Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“He Is Com Of Full Noble Bloode”: The Brotherly Love Of Gareth And Gawain In Thomas Malory's Morte Darthur, Kristin Bovaird-Abbo

English Faculty Publications

Towards the end of Sir Thomas Malory’s fifteenth-century tale of Sir Gareth of Orkney, Gareth makes a damning comment regarding Gawain: “he wythdrewe hymself fro his brother sir Gawaynes felyshyp, for he was evir vengeable, and where he hated he wolde be avenged with murther: and that hated sir Gareth” (1: 360). This statement has puzzled critics, for as Bonnie Wheeler notes, “the text of this tale provides no proof of Sir Gawain’s deviancy or vengeful character” (129). After all, Gawain, ignorant of his relationship to Gareth, behaves nobly toward the young newcomer, offering him food, drink, and money, …