Shame and Guilt As Sanctions Controlling Gawain’s Behavior

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a valuable work for the study of honor and shame in late-medieval English literature. In addition to the social codes influenced by pre-Christian “shame culture”, the “guilt culture” deeply embedded in the work is also crucial to the understanding of the Gawain poet’s intention as well as Sir Gawain’s behavioral modes. The shame culture is the performative public honor, which exerts the strongest influence upon Sir Gawain for the first half of the poem. After his departure from the Arthurian court, Sir Gawain’s actions are circumscribed by both guilt and shame ideologies. Gawain’s ending creates the shift from upholding the chivalric ideals of a romance hero based upon shame culture to a guilt culture whose emphasis lies on Sir Gawain’s interior thoughts and personal moralities closely linked with the Christian doctrines. The move from shame culture to guilt culture results from the Gawain poet’s realistic vision toward the chivalry of the late medieval age and his awareness of the social changes such as the advent of individualism, and the need for personal confession.