It would be folly to address Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as a tale lacking in Christian themes, made obvious even at the beginning’s Christmas festivities. So too does any passing knowledge of Arthurian legend tie itself to Christ, by way of the Holy Grail typically being a relic of Jesus Christ. However, the Green Knight as a character (as well as his household) goes beyond the New Testament, and arguably as far back as one can take the Bible: Genesis.
Somewhat oddly, this takes us to Tolkien as well, though less oddly were one to also be aware of his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. As Flieger notes on page 92 of Scholarship and Fantasy: Proceedings of the Tolkien Phenomenon, the Green Knight and the ent Treebeard share a very superficial similarity. Those are notably being the green hue (though varying in saturation between the characters) and beard, the latter of which Fangorn receives his English name from. The characters are thus tied together into something primordial, something wild, made more overt in the case of the ents. Further, in stanza 10 of Tolkien’s translation of Sir Gawain, the Green Knight is noted to wholly lack armor. One may harken back to the contrast of the arboreal pastoralism of Fangorn and the metallurgical industrialism of Isengard.
Chapter 3 of Genesis details the ages-old tale of Adam and Eve falling from God’s grace, by way of eating the forbidden fruit at the behest of the serpent (in Eve’s case) and later Eve herself (in Adam’s case). The boons gained are that of knowledge, and to quote Sir Francis Bacon, knowledge itself is power. So here we are left with (an) individual(s) who fall prey to temptation for the sake of power. The One Ring may be brought to mind here, and perhaps rightfully so, but this had little else to do with trees. In stanza 74, Sir Gawain is tempted by power, not the power of knowledge, but of immortality. In 81, this is made even more apparent in his utilization of the sash in the face of death. The Green Knight himself draws such a parallel in stanza 97, comparing Gawain to Adam and other men that have shown themselves to be temptable. Gawain here fills a composite role of Adam’s and Eve’s Original Sin, while the lady fills the similarly composite role of the Serpent’s and Eve’s agent of temptation. As with the first man and woman, Gawain is forever marked with his own original sin, the scar on his neck that he shows with shame to the Round Table in stanza 100. This does beg the question of what role the Green Knight plays. Though he does take a Godly role as the arbiter of sin under his domain, the pagan Green Man-undertones do call this into question. What the Green Knight is ultimately characterized by is his association with the greenery by which he gets his name. As he works through the lady, his wife, the sash is therefore originating from him. And so the Green Knight exists as a liminal character between the role of God and the Tree of Knowledge.
Where then does Treebeard fit here in regards to temptation? Old Fangorn has little to do with the One Ring directly, and yet he is cut from the same cloth, or perhaps foliage as the archetypes discussed prior. In chapter 4 of The Two Towers’s first book, eponymously named Treebeard, Merry and Pippin dine at Fangorn’s residence, and sup on his aptly-named ent-draughts. Herein lies the temptation Treebeard offers. The stakes are obviously somewhat lower, bordering on the prosaic of mere height increases. However, in the ninth chapter, Flotsam and Jetsam, Legolas and Aragorn note a peculiar and mysterious nature regarding the otherwise mundane-appearing water. Though again, all that occurs is taller hobbits, the mysterious and possibly dangerous nature of boons from trees is shared with the forbidden fruit and sash. If anything, it provides a liminal role, as Fangorn does between the Green Knight and biblical figures.
The sash is ultimately implied to be useless; had Gawain kept it, it is doubtless that his head would have been parted from his shoulders despite the lady’s words. It is mundane and harmless, harmful only in the lie. On the contrary, the forbidden fruit strips mankind of its innocence. They are temptations that offer power, but give only worldliness. As Gawain returns wearing the sash, he returns a worldlier man with a greater grasp of virtue. Adam and Eve are cast out from the garden worldlier by their knowledge of and capacity for evil. So too do Merry and Pippin return to the Shire worldlier, and more obviously, taller. This is the first thing most obvious, and is a gift of Fangorn the tree-man. Gawain’s sash is what is most prominent to the Knights of the Round Table, and the story comes later. So too is this a gift of the Green Knight, the tree man. Adam and Eve walk the earth as sinners, a poisoned gift of the Tree of Knowledge. All are fundamentally changed in profound ways, ways which transform the soul. Yet those who bear witness to them first notice a physical change. Tall halflings, a scarred neck, and mortality. All are marks of the fruits of the foliage, and all are marks of temptation embraced. Merry and Pippin ought to be glad ents are kinder than snakes in the canopies above.
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