Shape-Shifter in the Green: Performing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a masterwork; its place is secure in the Western literary canon. By choosing to perform such a rich and complex text, the oral interpretative storyteller assumes responsibility for research in addition to the artistic work necessary to prepare a performance, becoming, in effect, a scholar-artist. This essay considers the critical heritage of the poem, giving emphasis to various interpretations of the Green Knight, and suggests ways such research informs a performance