“And they’re after him again fast as they can go,
Deriding him fiercely, with a furious din.
He twists quickly through a tangled thicket,
Then edges back, and bides his time in a hedge;
He hops over a hawthorn thicket by a small stream
And slinks out stealthily through the valley, …..
He was greeted with snarling snouts, and growls;
He was threatened, called ‘cur’ and ‘theif’,
And the dogs closed on the tail so he couldn’t delay.
When he sped going for open ground, he was headed off;
So he wound back, rapidly-Reynard was so wily.
In this way, he led them all astray, the lord and
His men, till the height of morning, among the mountains.
(Ll.1705-1730)
On the third day the fox is hunted by the lord and his men. Through the description manner in which this is written, we see that the fox is an animal that is sly and mistrustful. The fox now has been deliberately singled out among the other animals. True to its cunning nature the fox becomes difficult to track. During the hunt he was crafty almost throwing off the hounds purposely, but was caught anyway. The fox led the hunters on a chase lasting through the afternoon and while this was happening the lady appears to Gawain again.
Since her previous attempts to seduce Gawain have been unsuccessful she takes drastic action to seduce. She appears to him in a dress that reveals her chest and her back. The lady has now dropped all pretenses and in effect is moving in for the kill. She is as intent upon her prey as Bercilak upon his. Bercilak’s pursuit of his quarry becomes a commentary on the lady’s pursuit of Gawain. Gawain’s skillful replies become meaningful as the desperate fox finally attempts to escape through trickery only to run upon Bercilak’s waiting sword. Gawain successfully rebuffs her sexual advances, but she insists on giving him a gift. The first gift offered is a gold ring, which Gawain refuses twice. Then she says she will give him her girdle, which he should accept since it has magical properties. The lady explains to him that when he wars this belt nothing will happen to him he can not be killed. Gawain considers the probability of dying when he faces the Green Knight, and decides to accept it for his protection. The lady tells him to conceal it from her husband and Gawain agrees. He accepted the girdle out of fear of his life and in hiding it fails in his bargain with Bercilak. Gawain unwittingly has already been caught by his hunter.
The deceitful fox is hunted in the woods, and there is a deceitful fox within the castle, Gawain. Bercilak is still hunting the fox after Gawain accepts the girdle. In an attempt to avoid the possibility of getting killed by the lord’s sword the fox tries to change his direction only to move itself in the enemies path. In Gawain’s attempts to divert from harm the Green Knight he will run right into his hands. Gawains deception is what leads him to his fall, the breaking of his promise to the Green Knight, as by using the girdle he is deceitful.
The final aspect of this poem is the constant reference to the color green. Green is usually associated with jealously. It is possible that the Green Knight was jealous of the fame for Arthur’s Kingdom and how renowned his knights are. A stronger point of the color green is a conflict between Christianity and Paganism. The Christianity part is noticeable with Arthur’s kingdom. Gawain is faithful to God and constantly trying to push away sin. Paganism is often associated with the worship of nature, especially trees. Part of what is seen is the way the Green Knight might be an embodiment of nature. He is entirely green, like a plant, and arrives holding a holly bob, which is an evergreen; a common symbol of nature’s survival through the winter. Also, the green chapel, which is covered in vines can be seen as both a place of natural worship and a symbol of the knight’s link to earth. So the constant referral to green can be seen as a conflict between Christianity and Paganism.
Since the scenes of Bercilak’s hunt and those with Gawain and the lady in the bedroom are the longest sections of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, it seems obvious we are meant to draw some kind of connection between them. The hunt being seen as a reflection of the occurrences in the bedroom, and each animal representing Gawain each day seems clear.
These considerations of the symbols and patterns in the hunt scene are just a small part of what the poem contains. The hunt scenes are especially important to the plot of the poem. The writer had direct meaning in them to enhance and explain the plight of Sir Gawain. Without the parallel hunt and temptation scenes the poem would be lacking in depth and the challenge of Sir Gawain would not be as dramatically important.
