Sir Gawain and the Green Knight recap

During Arthur's Christmas feast, a supernatural Green Knight offers a beheading game: he will accept one blow now if the striker submits to a return blow in a year and a day. Gawain decapitates him, but the visitor picks up his head and rides away after reminding Gawain of the bargain. Nearly a year later Gawain journeys to the Green Chapel and shelters at Bertilak's castle. Bertilak proposes that each man exchange whatever he gains each day. While Bertilak hunts, his lady tests Gawain in bedchamber visits. Gawain returns her kisses to Bertilak but conceals a supposedly protective green girdle. At the chapel, the Green Knight reveals himself as Bertilak and gives Gawain a small cut for that dishonesty; the entire adventure was arranged by Morgan le Fay. Gawain returns ashamed, wearing the girdle as a reminder, but Arthur's court adopts green sashes in solidarity with him.

Arthur's court celebrates Christmas at Camelot in an atmosphere of youth, luxury, and confidence. A huge green horseman rides into the hall carrying an axe and a holly branch. He asks for a game rather than a battle: one knight may give him a single blow with the axe, on condition that the knight seek him out in a year and a day to receive an answering blow. When Arthur moves to accept, his nephew Gawain volunteers in his place. Gawain takes the axe and cuts off the visitor's head. The Green Knight does not die; he lifts his severed head, repeats the appointment at the Green Chapel, and rides away. The court resumes its feast, but Gawain is now bound to keep the impossible-looking agreement.

As the next winter approaches, Gawain leaves Camelot in armor marked with a pentangle symbolizing the virtues he hopes to uphold. He travels through a hostile winter landscape, surviving danger and isolation while searching for the Green Chapel. On Christmas Eve he prays for a place to attend Mass and soon finds a splendid castle. Its lord welcomes him, and Gawain learns that the Green Chapel is close enough for him to remain through the holiday. The host proposes a game for the next three days: he will hunt outside while Gawain rests, and at evening each will give the other whatever he has gained. Gawain agrees, unaware of how the arrangement will complicate the courtesy he owes the lord's beautiful wife.

For three mornings, the lord hunts while his wife enters Gawain's chamber and tests his ability to remain courteous without betraying his host. Gawain resists a sexual affair but accepts kisses from her. On the first two evenings he faithfully gives the lord the same number of kisses in exchange for the animals killed in the hunt. On the third morning, the lady offers a green girdle that she says can protect its wearer from death. Afraid of the Green Knight's axe, Gawain accepts it and promises to keep it secret. That evening he gives the lord three kisses but conceals the girdle, breaking their exchange agreement. He then sets out for the Green Chapel despite a guide's warning that its inhabitant is deadly.

Gawain finds the Green Knight sharpening his axe at the Green Chapel. The knight makes two feigned swings; Gawain flinches at the first but holds still for the second. The third swing merely cuts his neck, and Gawain, having received the promised blow, declares the bargain complete. The Green Knight identifies himself as Bertilak. His first two feints corresponded to the days Gawain honestly exchanged the lady's kisses, while the small wound punishes concealment of the girdle on the third. Bertilak says the old woman at the castle is Morgan le Fay, who planned the test and the apparition at Camelot. Though Bertilak forgives him, Gawain condemns his own fear and dishonesty. He returns to Camelot wearing the girdle as a sign of that fault. Arthur's court welcomes him and adopts green sashes, sharing the emblem rather than leaving him alone in shame.

At the Green Chapel, the Green Knight feints twice and on his third swing gives Gawain only a shallow cut. He then reveals himself as Bertilak, Gawain's host. The first two withheld blows matched the two days when Gawain honestly gave Bertilak the kisses received from the lady; the cut answers Gawain's concealment of her green girdle on the third day. Bertilak explains that the old woman at the castle is Morgan le Fay, who devised the marvel to frighten Guinevere and test Arthur's court. Gawain is ashamed that fear led him to break the exchange agreement, though Bertilak considers the fault minor and forgives him. Gawain returns to Camelot wearing the girdle as a reminder of his failure. Arthur and the court welcome him, reject his harsh judgment of himself, and adopt green sashes in fellowship, turning his private badge of shame into a communal emblem.