s nephew. Gawain is seated to the left of King Arthur because he is one of “Arthur’s nephews” and may not have been on the court otherwise (111). The fact that Gawain is Arthur’s nephew is one of the main reasons that Gawain deceives the court. The rest of the court feels as if Gawain receives special treatment even though he is not the best knight in the court. Although Gawain is treated as a superior, he feels inferior due to his special treatment. Gawain desires to have an opportunity to show his worth to the Round Table. Gawain struggles with this, because he considers himself inferior to the other knights. Although Gawain was sitting at the “central table” (114) and was above all of the “lesser knights” (115), Gawain felt as if he was the “lesser knight”. This is not his fault, but favoritism is always present and this poem is no exception. Gawain is given special privileges and treated higher than the rest of the knights because of his relation to the king. This makes Gawain feel as if the only reason he is on the court is because he is Arthur’s nephew - which is somewhat true. Gawain’s feelings of inferiority help to initiate his deception of the Round