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“(Writing about the Green Knight in long poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight) It seems safe to say, first, that the peom is not an allegory, in any simple sense of the term. Bercilak, as a supernatural creature tempting Gawain to sin, has elememts of a devil, as a genial host who leads Sir Gawain to self-knowledge, he is a friendly guide; and as a green man who dies in winter and is miraculously reborn, he has elements of a fertility deity. But he cannot be flatly equated with any of these figures without falisfyjng the complexity.” — Denton Fox
(Writing about the Green Knight in long poem Sir Gawain and The Green Knight)
It seems safe to say, first, that the peom is not an allegory, in any simple sense of the term. Bercilak, as a supernatural creature tempting Gawain to sin, has elememts of a devil, as a genial host who leads Sir Gawain to self-knowledge, he is a friendly guide; and as a green man who dies in winter and is miraculously reborn, he has elements of a fertility deity. But he cannot be flatly equated with any of these figures without falisfyjng the complexity.