Question

Choose an example of foreshadowing from The Wife of Bath's Tale, "Lady Ragnell and Sir Gawain", OR "Sir

Answer 1

In “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” on the third day that Sir Gawain is at the Lord Bertilak’s castle, Lady Bertilak gives him a silk girdle. Lady Bertilak urges him to keep it with him as it has the ability to protect an honest person from death. Being terrified of his meeting with the Green Knight, Sue Gawain gladly takes it. However, Sir Gawain had promised to give Lord Bertilak anything he was given back to him before he left. This means that Sir Gawain, in not giving the girdle back, is no longer an honest man. In addition to this the girdle is green, this is foreshadowing the fact that the girdle belongs to the Green Knight. The Green Knight, who had not died when Sir Gawain decapitated him in their first encounter, likely did so because he was wearing the girdle. This shows that the Green Knight is an honest man, contrasting him with Sir Gawain who fails to be honest in taking the girdle.