Pentangle

London: Kegan Paul Ltd., 1965 Pentangle seeAlso The pentangle on Gawain's shield is described as gold on a red background The pentangle on Gawain's shield is seen by many critics as signifying Gawain's perfection and power over evil.

Bogdanov found the pentangle theme to be contained in most sword dances, and so incorporated a long sword dance while Gawain lay tossing uneasily before getting up to go to the Green Chapel.

Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1992 p. 722. Along these lines, some academics link the Gawain pentangle to magical traditions.

However, concrete evidence tying the magical pentagram to Gawain's pentangle is scarce.

Kittredge, p. 93. All of these virtues reside, as the poet says, in the "Endless Knot" of the pentangle, which forever interlinks and is never broken.

The dancers made the knot of the pentangle around his drowsing head with their swords.

What is more, the poet uses a total of 46 lines to describe the meaning of the pentangle; no other symbol in the poem receives as much attention or is described in such detail.