The pentangle was a five-pointed star of biblical significance. It symbolized perfection, which goes along with the earlier idea of an Adam/Eve parallel. At the end of the romance it can be argued that the romance itself was an anti-romance, mocking romances, which can be seen in the other symbolisms of the star. It also represented the five virtues; beneficence, compassion, brotherly love, a pure mind, and pure manners. When Gawain was first being described as perfect, he embodied all five. It seems ironic as the romance progresses, however, because his "hamartia " of the story went against all of these virtues, which again could be a reference to his seemingly perfection becoming imperfect, which connects to ancient Christian stories.
There are other ways to prove that Christianity was a developed, important religion during the time of Sir Gawain. In Beowulf, anytime it would mention a culture or religion other than Christianity, the scop would mention their negative aspects. This was because the scope was trying to demonstrate Christianity's superiority over other religions. .
"Had banned him and branded. For that bitter murder,.
The killing of Abel, all-ruling Father.
The kindred of Cain crushed with His vengeance;.
In the Feud he rejoiced not; but far away drove him"" (54-57).
Grendel, the first villain of the epic, was a symbol of blood feud. Looking at the above passage, we can see that Christians are opposed to that trait " a trait of pagan values. The Beowulf scop was trying to show his pagan audiences that Christianity was better, and he did this by making the evil characters of the story represent ideals pagans liked and Christians hated. The same thing was done to the dragon, the final bad character. Christians believe pride is narcissism, and that narcissism is evil. Pagans had no problem with pride; they valued it, which is why it was a big deal for the scop to make it seem like a sin.
