“THE TURKE AND SIR GAWAIN”: IS THE TURKE AS ALIEN AS THE GREEN KNIGHT?

Year 2021, Volume: 61 Issue: 1, 541 - 556, 24.06.2021

Ali Belenli

https://doi.org/10.33171/dtcfjournal.2021.61.1.22

Abstract

The alien figures of the romances representing the outsider or the challengers to the court
of King Arthur usually perform as foil for the knights of the Round Table. In several cases
the challengers transform into somebody else to reach a resolution in the end. The Turke
and Sir Gawain (c.1500) is a romance that represents both a foil and a transformation. The
challenger figure is represented as a more probable character with the Turke figure as he
does not look like a magical being like the Green Knight. The influence of the emerging
power of the Turks on the imagination of the Western Europe can be traced within the
romance. Still, the image of the Turk is an alien one despite the growing concerns about the
Ottoman Empire. As a result of this concern the Turke figure within the romance is
represented as a magical and cursed figure. This article discusses the alienated
representation of a real-life concern for the English people.

Keywords

Sir Gawain, Alienation, Romance, Middle Ages, King Arthur, Knights of the Round Table, Knights of the Round Table

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