Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
The Seasons
At the beginning of Parts 2 and 4,
the poet describes the changing of the seasons. The seasonal imagery
in Part 2 precedes Gawain’s departure from
Camelot, and in Part 4 his departure from
the host’s castle. In both cases, the changing seasons correspond
to Gawain’s changing psychological state, from cheerfulness (pleasant
weather) to bleakness (the winter). But the five changing seasons
also correspond to the five ages of man (birth/infancy, youth, adulthood,
middle age, and old age/death), as well as to the cycles of fertility
and decay that govern all creatures in the natural world. The emphasis on
the cyclical nature of the seasons contrasts with and provides a different
understanding of the passage of time from the more linear narrative
of history that frames the poem.
Games
When the poem opens, Arthur’s court is engaged in feast-time
customs, and Arthur almost seems to elicit the Green Knight’s entrance by
requesting that someone tell him a tale. When the Green Knight first
enters, the courtiers think that his appearance signals a game of some
sort. The Green Knight’s challenge, the host’s later challenge, and
the wordplay that takes place between Gawain and the lady are all
presented as games. The relationship between games and tests is explored
because games are forms of social behavior, while tests provide
a measure of an individual’s inner worth.
