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FABLES LIKE THE MILLENNARIAN legends of the Round Table carry the promise of timeless, albeit enigmatic wisdom. The self-same plots echo repeatedly through myths cherished the world over, hinting at themes deeply rooted in human nature itself, if only the hidden key were deciphered. Buried in the parable of Gawain's encounter with the Green Knight may be a clue to the nature of masculine self-realization. Typically, messages of this sort are decoded with the help of an archetype like the Oedipus complex, much consulted by analysts. The term "complex" is employed here as a reminder that Freud's exegesis, rather than the original source itself, has become the clinical paradigm. The Freudian template is bypassed here because it deals with inevitable defeat, a scenario irrelevant to Gawain's triumph.
For a plot about victory, Campbell's hero myth (1949) offers the best documented paradigm. He distilled his prototype from an extensive cross-cultural survey of religious and secular legends. Its outline is consistent with earlier and similar projects by Toynbee (1947), and by Kluckhohn (1959), and also reminiscent of Sullivan's interpersonal treatment plan (Grey, 1975). But, to free the inquiry from being rigidly bound into that single model, it also will honor Ramanujan's advice for the study of a folk tale (in Kalven,