Gawain’s Struggle with Ecology: Attitudes toward the Natural World in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Abstract

As a poem largely dependent on the relationship between humans and the natural world, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight provides the ecocritic with an excellent case study in medieval attitudes toward the non-human world. The poet presents conflicting attitudes toward the non-human world, with Gawain asserting militaristic dominance and Bertilak acting as steward. The existence of these competing attitudes shows that medieval thought on the place of the non-human world was a complex philosophical issue. As such, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight presents evidence relevant for the on-going debate over Lynn White's "Historical Roots of Our Ecologic Crisis."