The Pentangle on Gawain’s Shield

In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain carries a shield marked with a golden pentangle. The poet pauses to explain the figure as an emblem of interlocking virtues and fidelity, giving a specific medieval literary interpretation rather than leaving its meaning to modern speculation.

The pentangle has other histories and uses, but those should not be substituted for the explanation given in this particular poem. This record concerns a symbol as it appears in a surviving work of English literature.

Evidence: medieval manuscript text. Source trail: British Library Cotton MS Nero A X; scholarly editions of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.