The Syngne of Surfet and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight :: Essays Papers

The Syngne of Surfet and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the parking lot Knight152 Sir Gawain and the commons Knight contains umteen an(prenominal) words and terms that fill for more than a narrowly secular reading of the meter to score for them. Examples that come pronto to spirit include couetyse (2374), faut (2435), teches (2436), surquidr (2457), and surfet (2433).1 These and new(prenominal) words feature strong theological valence, and they are as important to interpreting the poem as are words that derive from courtly or lofty or other codes. As break out of a book in progress, The Knot why Every Tale is Told Toward a Poetics of the Knot in Western books from the Classics to the Renaissance, I am preparing a study of Sir Gawain and the squirt Knight that focusses on the strain of the knot in the poem, its relation to the identical figure in Dantes Commedia, especially the Paradiso, and the importance of the figure to understanding the theological vocabu lary of Sir Gawain. The by-line remarks derive from this study-in-progress, and although necessarily they must abbreviate many of my findings to date, they still suffer a reliable sketch of several important elements in the figure of the knot in Sir Gawain and the thousand Knight, especially the syngne of surfet and the surplusage of signs in the poem.2 in force(p) the end of Sir Gawain, Gawain explains why he accepts the park Knights tenderize of the green window sash not for its fabulous worth nor for its curious workmanship,153 Bot in syngne of my surfet I schal se hit ofte, When I ride in renoun, remorde to myseluen e faut and e fayntyse of e flesche crabbed, How tender hit is to entyse teches of fyle. 2433-36 Throughout the latter part of his adventure, of course, Gawain identifies his error by many names (most notably, perhaps, by the crucial couple on of terms, cowarddyse and couetyse--2374), but surfet is, by no means, the least of these.3 Echoing as it does surquidr, which the Green Knight says he came to assay in Arthurs court (2457), and in many ways substitutable with superbia, surfet points to that excess traditionally known as congratulate and here it is credibly best squandern to refer to an excess of self-reliance, a pride of mind Gawain relies on his own good judgment in deciding to take the green girdle from Bertilaks Lady when, in fact, his judgment, out-of-the-way(prenominal) from good, is actually corrupt--and corrupt, moreover, in a particular way.The Syngne of Surfet and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essays PapersThe Syngne of Surfet and the Surfeit of Signs in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight152 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight contains many words and terms that ask for more than a narrowly secular reading of the poem to account for them. Examples that come readily to mind include couetyse (2374), faut (2435), teches (2436), surquidr (2457), and surfet (2433).1 These and other words poss ess strong theological valence, and they are as important to interpreting the poem as are words that derive from courtly or heroic or other codes. As part of a book in progress, The Knot Why Every Tale is Told Toward a Poetics of the Knot in Western Literature from the Classics to the Renaissance, I am preparing a study of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that focusses on the figure of the knot in the poem, its relation to the similar figure in Dantes Commedia, especially the Paradiso, and the importance of the figure to understanding the theological vocabulary of Sir Gawain. The following remarks derive from this study-in-progress, and although necessarily they must abbreviate many of my findings to date, they still provide a reliable sketch of several crucial elements in the figure of the knot in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, especially the syngne of surfet and the surfeit of signs in the poem.2 Near the end of Sir Gawain, Gawain explains why he accepts the Green Knights off er of the green girdle not for its fabulous worth nor for its curious workmanship,153 Bot in syngne of my surfet I schal se hit ofte, When I ride in renoun, remorde to myseluen e faut and e fayntyse of e flesche crabbed, How tender hit is to entyse teches of fyle. 2433-36 Throughout the latter part of his adventure, of course, Gawain identifies his error by many names (most notably, perhaps, by the crucial pair of terms, cowarddyse and couetyse--2374), but surfet is, by no means, the least of these.3 Echoing as it does surquidr, which the Green Knight says he came to assay in Arthurs court (2457), and in many ways synonymous with superbia, surfet points to that excess traditionally known as pride and here it is probably best taken to refer to an excess of self-reliance, a pride of mind Gawain relies on his own good judgment in deciding to take the green girdle from Bertilaks Lady when, in fact, his judgment, far from good, is actually corrupt--and corrupt, moreover, in a particul ar way.