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204Sir Gawain and the Green Knightfulfillment from the quest; the discovery of his fallible, human natureis cold comfort to the poor knight. The reaction of Arthur and courtmirrors that of the Green Knight to Gawain’s misery: laughter andkind words. Yet whereas the Green Knight was demonstrating thequest’s larger point to Gawain, the “lords and ladies of the court,still somewhat childgered and given to pride, laughed loudly anddecided amiably that the knights of the Round Table would wearthe green lace in honor of Gawain. Amid the relieved laughter ofthe knights and ladies one sees the wry smile of the amiable poet: itis enough if some of the laughter is directed at themselves” (Green139). Though the Gawain poet does not record Gawain’s reaction tothis, the reader can only imagine his chagrin and embarrassment athaving had his failure turned into the court’s success. After all, thegreat meaning of the quest for Gawain is “implicit in the failure ofits hero” (Shedd 4). Through his failure, Gawain has achieved “selfdiscovery,”and in this “self-discovery the hero made a beginning”(Green 138). Thus, the unfilled and unfulfilling nature of his greatquest has perhaps taught Gawain a valuable and important lessonabout the realities of human existence and the frailties of his ownknightly code.Works CitedArmitage, Simon. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: A New Verse Translation.New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.Collier, Richard J. “The Action of Fulfillment in the York Corpus Christi Play.”Pacific Coast Philology 11 (1976): 30–38.Everett, Dorothy. “A Characterization of English Medieval Romance.”In Essays on Middle English Literature. Ed. Patricia Kean. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1955.Green, Richard Hamilton. “Gawain’s Shield and the Quest for Perfection.”ELH 29.2 (1962): 121–139.Hills, David Farley. “Gawain’s Fault in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” TheReview of English Studies 14.54 (1963): 124–131.Sadowski, Piotr. The Knight on His Quest: Symbolic Patterns of Transition in SirGawain and the Green Knight. Newark: University of Delaware Press,1996.