The wheel of fortune as reflected in the structure and content of "Sir Gawain"

Sir GcrMCrin, as a romance, conforms to Plckertag's ctassifica-tion of the fortune narrative qs tt «mptoys the Boethian seneme of history in rtarrative literatüre and «recourrts the expk>lts and suc-cesses, the pertis and mfefortımes, renevved sucoesses and final 'happiness ever arter1 of heroes, heroines m , purety Boethian terms». (1) Moreovef, as the nero of a typical Arthurian romanca; Gawain, after seeking and accompllshing his âdventures. returns to Arthur's court, whteh is agaln defined by Piokering as «the degree of sucdess , which is the normal gocrt of the cblvalrpus knlghi»{2) Hovvever, the poet reinfofoes thte return to the court and the motif of regained happiness with various other cyciic motifs, such as, the cycte of the seasons, definitety marked with the story be-glrming and ending wîth the New Yeâr, and cycRc and elaba-rate symmetricai oonstruction of the poem. TOe uee of various cyciic motife and the symmetricai construction of the poem point to the poefe concern of establfshfng elose «es between the poem's form and content.