Editing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (section)

===The Green Knight===
{{Main|Green Knight}}
Scholars have puzzled over the Green Knight's symbolism since the discovery of the poem. British medievalist [[C. S. Lewis]] said the character was "as vivid and concrete as any image in literature" and scholar J. A. Burrow said he was the "most difficult character" to interpret in ''Sir Gawain''.<ref name = knight/> His major role in Arthurian literature is that of a judge and tester of knights, thus he is at once terrifying, friendly, and mysterious.<ref name = knight/> He appears in only two other poems: ''[[The Greene Knight]]'' and ''[[King Arthur and King Cornwall]]''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sir Gawain : eleven romances and tales|date=1995|publisher=Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University|isbn=978-1-879288-59-1|editor1-last=Hahn|editor1-first=Thomas|location=Kalamazoo, Mich.|page=314|chapter=The Greene Knight}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sir Gawain: eleven romances and tales|date=1995|publisher=Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University|isbn=978-1-879288-59-1|editor1-last=Hahn|editor1-first=Thomas|location=Kalamazoo, Mich.|page=427|chapter=King Arthur and King Cornwall}}</ref> Scholars have attempted to connect him to other mythical characters, such as [[Jack in the green]] of English tradition and to [[Al-Khidr]],<ref name="lasater">{{cite book|last1=Lasater|first1=Alice E.|title=Spain to England : a comparative study of Arabic, European, and English literature of the Middle Ages|date=1974|publisher=University Press of Mississippi|isbn=0-87805-056-6|location=Jackson}}</ref> but no definitive connection has yet been established.<ref name="lasater" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rix|first=Michael M.|date=1 June 1953|title=A Re-Examination of the Castleton Garlanding|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1953.9717360|journal=Folklore|volume=64|issue=2|pages=342–344|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1953.9717360|issn=0015-587X}}</ref>

He represents a mix of two traditional figures in romance and other medieval narratives: "the literary green man" and "the literary wild man."<ref name="Besserman 1986 219">{{Cite journal|last=Besserman|first=Lawrence|date=1986|title=The Idea of the Green Knight|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2873255|journal=ELH|volume=53|issue=2|pages=219–239|doi=10.2307/2873255|jstor=2873255|issn=0013-8304}}</ref> The Green Knight challenges Gawain to rise to the ideals of honour and religious practices.<ref name=rowley>{{Cite journal|last=Rowley|first=Sharon M.|date=2003|title=Textual Studies, Feminism, and Performance in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cr.2003.0022|journal=The Chaucer Review|volume=38|issue=2|pages=158–177|doi=10.1353/cr.2003.0022|s2cid=147999222 |issn=1528-4204}}</ref> His name, the Green Knight, shows his opposition to nature: the colour green represents forces of nature, and the word "knight" connects him to society and civilisation.<ref name="Goldhurst 61">{{Cite journal|last=Goldhurst|first=William|date=Nov 1958|title=The Green and the Gold: The Major Theme of Gawain and the Green Knight|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/372161|journal=College English|volume=20|issue=2|pages=61–65|doi=10.2307/372161|jstor=372161}}</ref> While the Green Knight represents the primitive, and uncivilised side of man's nature, he also opposes nature as well.<ref name="Goldhurst 61" /> The description of the Green Knight, which he shares with his green horse, shows the central idea of human nature's potential.<ref name="Woods 2002 209–227">{{Cite journal|last=Woods|first=William F.|date=2002|title=Nature and the Inner Man in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cr.2002.0006|journal=The Chaucer Review|volume=36|issue=3|pages=209–227|doi=10.1353/cr.2002.0006|s2cid=170429103 |issn=1528-4204}}</ref>