“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” can be followed for entertainment value, but one passage in particular requires deeper analysis. Before Sir Gawain begins his quest for the Green Chapel and dons his armor, the plot is moving at a steady pace. At this point, the poet departs from the plot to spend about fifty lines describing Gawain's shield. Invoking a significant symbol, the pentangular, this description contains important information about Gawain that could not be conveyed within the plot alone. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The most essential part of this section is simply a description of what the shield looks like. As the poem goes: "Then they chewed hym the shelde, which was of schyr goules / Wyth the pentangelo depaynt of pure golde hews" (lines 619-620). Gawain arms himself with a light red shield on which a pentacle is painted in gold tones. It is on the pentaangle that the poet focuses a lot of attention in this passage. For each knight, the shield served two roles. First, in a purely physical sense it offered protection in battle. It was also used as a means of identification among other knights (Green 126). Each knight had a different design or symbol placed on his shield, making it possible to identify people in battle when helmets hid faces. The pentagram, more commonly known as the pentagram, requires further description. It is a five-pointed star made with a single stroke (Haskell 36). This symbol appears in many different traditions; however, the poet clarifies in the description how the pentangle should be interpreted:E quy il pentangle apendes to that prynce nobleI am intent yow to telle, thof tary hyt me schulde:Hit is a syngne that Salamon set symquyleIn bytoking of trawthe, bi title that hit habbes, Because hit is a figure that haldes five poyntes, And uche lyne umbelappes and loukes in others, And ayquere hit is endeles, and Englich hit callenOveral, as I here, the endeles node. (623-30) The poet emphasizes the importance of the pentagram when he states that all Englishmen call it the endless knot, a perfect design. Thus the pentacle on Gawain's shield suggests a supreme level of knighthood that identifies him not only as one of the best in Arthur's court, but perhaps the best in England. The pentacle shows that Gawain “is, or should be, the model of the secular and militant state, the ideal of the ruling class, presented for public admiration and emulation” (Green 128). However, it is not just the perfection of the pentangular design that justifies Sir Gawain's skill as a knight; the symbolism is much deeper. The poet describes: "Fourth blow granted to this knight and his smartest weapons, / For all the faithful in five and evenings five sthes / Gawan was for go knawen and like pure gold / Deprived of uche vylany with virtues eornate in specks" (631 -35). The “five fives” (Green 126) refer to five ways of knighthood and five traits that an exemplary knight should have. The five fives define Gawain as the definitive knight of England. First, the poet describes Gawain as flawless in the five senses, suggesting the strength of the knight's ingenuity. The next five are the five fingers, symbolizing Gawain's great physical prowess. The third is the five wounds of Christ (two on the hands, two on the feet and the piercing of the spear) which represent a sign of Gawain's faith in Christianity. The poet states, "And all his afyaunce upon folde was in the five wounds," suggesting that Gawain places his complete and utter trust in 1962: 121-139.