The Hunting Scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Revisited

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a Middle English alliterative poem, writtentowards the end of the fourteenth century. It has the lively descriptions of thehunt, which are undoubtedly one of the poem’s attractions. In addition to thisdescriptive liveliness, its structural and thematic parallel with the concomitanttemptations of Gawain makes its charm more irresistible, and hence many criticshave examined the hunt scenes to provide a number of interpretations. Despitethe variety of analyses and exegeses, this essay explores the hunt scenes in termsof the poet’s representation of the hunted animals — the deer, boar and fox, anddemonstrates that the descriptions of the hunt are designed to arouse ourcompassion for the quarries. The sympathy for the hunted serves to both clarifyand highlight the direct connection between Gawain and the hunted animals.