Sir Gawain and The Green Knight: A Psychological Interpretation
The first to apply the psychoanalytical apparatus of Sigmund Freud, C.G. Jung, and comparative religion to Sir Gawain was Heinrich Zimmer, who interpreted the main plot elements of the poem in a wide, crosscultural context of myths and fairy tales in which the main incidents revolve around the archetypal theme of death and rebirth (Sadowski 34). Analysts such as Zimmer and Putter demonstrate the differential analysis of the text that will be performed according to the analyst's reliance on Freudian or Jungian analysis. Generally, Freudian analyses such as Putter focus more on the individual psychology revealed in the text. Analyses such as Zimmer's, however, which are based on Jungian psychology, tend to focus on the more collective and social psychology revealed in the text.
Traditionally, psychological interpretations of literary texts have not been concerned with the direct sources of the text, its literary qualities, or any other perceivably "non-psychic" related matters, such as the religious ideas reflected in the narrative (Sadowski 33). Instead, scholars performing psychological interpretations were primarily interested in the operation of certain psychic forces, processes, and motivations, whether conscious or unconscious, individual or collective, that generally are perceived to be implicitly present in various elements of the narrative. Such a literary interpretation is a direct descendant of an originally Freudian and/or Jungian school of psychoanalysis, and its interpretative apparatus is indebted to their theories (Sadowski 33).
However, the sources, literary qualities, and religious concepts in the text are significant to a psychological interpretation because they indirectly reveal material that pertains to the psychology of the text, particularly in the direction of the author's intention. Authorial intention is a significant element of...