Journeying through (an)other world

Abstract

This chapter argues that magic in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a catalyst for Gawain’s temporary otherness and leads to the moral and ethical transformations of Sir Gawain and King Arthur’s court. Through an examination of magic as a force that ostracizes Sir Gawain from the Arthurian society and makes him, temporarily, into an ‘other’, it illuminates the connection between Gawain’s temporary otherness and his moral transformation. Engaging with scholars like Rhonda Knight and William Woods who have considered the transformations in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, this chapter also reveals the shift in the Arthurian court from valuing storytelling to valuing action. Drawing on Slavoj Žižek’s theoretical understanding of otherness, which posits that the ‘other’ is positioned as such because they are interpreted as a threat to the Enjoyment of the Subject, this chapter examines Arthur’s court as the Subject society and the Green Knight as the ‘other’ who reflects the courtiers’ understanding of themselves. The court’s survival relies on its adherence to the chivalric code and the deeds of its members to support the code; this provides a structure to the court, without which the court’s orderly function would begin to disintegrate. This chapter shows how magic in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is perceived as part of the ‘other’s’ threat (the Green Knight’s challenge) to the Subject’s enjoyment (the chivalric reputation of King Arthur’s court). Gawain, once engaged with the Green Knight’s magic, temporarily also becomes an ‘other’ and must overcome the magic before being reintegrated into society.