“ T O B E H E R S E R V A N T S O P L Y ” : G A W A I N ’ S S E R V I C E HUBERT E. MORGAN Dalhousie University .A.m ong the several ambiguous elements of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the relationship of Gawain to the ladies of Camelot and Hautdesert is perhaps one of the most intriguing and more thematically important. The surquidre and hyjye hawtesse (SG , lines 2457, 2454) which is tried in Gawain is closely associated with Guenivere, while “J?e faut and ]?e fayntyse of J?e flesche crabbed” (SG, 2435), which is also tried and of which the green girdle or “luf-lace” becomes a warning, is equally associated with that other noble beauty, the younger of the two ladies of Hautdesert.1 Both Gawain’s venial chasteness and his spiritual integrity are tried, and the subtle interrelationship of venial and spiritual imperfections is a matter of central concern in the poem; the temptations of Hautdesert are intimately linked to the trial at the Green Chapel, and the threat of decapitation figures the threatened loss of Gawain’s soul should he fail as so many (“chorle ojjer chaplayn . . . / Monk o]?er masseprest. . . ” [SG, 2107-08]) before him have failed. Guenivere we first encounter (SG, 74 ff.) as a regal figure richly adorned and surrounded with silks and tapestry, a superlative figure of comeliness and seemliness, attended by Agravain and Gawain, “ BoJ>e ]>e kynges sistersunes and ful siker kni3tes” (SG, 1 1 1 ) . With Arthur, these figures epitomize this young court in its “first age,” a court initially seen in celebration with the resplendent opening festivity, and subsequently seen in trial. The beautiful temptress of Hautdesert and Morgan are associated with Bertilak ’s baronial court, which is also a court of combined festive celebration and trial, but one more circumspect, less vulnerable to unwonted intrusion, one of perhaps more “middle-aged” virtues. As to Morgan, a major crux in interpreting the poem lies in Bertilak’s assertion that it is “Morgne la Faye” or “J?e goddes” who initiated his foray into Camelot, having sent him to “haf greued Gaynour and gart hir to dy3e” (SG, 2446, 2452, 2460). This passage is widely read in terms of Morgan’s hatred of Guenivere, a reading based on French texts,2 with “gart hir to dy3e” construed as “ to cause her to die” or “frighten her to death.” 3 Such readings, however, pose problems in that such motivation of the p rim ary action largely sidesteps the poem’s concern with Gawain’s volition, English Studies in Canada, xi, 3, September 1985 and such a characterization of Morgan is not in accord with the presenta tion of Hautdesert and its people, notably of Bertilak who with the others highly honours “la Faye.” Bertilak’s judgement of Gawain’s behaviour consequent upon the temptations within Hautdesert is most notably generous and amiable: he sees Gawain as “on J?e fautlest freke J?at euer on fote 3ede” (SG , 2363) and appreciates Gawain’s ready boldness — “in hert hit hym lykez” (SG, 2335) — and he cordially invites Gawain home to meet, among others, his aunt Morgan: Perfore I ef>e he, ha^el, to com to \>yn aunt, Make myry in my hous; my meny \>e Iouies, And I wol he as w el.. . . (SG, 2467-69) Consequently, the nature or degree of the “antagonism” between Gawain and his challengers (who include the ladies of Hautdesert) and the signifi cance of the surquidre and hy$e hawtesse which Gawain and Guenivere share as members of the court are matters of central importance but con siderable mystery in the poem. An answer to this crux can be found, I submit, through relating Sir Gawain and the Green Knight to the traditions concerning Gawain in other English poems of the period, to the terms and themes of the other poems of MS. Cotton Nero A.x and to scholarship concerning fourteenth-century views on moral and theological themes. These matters respectively touch upon the role of Gawain in the plot, the concern with his spiritual temper and condition, and...