The medieval tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is replete with descriptions of feasts. Throughout the story, these feasts demonstrate the very hierarchical social structures of medieval society as well as the growth Gawain undergoes.
New Years Feast
The opening scene, which takes place at a New Years feast in Camelot, particularly illustrates the norms of feasts in the Middle Ages. The table layout is characteristic of a typical medieval feast. Derek Brewer, a medieval scholar, explains, “The seating at High Table is strictly hierarchical, with the king at the centre, and the most honorable guest, Bishop Baldwin, on his right, the queen as his consort on his left. Gawain… next in honor, sits on her left” (Brewer 136). This layout reflects the hierarchy of the court. Gawain, a young and well-known but still up-and-coming figure, gets one of the more highly ranking seats, positioned “by Guinevere” (Sir Gawain 109). The poem also reads, “First those sitting on the dais were splendidly served,/ then those stalwarts seated on the benches to the sides” (114-15). As in a usual medieval feast, the dining tables sit perpendicular to the High Table, which sits on its raised dais. Servers’ prioritization of the High Table also follows decorum, in which diners further from the king had less renown and were therefore deprioritized when servants dished food out.
As is expected of medieval feasts, the narrative focuses more on entertainment and presentation than on the food itself. The narrative emphasizes “New Year Gifts,” “the hubbub of their humor,” “dancing,” and “pounding double-drums and dinning pipes” (66, 46-7, 118). The narrator omits any details about the dishes, writing, “on the subject of supper I’ll say no more/ as it’s obvious to everyone that no one went without” (130-1). The feast is more of a lavish show than a delicious meal, so all that matters is that all the guests have plenty to eat.
The poem describes King Arthur as “almost boyish/ in his love of life” (86-7). This description relates to characterizations of young men at feasts, who had poor table manners. However, though he acts boyishly in his enthusiasm, “Arthur would not eat until all were served” (85). Sir Gawain portrays the theme that appearances don’t always match reality. In this part of the poem, the writer subverts medieval expectations of boyhood by making King Arthur actually polite.
Bertilak’s Accomodations
The feast with King Arthur certainly isn’t the only one. Gawain attends several more feasts, which take place at Bertilak’s home. Descriptions of these feasts also emphasize their lavishness. Though the first feast at Bertilak’s takes place during fasting, it is clearly a show of wealth, with “clean white cloth,” “silver spoons,” and “double helpings” (885-6, 890). Here, the Gawain poet actually gives descriptions of the food, but they focus on the work that went into cooking them rather than flavors. The main dish, fitting for a fasting period, is “fish,/ some baked in bread, some browned over flames,” and so on (890-1). The meal may be lavish and full of variety, but it does not defy religious conventions. Writes Brewer, “There is a whole religious mentality expressed here, which whatever we may think of it now is not hypocritical” (Brewer 138). Even the act of drinking wine is permissible. Gawain drinks “warming, heady wine” and nobody bats an eye (899). It’s no wonder that Augustine wanted to forbid drinking at religious feasts; if Gawain is any indication, alcohol was an integral part of every feast, regardless of its time in the Christian calendar (Walker Bynim 48). At this feast, instead of New Years games and gifts, the night’s entertainment is a mass (930-40).
At the next feast, presentation again takes precedence. There’s of course the venison Bertilak just caught, “revealed in full view,” as well as explicitly “dainty food” (1375, 1401). The game Bertilak and Gawain play continues the entertainment aspect of medieval feasts.
The next feast is decidedly less formal than Arthur’s feast, as Bertilak’s court “reveled in a ring/ around the fire on the floor,” rather than at positioned tables (1652-3). The narrator barely mentions food this time and focuses on amusements, such as “seasonal songs and carol dancing” (1655). The more relaxed atmosphere allows the lady to increase her intimacy with Gawain, who still turns down her advances. The sudden lack of furniture is normal, as “The hall was a multifunctional space and as a result possessed little fixed furniture” (Wells 70). Without the tables to symbolize distinct hierarchies, Gawain might be more likely to fail Bertilak’s test by cheating with Bertilak’s high-status wife.
Return to Camelot
Finally, the concluding scene brings Sir Gawain back to Arthur’s court. However, the king’s court now gathers for a non-feast occasion – Gawain’s return. The familiar setting of the hall is different without all the holiday festivities. Gawain, having learned a lesson and wanting to share it with his peers, is a changed person. There’s something off, both in the non-feast setting and in Gawain no longer fitting in. The court members “laugh in lovely accord” at his suggestion about the girdle (2514). This laughter contrasts with the “fanfare and clamor” of the opening feast, now alienating to Gawain rather than unifying (116).
In the end, Gawain has learned restraint and honesty through his trials with the Green Knight. In medieval feasts and elsewhere, “the youth enters the phase of intensive instruction designed to discipline the body and mind” (Wells 73). Gawain has now come of age. He shows restraint, both mentally and bodily, by vowing to wear the girdle as a constant reminder of his trials (2509-11). All things considered, it’s fitting that the court does not receive Gawain with a lavish, unrestrained feast.
See Also
- Video: Cooking the Medieval Way
- Medieval Recipes
Works Cited
Brewer, Derek, “Feasts,” A Companion to the Gawain-Poet, edited by Jonathan Gibson. Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 1997, pp. 129-142.
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Middle Ages, 10th edition, ed. Stephen Greenblatt. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 2018.
Walker Bynim, Caroline. “Fast and Feast: The Historical Background.” Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, University of California Press, 1987, pp. 31–70. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pnb06.7.
Wells, Sharon. “Manners Maketh Man: Living, Dining and Becoming a Man in the Later Middle Ages.” Rites of Passage: Cultures of Transition in the Fourteenth Century, edited by Nicola F. McDonald and W. M. Ormrod, Boydell and Brewer, 2004, pp. 67-82. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.7722/j.ctt81wj0.9.