Quote 4
“Sir,
if you be Gawain, it seems a great wonder—
A
man so well-meaning, and mannerly disposed,
And
cannot act in company as courtesy bids,
And
if one takes the trouble to teach him, ‘tis all in vain.
That
lesson learned lately is lightly forgot,
Though
I painted it as plain as my poor wit allowed.”
“What
lesson, dear lady?” he asked all alarmed;
“I
have been much to blame, if your story be true.”
“Yet
my counsel was of kissing,” came her answer then,
“Where
favor has been found, freely to claim
As accords
with the conduct of courteous knights.”
(1481–1491)
In Part 3, Gawain
and the host’s wife have this exchange on the second morning of
Gawain’s game with the host. The lady’s comments highlight the tension
between courtesy and chastity, a tension she exploits in an attempt
to get what she wants. The lady starts out by challenging Gawain’s
name and reputation, claiming that her guest cannot be the real
Gawain, because that famous knight would not forget to be “gracious.”
She likens him to an errant student who has forgotten his lesson
from the day before and herself to his teacher. In doing so, she
calls upon a huge store of cultural imagery from the courtly love
and classical traditions.
In the courtly love tradition, the beloved lady ideally
works as a kind of erotic teacher, instructing the lover in proper
spiritual comportment as well as in the courtly “art of love.” The
courtly lady is supposed to ennoble her knight by teaching him how
to be a proper lover and a better man. At the same time, the host’s
wife evokes the classical tradition of education, in which female
allegorical figures such as Lady Grammar and Lady Philosophy are
responsible for the education of boys and men. Not only does the
lady construct herself as Gawain’s sexual teacher, but she also
imagines herself as his schoolmistress in the arts of speaking and
behaving properly. The courtly and the classical traditions are
by no means mutually exclusive, but their cooperation here lends
force to the lady’s attempts to persuade Gawain to give up his chastity,
as Gawain’s troubled response attests.
