<P> The word gomen (game) is found 18 times in Gawain . Its similarity to the word gome (man), which appears 21 times, has led some scholars to see men and games as centrally linked . Games at this time were seen as tests of worthiness, as when the Green Knight challenges the court's right to its good name in a "Christmas game". The "game" of exchanging gifts was common in Germanic cultures . If a man received a gift, he was obliged to provide the giver with a better gift or risk losing his honour, almost like an exchange of blows in a fight (or in a "beheading game"). The poem revolves around two games: an exchange of beheading and an exchange of winnings . These appear at first to be unconnected . However, a victory in the first game will lead to a victory in the second . Elements of both games appear in other stories; however, the linkage of outcomes is unique to Gawain . </P> <P> Times, dates, seasons, and cycles within Gawain are often noted by scholars because of their symbolic nature . The story starts on New Year's Eve with a beheading and culminates on the next New Year's Day . Gawain leaves Camelot on All Saints Day and arrives at Bertilak's castle on Christmas Eve . Furthermore, the Green Knight tells Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel in "a year and a day"--a period of time seen often in medieval literature . Some scholars interpret the yearly cycles, each beginning and ending in winter, as the poet's attempt to convey the inevitable fall of all things good and noble in the world . Such a theme is strengthened by the image of Troy, a powerful nation once thought to be invincible which, according to the Aeneid, fell to the Greeks due to pride and ignorance . The Trojan connection shows itself in the presence of two virtually identical descriptions of Troy's destruction . The poem's first line reads: "Since the siege and the assault were ceased at Troy" and the final stanzaic line (before the bob and wheel) is "After the siege and the assault were ceased at Troy". </P> <P> Given the varied and even contradictory interpretations of the color green, its precise meaning in the poem remains ambiguous . In English folklore and literature, green was traditionally used to symbolise nature and its associated attributes: fertility and rebirth . Stories of the medieval period also used it to allude to love and the base desires of man . Because of its connection with faeries and spirits in early English folklore, green also signified witchcraft, devilry and evil . It can also represent decay and toxicity . When combined with gold, as with the Green Knight and the girdle, green was often seen as representing youth's passing . In Celtic mythology, green was associated with misfortune and death, and therefore avoided in clothing . The green girdle, originally worn for protection, became a symbol of shame and cowardice; it is finally adopted as a symbol of honour by the knights of Camelot, signifying a transformation from good to evil and back again; this displays both the spoiling and regenerative connotations of the color green . </P> <P> Scholars have puzzled over the Green Knight's symbolism since the discovery of the poem . He could be a version of the Green Man, a mythological being connected with nature in medieval art, a Christian symbol, or the Devil himself . British medieval scholar C.S. Lewis said the character was "as vivid and concrete as any image in literature" and J.R.R. Tolkien said he was the "most difficult character" to interpret in Sir Gawain . His major role in Arthurian literature is that of a judge and tester of knights, thus he is at once terrifying, friendly, and mysterious . He appears in only two other poems: The Greene Knight and King Arthur and King Cornwall . Scholars have attempted to connect him to other mythical characters, such as Jack in the green of English tradition and to Al - Khidr, but no definitive connection has yet been established . </P>

Why is the knight green in sir gawain
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