Synopsis
On Christmas morning, Gawain is awakened in a brothel by his lover, a common woman named Essel. He returns to the king's court, where he is scolded by his mother. Gawain attends a feast at the Round Table with his uncle, the king, who invites Gawain to sit at his right hand though he has yet to acquire a story to tell of himself, the mark of a true knight. Elsewhere, in a tower, Gawain's mother performs a magic rite that summons the mysterious Green Knight.[6] He barges into the king's court and states that any knight who lands a blow on him will win his green axe but must travel to the Green Chapel and receive an equal blow in return on the following Christmas. Gawain takes up the challenge. The knight yields, and Gawain, wielding the king's sword, decapitates him. The knight rises, retrieves his severed head, repeats the requisite date to Gawain, and rides away.
Gawain lives on the story of his deed and revels all year. The king reminds him to uphold his side of the challenge as time draws near. Gawain departs on horseback for the Green Chapel. He takes the green axe and he wears a green sash given to him by his mother. She says that as long as he wears it, he shall suffer no harm. On his journey, he crosses a battlefield littered with dead warriors, where he meets a scavenging boy. The boy directs Gawain to a stream that leads to the Green Chapel and requests payment. Gawain flips him a single coin. Shortly afterward, the boy and two others ambush Gawain and steal the axe, sash, and horse, leaving Gawain tied up. After hallucinating his own death, he crawls to his sword and uses it to cut himself free before pursuing the thieves. At nightfall, Gawain arrives at an abandoned cottage and falls asleep in its bed. He is awakened by a young woman named Winifred, who asks him to retrieve something that she has lost from a nearby spring. He asks what he will receive in return, but is rebuffed. He finds her skull and reunites it with her skeletal remains; the next morning, he finds the axe has been returned to him.
Gawain befriends a fox who accompanies him on his journey and they encounter a group of giants. They reach a castle inhabited by a Lord, who informs him that the Green Chapel is nearby and invites Gawain to stay until closer to Christmas. The Lord's lady resembles Essel; she makes seductive moves toward Gawain and during one of these efforts steals his token of Essel. The Lord and Gawain agree that the Lord will trade any prize from his hunt for whatever Gawain receives at the castle. The next morning, the Lady presents Gawain with the protective green sash, which she claims to have made herself. In exchange for the sash, Gawain allows her to masturbate him but stains the sash in the process. Gawain hurriedly flees the castle but encounters the Lord in the forest, who gives him a kiss. The Lord reveals that he has captured Gawain's fox on his hunt and releases it to Gawain, but Gawain does not offer him the sash.